Idina's last performance in If/Then

[sharona39]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:19pm

Hi all !
General question - how does one find out about last performances? I would love to see Idina's last performance in If/Then (as well as LaChanze and James Snyder's) and was wondering how the general public finds out. Thank you all for your knowledge - I have learned so much on these boards!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:24pm

Generally performers have a one year contract, but it varies. I haven't heard anything yet about any of the performers.

Trust me, when Idina decides to leave the show...you'll hear about it if you regularly keep up with Broadway news.

[SomehowSondheim]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:34pm

You'll hear about it because that will most definitely be the Death of If/Then....

[TFMH18]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:38pm

There's not been any official word thus far but it is confirmed that her contract with the show is through March. But as was noted above, her last performance will very likely be the last performance of the show so it'll be quite noted when an announcement is made.

[broadwayfan1995]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:48pm

Most likely sometime in the winter/spring of 2015.

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 5:32pm

I'd imagine the biggest hurdle the show has is staying open past January 4, 2015. A lot of shows tend to close the first Sunday of the new year...

[Broadwaydreaming]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 7:08pm

We'll most definitely know once it's announced. I doubt Idina will spend another year in the role. If they're smart, they'll end the run in March with a great cast and a somewhat solid year. Keep an eye on theater news, especially the next few months.

[sharona39]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 7:28pm

Thank you - best site for theatre news? this one?

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 7:39pm

That you even have to ask....(wink). Yes, this site is the best.

[sharona39]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 7:50pm

That's what I thought !!!

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 6:38pm

If/Then currently only has tickets on sale through 1/4. Isn't it about time to release (or at least announce) a new block of tickets if they're going to? I'm coming a couple weeks after that and am torn between If/Then and Cabaret.

[bfreak]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 7:24pm

@kade.ivy Haven't seen If/Then (nor do I wish do), but if you want a life-changing piece of theatre see Cabaret! Saw it a few weeks ago and it has still stuck with me. Alan Cumming is genius and the production is breathtaking! Hope that might help a little bit.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 7:29pm

Cabaret is much more worth it, There are a ton of shows that are just on sale through january (i.e. Chicago, Pippin, rock of ages, Les mis)

[Broadwaydreaming]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:26pm

Another block will probably be released soon. See If/Then if you are a big Idina fan, or are actually a fan of the show and the music. See Cabaret if you are looking for a more classic Broadway show experience.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:42pm

Sampling the OBCRs can help. It's striking how some people say the IF/THEN music has NO memorable songs at all while other people say they immediately went out and bought the CD.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 8:43pm

Thanks for the advice guys! I've pretty much decided on Cabaret. I am an Idina fan and love the music of If/Then, but I think as an overall experience Cabaret would be more worth it.

Also planning to check out The River, Matilda, and a Thursday matinee of Phantom on my own. My college group is seeing Wicked, Aladdin, Blue Man Group, and the Off-Broadway Into the Woods. So I guess I'll be supporting Roundabout a lot that week...

[TFMH18]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 2:49pm

If/then is wholly original and, though imperfect, incredibly compelling and unlike anything I've ever seen on stage. The performances are also really great, especially Idina who, if you are in fact a fan, you will not want to miss in this role. Cabaret is a great experience, but it's been here before and will be here again (not to disqualify the importance or quality of revivals), but If/Then, to me, feels like one of those rare fleeting theater experiences that will be talked about by those who saw it long after it has gone. Anyways, just my opinion. Both are great but I'd be devastated to have missed this show.

[sharona39]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 5:48pm

I would have to agree with TFMH18 - If/then is very compelling and very well done. Cabaret is a classic and while I enjoyed it, seeing it once was enough for me...I have seen IF/Then more than once and loved detecting the little nuances in the characters..great score and cast. Enjoy !!

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 6:14pm

CABARET is a conceptual masterpiece and this revival is about as iconic an individual production of any show as has ever been produced.

IF/THEN is a hot mess that is almost incoherent at worst and misogynistic and insulting at best.

But them's just my two cents.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 6:17pm

I would go with CABARET as it is your opportunity to see a great production of that show. IF/THEN is an acceptable show with good music, but lacks heart. Unless you are a crazy Idina fan, go with CABARET.

[binau]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 8:48pm

Yes, Cabaret is a masterpiece both absolutely and in comparison to IF/THEN. But what makes IF/THEN "misogynistic and insulting at best"? lol. I hope you are not going to suggest that it's because the show panders the cliché of a woman having to choose between family and work, because it doesn't at all. In fact, it's the very fact that it doesn't do this that makes it work.

[TFMH18]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 10:39pm

^I too would like to know what about If/Then is mysogynistic and insulting? Not to mock your opinions, but I actually am curious because I don't get that AT ALL.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/27/14 at 11:25pm

Your mileage may vary as to whether you think it's misogynstic, but the entire time I was in the theatre I felt I was watching a show who's attitude towards women (or sexuality, for that matter) was a generation or two behind the times. I will of course defer to other, more studied opinions (especially those of women, which alas I am not) but I felt massively uncomfortable at the source and direction of many of the jokes in the show. Others will naturally disagree as clearly many have enjoyed the show, so that's a term I leave as 'my two cents' and a characteristic description of how I felt leaving the theatre.

As for insulting, I think it's pretty clear to me that the structure of the show, **SPOILER** in which each major event happens in both timelines regardless of her choice, inherently devalues the choice itself in terms of stakes. One is left, realizing that no matter what she chose the outcomes would be same, the order of how specific events played out is all that changed, to reckon with the fact that the choice upon which hinged the plot of the thought exercise the show is built around is essentially pointless. The ending of the show undoes the reason for it's beginning. In the end, one is left with a story, cleaved in two, neither of which is interesting enough to carry a musical in it's own right, and which add up to far less than the sum of their parts. In that sense, it is a waste of time, and insults the audience in doing so. Furthermore, as far as what-if? narratives go, it contributes almost nothing to the form that many others haven't already gone over many times. It isn't saying anything new, if you can find anything it's saying at all, and whatever it is saying it's doing it rather poorly.