Watching “If/Then’’ is like gazing at an intricate architectural blueprint for what promises to eventually be an impressive building, but then never quite getting a chance to see the building itself take shape.
There’s a lot going on — too much — in this ambitious but unwieldy, cliché-ridden, and sometimes tedious musical, directed by Michael Greif and now at the Boston Opera House under the auspices of Broadway in Boston.
Narrative complexity is laudable in theory, but the many-stranded plotlines of “If/Then’’ feel laboriously mapped out rather than inspired. It’s as if the creators, Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics) and Tom Kitt (music), took their creative cues from Elizabeth, the detail-oriented urban planner who is the musical’s chief protagonist (make that protagonists). The frustrating effect is to keep you at a distance from the material.
It’s too bad, because the central idea is reasonably promising. The musical sets out to explore that most fraught of questions for those inclined to ruminate about roads not taken — in other words, all of us — a question that is framed in the title of the show’s opening number: “What If?”
Pushing off from that weighty query, “If/Then’’ traces two parallel story lines in the life of Elizabeth, portrayed by the redoubtable Jackie Burns. Elizabeth is newly divorced, on the cusp of 40, and back in New York, determined to start over, after what appear to have been 12 wasted years in Phoenix.
In one scenario, Elizabeth is the driven Beth, who forges an award-winning career as a city planner. In the other, she is the bespectacled Liz, who finds true love with a physician and army reservist and starts a family while traveling in less of a fast track, career-wise, for a while.
But rather than let those two main story lines breathe and develop, “If/Then’’ constantly pulls focus from Liz/Beth to dwell on the aspirations and love lives of her not-terribly-interesting friends and co-workers. Equally problematic: The show’s theme (that “What if?” question), having been iterated, is then reiterated to a fare-thee-well. Moreover, too many of the songs come across as generic. With a few exceptions, they lack the distinctiveness of the score Kitt and Yorkey crafted for their Pulitzer-winning “Next to Normal.’’ It didn’t help that on opening night of “If/Then,’’ the Opera House orchestra sometimes overpowered the singers.
Yet Burns is somehow able to break through. A powerhouse whom Boston theatergoers may recall from her sensational turn at the Opera House as Elphaba in a 2010 production of “Wicked,’’ she delivers a fiercely committed performance that more than matches Idina Menzel’s portrayal of Elizabeth in the original Broadway production of “If/Then.’’ (Menzel also played the role at the start of the show’s national tour.)
Despite the meandering distractions of the script and its sketchy, skin-deep characterization of Elizabeth, Burns makes us care about her (and about Beth, and Liz). The actress’s shattering delivery of “Always Starting Over’’ is such a showstopper that it leaves you wishing Burns had more solos in “If/Then.’’
Alas, you’ll also find yourself wishing that the alternate paths that Beth/Liz travels were less predictable, and that the people she meets were more engaging.
Josh (Matthew Hydzik), the guy whom Liz meets and marries, is one of those too-good-to-be-true cardboard characters who exists solely so bad things can happen to him and we can watch the chief protagonist emote about it. Lucas (Anthony Rapp of “Rent’’), an activist and longtime friend of Elizabeth who wants to be something more, appears in the Liz and Beth story lines — and is a bit of a drip in both.
Stephen (Jacques C. Smith), a city planner to whom Beth is strongly attracted, remains the barest, stiffest outline of a character. Only Kate (Tamyra Gray), a kindergarten teacher and free spirit, registers vividly enough to justify the attention the show lavishes on her.
There’s potential in the show’s premise; the notion of getting a chance to live out alternative versions of our lives is a resonant one. But in the alternative version of “If/Then’’ I kept envisioning, that notion would be explored in a much better show.
IF/THEN
Music by Tom Kitt. Book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. Directed by Michael Greif. Presented by Broadway in Boston. At Boston Opera House, through July 17. Tickets: 800-982-2787, www.broadwayinboston.com
Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.