A silhouetted woman strides onto a catwalk high above the stage, and as the spotlight makes its hit, she declares, "Hi, it's me." The character is actually talking on a cellphone, but it also feels like a personal introduction, and the audience erupts with applause. Pity the performers who follow Idina Menzel into this role, when "Hi, it's me" may elicit a teetering response from night to night.
Menzel is recreating her Broadway role in the tour of If/Then, but only through January, when it will continue with a new star. But this is November, and we can start the holiday celebrations now. Menzel delivers in ways you'd expect for the Tony Award winner (Wicked ) and the voice that gave us "Let It Go" from the animated Frozen. Yes, she takes the musical's songs into the stratosphere, but the strength of her comic skills may come as a surprise, and she can rend our hearts as well when that time comes.
The importance of Menzel to If/Then, beyond the very significant fact that it was written for her, was demonstrated when the producers ended the Broadway run when her contract was up rather than look for a replacement despite good business at the box office. The show itself is something of a skimpy affair that director Michael Greif tries to pump up to a Broadway scale, bringing in small crowds to sing and awkwardly dance to Larry Keigwin's second-rate choreography, and the writers have overstuffed the score with songs that come with infernal frequency.
Those songs by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal ) are never less than listenable, and often more than that. But too many of the songs are just generically pleasant, and not much required by what is happening among the characters. Not that there isn't a lot going on among the characters in Yorkey's occasionally clever book, which has an intriguing premise that's bound to confuse you, at least at some point, no matter how closely attention is paid.
Meet the soon-to-bifurcate Elizabeth (Menzel), newly returned to Manhattan following a painful divorce, and the object of instant job offers and love bouquets depending on whether it is Beth or Liz's story that we are following. Instead of the road not taken, If/Then blends together two roads that Elizabeth could possibly take based on fates beholden to little more than the breeze from a butterfly's wings.
And both those existences seemed charmed, at least at first: a top-echelon job as a city planner creating affordable and environmentally friendly housing, or love-at-first-sight with a soldier just returned from the Middle East who happens to be a doctor. The Manhattan that the characters sparsely occupy is mainly suggested by projections of subway maps and a few outdoor cafe umbrellas that are regularly wheeled on and off the glossy stage floor.
The story does have prominent gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters offered up in a matter-of-fact way. Elizabeth's best gal pal is a feisty kindergarten teacher, sparked to life by the delightful LaChanze, who couples with another woman (Janine DaVita) with differing results depending on whether we're in Liz or Beth's story. The same is true of Elizabeth's bisexual college buddy and onetime lover, the affable Rent veteran Anthony Rapp, who also lands himself a handsome doctor (Marc de la Cruz). James Snyder is stalwart and steady as Liz's soldier-doctor, and Daren A. Herbert projects slick charm as Beth's romantically interested boss.
But all roads lead back to Menzel, and at this juncture in her career, it can actually feel like a privilege to be given an audience with her. But there's no resting on laurels here, and Menzel proves she is worthy of the roar of the crowd. And indeed, the crowd does roar.
If/Then will run through Dec. 6 at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets are $50-$212. Call (888) 746-1799 or go to shnsf.com.