LaChanze, Tony Award winner for The Color Purple, will reunite with fellow original Broadway cast members Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp and James Snyder when the national touring production of If/Then launches in Denver on Oct. 13.

LaChanze, who plays Kate, arrived in Denver a little early to talk about the upcoming show – and to sing the national anthem on Sunday (Sept. 13) before a sold-out crowd of 78,000 at the Denver Broncos‘ season-opening win over the Baltimore Ravens. 

The video above follows LaChanze’s day in Denver. LaChanze is a major NFL fan and, as a native of Florida, grew up rooting for the Miami Dolphins. But she was happy to don Broncos orange and to sing in front of the largest crowd of her professional career om Sunday. “The most I ever sang in front of before was about 34,000,” she said. (Photo at right by John Moore for the DCPA’s NewsCenter.)

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.  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 six stops of the U.S. tour, including Seattle; San Francisco; Los Angeles; San Diego; Tempe, Ariz., and Costa Mesa, Calif.

In If/Then, LaChanze plays a lesbian kindergarten teacher named Kate. But her character’s story takes very different paths as the plot  divides into two alternate storylines.

Tickets for the Denver run at the Buell Theatre are on sale now.

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Our photos from LaChanze’s day in Denver:

LaChanze sings the national anthem at the Denver Broncos game. All photos by John Moore for the DCPA’s NewsCenter.

If/Then: Ticket information

Performances Oct. 13-25 at the Buell Theatre

303-893-4100, in person at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex lobby or BUY ONLINE

(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

• Composers introduce you to If/Then score samples

• 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

• Milestone: ‘If/Then’ will reunite major principal cast in Denver

• John Moore’s 2011 interview with Idina Menzel in The Denver Post

• DCPA’s If/Then show page​

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 on Twitter: @lachanze