A video look at the Denver-bound Broadway musical, ‘If/Then,’ opening Oct. 13.
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Original Broadway cast members LaChanze, Anthony Rapp and James Snyder will join Idina Menzel when the national touring production of If/Then launches in Denver on Oct. 13, it was announced today.

If/Then is believed to be the first musical of the modern Broadway era to be launching a national tour with its major principal cast reassembled. The four powerhouse actors will perform for the first seven stops of the U.S. tour, including Seattle; San Francisco; Los Angeles; San Diego; Tempe, Ariz., and Costa Mesa, Calif.

Tickets for the Denver run at the Buell Theatre go on sale at 10 a.m. today (Aug. 14).

“I’ve never heard of a principal cast all reuniting for a national tour,” said If/Then Producer David Stone. “But I have also never been part of a show where the entire company – onstage and backstage – really loved being together so much. And that started at the top with Idina.”

If/Then, an original, contemporary musical about the intersection of choice and chance, explores how we choose our lives – and how our lives choose us. It charts the turning points in the life of Elizabeth, an urban planner who returns to New York City after living in Phoenix. The show’s storyline divides into alternative versions of what happens to Elizabeth, based not only on her choices about career and family, but on random, everyday chance. 

Rapp (Rent) plays Lucas, an idealistic community activist of ambivalent sexuality. LaChanze, Tony Award winner for The Color Purple, plays a lesbian kindergarten teacher named Kate. Snyder (Cry-Baby) plays a handsome Army doctor who has just completed a tour of duty.

“What’s so exciting about this for me is that this is completely brand-new material,” Menzel said. “But the best thing about If/Then are the people who are involved with this project. I’m smart enough to know to work with smart people.”

If/Then reunites Stone, composer Tom Kitt, book writer/lyricist Brian Yorkey and director Michael Greif, the creative team behind the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Next to Normal.

“To me, it’s absolutely essential that we have Idina and LaChanze and Anthony and James heading out for the first leg of the tour, because they are paving the way for the people who will follow,” Yorkey said. “And they are showing the world once again that they believe in this kind of quirky, not-entirely-traditional new show of ours. To me, that means everything.”

(Pictured: Idina Menzel and James Snyder in ‘If/Then.’ Photo by Joan Marcus.)

If/Then is especially meaningful to Menzel, she said, “because I had the opportunity to develop it for several years with the creative team, whom I have come to consider family. Yes, it explores a lot of intense themes that are close to my heart, but to have the opportunity to be on the stage with the cast that I have and work through those things every day; it’s been a total gift.”

Stone said the principals would have loved playing more than seven cities. But while “If/Then is partly about how the communities we live and work in become our families,” he said, the actors have their own families as well. Most are parents of children ranging in age from just 1 week (Snyder’s newborn) to LaChanze’s two teenagers.

“They want to be together again. They love each other, they love the show, and they want it to be seen by as many people as possible,” Stone said. “So if they can help make that happen, they want to do that. I am very excited for the If/Then family to be reunited on tour and to give audiences outside of New York the opportunity to see these exceptional Broadway stars in the roles they created.”

The rest of the inaugural touring cast debuting in Denver will be announced at a later date. The two-week run plays through Oct. 25.

Production photos by Joan Marcus.

If/Then features choreography by Larry Keigwin, set design by Tony Award-Nominee Mark Wendland, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Tony Award-Winner Kenneth Posner and sound design by Tony Award-Winner Brian Ronan.

If/Then played its final Broadway performance on Sunday, March 22, having played 29 previews and 401 performances. The original Broadway Cast Recording is available on iTunes.

For ticketing information about If/Then, click here. For more information about If/Then, visit the show’s home page at IfThenTheMusical.com.

About the cast:

IDINA MENZEL (Elizabeth) made her Broadway debut as Maureen in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner, Rent, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She followed that with her Tony Award-winning performance as Elphaba in Wicked, which she subsequently brought to London’s West End. Other New York stage work includes See What I Wanna See (Public), The Wild Party (MTC) and Hair (Encores!). Menzel’s voice can be heard in the Disney animated musical Frozen, singing its Oscar-winning song, “Let It Go.” She reprised her performance as Maureen in Chris Columbus’ film version of Rent and has appeared in movies as diverse as Enchanted and Ask the Dust. On television, Menzel had a recurring role over multiple seasons of “Glee” and has guest starred in numerous other shows. She starred in her own PBS special, “Barefoot at the Symphony,” with an accompanying live album of the same name. Menzel’s highly successful international concert tour recently included a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall. In addition to cast albums, Menzel’s prolific recording career includes the solo albums Barefoot at the Symphony, I Stand Here and Still I Can’t Be Still.

LACHANZE (Kate). Broadway: The Color Purple (2006 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Once on This Island (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Ragtime, Company and Uptown It’s Hot. Off-Broadway: Dessa Rose (Obie Award and Drama Desk Award nomination), The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Drama Desk nomination) and Inked Baby. Other theatre credits: The Wiz, Baby, From the Mississippi Delta and Spunk. Film credits include The Help (SAG Award), Side Effects, Breaking Upward, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Disney’s Hercules, For Love or Money and Leap of Faith. Television credits include “Handel’s Messiah Rocks” (Emmy Award), “Lucy” (CBS TV movie), “Law & Order: SVU,” “Sex and the City,” “New York Undercover” and “The Cosby Show.” MsLaChanze.com. Follow me on Twitter: @lachanze

ANTHONY RAPP (Lucas). Broadway: Rent; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Six Degrees of Separation; Precious Sons (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk nomination). Off-Broadway: Raised in Captivity, Sophistry, The Destiny of Me, Some Americans Abroad, among others. Film: Adventures in Babysitting, School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation, Rent, Man of the Century, Roadtrip, Winter Passing, A Beautiful Mind. TV: “The X-Files,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Psych.”  Author of Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, which was adapted into the one-man show Without You and performed nationally and internationally. @albinokid on Twitter

JAMES SNYDER (Josh). Broadway: Cry-Baby (Cry-Baby), Fanny at NYC Encores! Regional: Carousel (Billy, Goodspeed Opera House), Johnny Baseball (Williamstown Festival), Broadway: Three Generations (Kennedy Center), Rock of Ages (L.A., Vegas). Film: She’s the Man, Meth Head, An American in China. TV: “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Blue Bloods,” “CSI,” “Cold Case.” To see more stage, film and TV credits and his album go to iTunes or www.JamesSnyder.com. Twitter: @TheJamesSnyder

 If/Then ticket information:

• Oct. 13-25 in the Buell Theatre
• Single tickets will go on-sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday. Aug. 14. Buy and print online at denvercenter.org; charge by phone at 303-893-4100 (Groups of 10 or more should call 303-446-4829); or purchase in person at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex lobby.
• Please be advised that the DCPA’s web site at denvercenter.org is the ONLY authorized online ticket provider for If/Then performances in Denver.

Our previous NewsCenter coverage of If/Then and Idina Menzel:

• Read all about the 2015-16 Broadway season in Denver here
• John Moore’s review of Idina Menzel’s 2015 concert at Red Rocks
• John Moore’s review of Idina Menzel’s 2011 concert at Red Rocks
• Breaking: Idina Menzel will launch ‘If/Then’ national tour in Denver
• John Moore’s 2011 interview with Idina Menzel in The Denver Post
• DCPA’s If/Then show page​