Idina Menzel to return to Broadway
NEW YORK — Idina Menzel, who won a Tony Award as the green witch in “Wicked,” is planning a return to Broadway.
Producers of a new musical by the creators of the Pulitzer Prizewinning “Next to Normal” announced Thursday that Menzel will star in their “If/Then,” a Broadway-bound musical that first takes a stop this fall in Washington, D.C.
Tom Kitt will supply the music, Brian Yorkey will write the story and lyrics, and Michael Greif will direct. All three did the same jobs for “Next to Normal.”
The new show will make its world premiere this November at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. and then go on to open on Broadway in March 2014.
Producers said the musical will center on the character of Elizabeth, who, on the verge of turning 40, moves to New York.
“Set against the evershifting landscape of modern-day Manhattan, ‘If/Then’ is a romantic and original new musical about how choice and chance collide and how we learn to love the fallout,” producers said in a statement.
Menzel made her Broadway debut in “Rent” and won a Tony as Elphaba in “Wicked.” Her films include “Enchanted,” “Rent” and “Ask the Dust.” She also has launched a solo recording career and had a recurring role on TV in “Glee.”
“I’ve experienced the beauty of working on original musicals and was eager to find a project where the material was exciting and new and spoke to my heart. I’m thrilled to have finally found it — an original musical with a complex, flawed and surprising central character that I cannot wait to bring to life onstage,” she said in a statement.
David Stone, who produced both “Wicked” and “Next to Normal,” is producing “If/Then.”