DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
User-uploaded Content

IfThenPlayCritique2.docx

 

Jackie Flaherty

Ms. Souza

Theatre

6 November 2014

When Life Tears you Between Faith and Choice

           

If/ Then is a phenomenal performance, that is filled with new beginnings and difficult times.  A woman is torn between two crossroads and struggles to decide which life path to follow. In this wonderfully constructed play, written by Tom Kitt and Brian York and directed by James M. Nederlander and James L. Nederlander, the audience follows the journey of a forty year old woman who struggles to pick between two lives. This heart wrenching musical was performed at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York City. People from all over traveled to see the wonderful Indina Menzel, who stars as the woman that moves to New York City in order to rebuild her life and have a fresh start.

Elizabeth, played by Menzel, is a forty year old, newly divorced woman who moves to New York City in order to rebuild her life and start fresh. She soon discovers all of the different possible paths that life has to offer her and she is torn between which one to choose. Throughout the play, Elizabeth makes a wide variety of very diverse friends who all impact her life choices. She finds herself living two parallel lives. One in which she has a husband and kids, while the other is solely based on her career. One of her friends Kate, who is a very outgoing and free spirited woman, thinks that Elizabeth should seek new opportunities and experiences. Kate prefers to call Elizabeth by the nickname Liz because she thinks it’s a more outgoing and free spirited name.  On the other hand, her friend Lucas, who is an old time friend from college, urges Elizabeth to focus on her career and make connections in the city. He prefers to call her Beth, because he thinks it sounds more sophisticated and professional. The play shows how Elizabeth’s life ends up by journeying down both paths. Another path she takes in the play is when she meets a man named Josh, played by James Snyder who is just returning home from his third tour of duty and approaches Elizabeth in the park to ask her to grab some coffee. He also has a tremendous impact on her life, as he teaches her what it is like to be loved again.    

What I found to be so fantastic about this play, was the diverse range of characters that were so unique and uplifting. Each actor in the play did an amazing job at fulfilling their characters wants and needs throughout the entire show. Two characters who particularly stood out to me were Kate and Lucas who were played by LaChanze and Anthony Rapp. These two characters stood out the most because of their outgoing and unique personalities. Both are very passionate about different things, and are comfortable with who they are. Kate is a warm and outgoing kindergarten school teacher, who also happens to be a lesbian. LaChanze performs her character as Kate so well, that the audience feels as though they have formed a friendship with Kate, and can feel the warmth and kindness that surrounds her. The audience is instantly drawn in by her charismatic personality during the beginning of the play when she performs the musical number; “It’s a Sign”. Her character is very uplifting and she believes in living life to the fullest and making the most out of every day. Her sassy and spontaneous attitude is what makes her such an upbeat and fun character to watch perform on stage.

The character Lucas, played by Anthony Rapp grabs the audience’s attention with his dynamic personality. Lucas, who is Beths’s friend from college, is a bi-sexual, community organizer who is very passionate about his work. In one scene of the play, Lucas protests against a development project in the city and tries to get Beth to protest with him. The audience is able to see how passionate he is about his work and his beliefs during the musical number,"Ain't No Man Manhattan.” Lucas also grabs the audience’s attention because of his bizarre relationship with Beth throughout both her parallel lives. Beth ends up spending the night with Lucas and gets pregnant with his baby. She ends up getting an abortion because she knows that it is not the right time in her life to have such a major life change. This ends up ruining her relationship with Lucas because he is so upset that she would not consult him before deciding on having an abortion. Lucas does a great job at showing how disappointed and upset he is about the abortion, that the audience feels as though they can feel his pain and sadness. However, in Elizabeth’s other parallel life, she and Lucas remain just friends and he starts dating a man named David, who is one of Josh’s friends from medical school. It’s amazing to see how Lucas’s personality changes from when he is in love with Beth and from when he begins to start falling in love with David. His attraction towards both sexes is very different, and he does a wonderful job at portraying a confused bi-sexual individual. Throughout the play, Lucas can be awkward and quirky and sometimes make the audience feel uncomfortable because of his eccentric personality. Overall, Anthony did an astonishing job at portraying Lucas’s character on stage.

Another aspect of the play that immediately grabbed the audience’s attention as soon as they entered the theatre, was the wonderfully constructed set. It was such an extraordinary set that truly incorporated the surroundings of New York City and made the city look clean and new again. Some different aspects of the set that were exceptionally noteworthy were the revolving floors and the mirrors that hung overhead to create a parallel affect; which reflected and multiplied the action performed on stage. The mirror ceilings were very appropriate for this play, because they were used to represent the parallel lives that Elizabeth led. Another piece of the set that was very eye grabbing, was the design for Elizabeth’s apartment. The tech crew created boxes and frames that were on wheels, so that they could easily move them on and off of the stage. The apartment, once constructed and put together, looked so realistic that the audience felt as though they were stepping inside of her home.

Also, another design element of the play that captured the audience’s attention was the music and choreography. Each song in the play drew out a different emotional response from the audience. The first musical number that created excitement and delight in the audience, was the opening number, “What If”; which was sung by the entire cast. Other songs made the audience laugh and entertained, such as the musical number, “What the Fuck”, sung by Elizabeth after she sleeps with her friend Lucas. However, other musical numbers drew out a heartbreaking and sorrowful emotional response from the audience. An example of this would be the musical number sung by Elizabeth called “You Learn to Live Without”, that she sings towards the end of the play, when she finds out that her husband has been killed while serving the country and has left her with two children to raise.  This touches a lot of audience members and had a major emotional response from many. Some members of the audience even cried due to the heartbreaking news of Elizabeth’s husband Josh being killed while serving the country. It was such a touching moment in the play when the audience witnesses the other men in uniform wheeling Elizabeth’s husband’s coffin across the stage with an American flag covering it. This scene in particular had a tremendous impact of the audience, because it made them feel as though they had lost a dear friend and also because they felt sorry for Elizabeth because they could see that she was hurting. By using certain musical numbers and set pieces, the play was able to draw out a wide range of emotions from the audience and made the story memorable.

Overall, the play was a phenomenal performance that truly grasped the audience’s attention and made them feel as though they had grown with Elizabeth and understood how difficult it was to choose between faith and reality. This play showed how life is full of choices and that by deciding which path to follow you are determining your fate. Also, Elizabeth’s story teaches you that although going down a certain path may bring up difficult obstacles, it can also be rewarding in the end. Throughout the play, the audience is able to see what life is like for Elizabeth through two very different parallel lives,  and how each of them force her to face difficult decisions, but also allow her to experience wonderful things.  I definitely recommend this play to others, as the performance will change your perspective on life and will make you to realize how life can be so different depending on the path you choose to follow. 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.