Life is full of turning points. We mostly don't recognize them – who knows who you might have met at a party you missed a decade ago? – but sometimes we do. I, for example, wouldn't be living this life I do had I not made a certain phone call the day after Labor Day of 1970. "If/Then", which opened Tuesday night at the Fox, is a musical on this theme, the literary conceit of what happens to a woman based on two options she had one day. It follows her life for three years or so with each life she would have led.
Elizabeth, the terrific Jackie Burns, has returned to New York City. She's almost 40, a PhD in city planning, and newly divorced. She's meeting two friends in a park, an old friend and a new one who don't know each other. Each call her by different nicknames, each suggest she go off and do something with them. We see what happens with each option. One life leads to academia, a marriage and children. The other gives her a major job with the city and serious accomplishments professionally.
The two stories quickly alternate back and forth. It's usually fairly easy to figure out which tale is being told. Still,late in the second act it becomes more difficult to differentiate which thread the audience is seeing. Nevertheless, the story is so engrossing by this point that we don't withdraw and shrug. Instead, we persevere.
Her friend Lucas, a political activist, is Anthony Rapp, a charmer with a great voice; her husband, who first appears in a camo uniform, is Matthew Hydzik. Whether she's being called "Liz", the nickname for the married story line, or "Beth" for the not-married one, Elizabeth can be prickly at times, and the scenes between Burns and Hydzik are sparked with fire. Good work, too, from Tamyra Gray as her new friend and Daren A. Herbert as a former acquaintance who becomes her boss. It's a gifted cast overall, led by the full-throated Burns.
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's score is enjoyable, and the set design by Mark Wendland intrigues throughout the show. The Fox's sound system mostly did well, with just some blurring during choral numbers. And, yes, a big orchestra, which always adds to the fun.
Definitely not a musical comedy, and that second act could use some tightening and clarification, but overall an interesting and worthwhile show. Ah, the road not taken – or was it?
If/Then
through March 27
Fox Theatre
527 N. Grand Blvd.