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“If/Then” is a contemporary Broadway musical about living in New York today – and all the possibilities of tomorrow.
Director Michael Grief comes out the door running with this new musical by offering a stellar cast with outstanding choreography and boundless humor. The set and costume design is also key to keeping the audience wildly entertained through every scene with a mixture of joy, sadness, confusion and guilt. The combined acting and vocal talent of the diverse cast covers almost every unlikely pair in the stratosphere, promoting a vested interest of every person in the audience.
The storyline centers around Elizabeth (Jackie Burns), who lives her entire life questioning the decisions she does and doesn’t make while living in contemporary New York. Gifted with a strong sense of self, she attracts an equally strong sense of male suitors and girlfriends who provide play-by-play alternatives of matters regarding where to live and work, who to date, marry and have children with. All the relationships within the musical have separate challenges and each character represented has molded Elizabeth in some way in every aspect of her life. The paths of life she chooses and the path she might have chosen are all realized with endless twists and turns that make for a well-rounded perspective on life’s undoings.
The exceptional cast consists of Jackie Burns (Elizabeth), who played the lead on Broadway, Tamyra Gray (Kate), a former American Idol contestant who is extremely talented, and many other actors who appear to be well-versed, multi-talented and very confident in their roles. As warned, the language is strong, but woefully hilarious, and the focus is definitely on adult behavior. As a new musical, it is entertaining and gives a fresh perspective on contemporary relationships and acceptance of a diverse society. It would do us all good to allow ourselves the opportunity to laugh at ourselves and each other, as we attempt to straddle the fence of life.
“If/Then” is playing at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas January 27-31
