Mark and Maureen are getting back together! Anthony Rapp will reunite with his original Rent co-star Idina Menzel in the upcoming Broadway musical If/Then, directed by Rent helmer Michael Greif. The show is set to begin previews at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 4, 2014, with opening night set for March 27.
Rapp will join Menzel and previously announced star LaChanze in the new musical collaboration from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal composing team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Rapp will play Lucas, an old college friend of Elizabeth (Menzel), a woman on the verge of turning 40 who moves back to New York in the hopes of finding a fresh start. Lucas and Elizabeth reconnect upon her arrival in the city; LaChanze will play Kate, an elementary school teacher and Elizabeth’s new neighbor.
Set against the ever-shifting landscape of modern day Manhattan, If/Then is described as a "romantic, original new musical about how choice and chance collide and how we learn to love the fallout." Additional casting for the show—which will play a pre-Broadway tryout at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre from November 5 through December 8—will be announced shortly.
Rapp is best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in Rent; his other Broadway credits include You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Six Degrees of Separation, Precious Sons and The Little Prince and the Aviator. Off-Broadway credits include Raised in Captivity, Sophistry, The Destiny of Me and Some Americans Abroad. On film, Rapp has appeared in Rent, A Beautiful Mind, School Ties, Road Trip, Dazed and Confused, Kidnapped, Adventures in Babysitting and David Searching. The actor adapted his bestselling memoir Without You into a one-man show, which played London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 and toured internationally.