The production itself is a mixed bag, but at the very least Chromolume Theatre’s black-box staging of the Broadway musical If/Then gives L.A. audiences the chance to rediscover a show that didn’t deserve to vanish from sight after its National Tour played the Pantages ten years ago.

SoCal stage favorite Renee Cohen stars as 38-year-old Elizabeth, back in New York City for the first time since leaving for Phoenix a decade ago for a now failed marriage and once again wondering “What next?”

An afternoon in the park has the returning city planner meeting up with college pal Lucas (Judd Yort) and new NYC neighbor Kate (Danielle Johnson), each of whom proposes a different direction for Elizabeth’s life in addition to a fresh new nickname to start over with.

Lucas suggests that “Beth” get back to her former activism, Kate offers a more free-wheeling path for “Liz,” and from then on, Brian Yorkey’s book has us alternating between Beth’s life as deputy director of the NYC Department Of City Planning and Liz’s as a college prof.

Liz and Beth both become romantically involved, but the directions their relationships with (respectively) Army Reserves doctor Josh (Jon Armijo) and NYC City Planning director Stephen (Keenan Carver) take couldn’t be more different. (To begin with, Josh is single and available and Stephen not so much of either.)

Figuring in both plot threads, though in quite distinct ways, are bisexual Lucas and lesbian Kate, whose romantic partners include (but are not limited to) David (Michael Vandle) and Anne (Stephanie Saunders).

To keep all this from getting too confusing, book writer Yorkey makes sure to start virtually every new scene by having someone call our heroine either “Liz” or “Beth,” and director/costume designer Brayden Hade has the former sporting a dark red sweater or blazer and the latter adding something white to her outfit.

That being said, even more could be done to signal the change from one alternate reality to another. (The original Broadway production had Liz wearing glasses and Beth presumably contacts, and lit the upstage backdrop red for Liz and blue for Beth with accompanying lighting switches for each.)

The glasses/no glasses conceit might have added a bit more Liz/Beth distinction at the Zephyr, but as in several other Chromolume shows I’ve reviewed at this venue, performing in front of a virtually bare black wall proves detrimental to a musical that works so much better in vibrant color. (Even Hade’s costumes are mostly in shades of gray and black, which suits the upstage wall but not necessarily the show.)

I’d also consider rethinking a) a pair of prop “babies” that look more like salamis hidden inside swaddling clothes than newborns and b) a couple of commedia dell’arte masks inexplicably used in a couple of flashback sequences. (Oh, and a pivotal scene in which Beth goes to bed with one man and Liz wakes up in the same bed with another doesn’t pack the surprise punch here that it did on tour.)

Fortunately, If/Then’s songs (music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Yorkey) could not be more gorgeous or hummable, though on a less positive note, the Chromolume production’s three-piece orchestra frequently overpowers unmiked vocal solos and inadequately projected dialog.

 Luckily for audiences, Cohen delivers one of her richest and most understated performances as a woman at the crossroads in a pair of roles that allow the L.A. stage star to flex her dramatic muscles as well as her vocal ones.

Armijo shows real musical theater leading man potential as Josh, Yort is a scene-stealer as every woman’s bisexual bestie (and the perfect romantic partner for Vandie’s ever so likable David), Johnson couldn’t make for a more winning Kate opposite Saunders’ vocal powerhouse of an Ann, and Joelle Lewis stands out among ensemble members as Beth protégé Elena, with only Carver’s slickly charming Stephen too soft-spoken and vocally muted to be fully effective in the role.

Ensemble members Ryan Axberg, Quin Domalaon, Shaheen Kapambwe, Natalie Luna, Nadia Salina Salvia, and Christopher Jewell Valentin provide strong support in a variety of cameos and in executing choreographer Ellie Rodriguez’s interpretive dance moves, and Domalson scores bonus points for his occasional turns on the guitar.

Devin Harris’s lighting enhances the production’s look, though even more could be done to distinguish the musical’s two realities, and I’d also recommend that sound designer James Esposito turn down volume levels for music director Isaac Schanno Johnson’s digital piano and Gage Getz’s bass and mute Trinidad Rojas’s drums behind a plexiglas shield. (Great musicians, though.)

Amy Melendrez and Jason Rivera understudy the roles of Elizabeth and Josh. Rodriguez is assistant director. Ashia Coleman is assistant costume designer. Mary Zastrow is intimacy director. Mara Aguilar is stage manager and Deziree White-Virk is assistant stage manager. Ken Werther is publicist.

When reviewing If/Then’s national tour back in 2016, I wrote that like Spring Awakening, All Shook Up, The Last Five Years, In The Heights, and Avenue Q, this was a musical I would gladly choose to see again and again.

It’s taken ten years for that to happen, and although Chromolume Theatre’s If/Then isn’t at the level of such recent Hade-directed smashes as Xanadu, Into The Woods, and The Wedding Singer, I’m glad I got to see it one more time.

Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. Through July 26 Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 3:00. Also Sunday July 19 at 7:30.
www.chrtheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
July 10, 2026
Photos: James Esposito, Chromolume Theatre

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Brian Yorkey, Chromolume Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Tom Kitt