History Theatre / IfThen

* {{Adorkable}}: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.
** Josh has an excuse; he's from Nebraska and had an [[AbusiveParents Abusive Father]].
** Liz doesn't want to start a relationship with Josh because the odds are against their relationship succeeding. She proceeds to spend the night with him, after realizing that they agree on the odds being against them. As she puts it herself the morning after, [[PrecisionFStrike "What The F**k?"]]

** Liz/Beth's [[spoiler: SurprisePregnancy]] and how each AlternateSelf handles it.

** Kate in the beginning assures Lucas that she is not just a good kindergarten teacher, she is a "f**king great kindergarten teacher". In the Beth storyline, when she receives Kindergarten Teacher of the Year Award, he says, "You are a f**king great kindergarten teacher!"

* SurprisePregnancy: In both timelines; Liz with [[spoiler:Josh]] and Beth with [[spoiler:Lucas.]]

* AlternateSelf: Liz and Beth. Also [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] in "Some Other Me".

*** Liz, who [[spoiler: keeps the baby and marries Josh, frets about blaming the child for her unfulfilled dreams and fearing that she will resent him. Josh reassures her that even if the resentment happens, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming she will still love their baby.]]]]

-->-- '''Beth''', ''Theatre/IfThen''

** Kate in both storylines when [[spoiler: Anna cheats on her.]] Her defeated, bitter tone when DrowningMySorrows can cause a gut punch for the audience.

* DrowningMySorrows: Kate does this in the Beth storyline after learning that [[spoiler: Anna cheated on her.]]

** Liz/Beth answering or ignoring her phone. Answering the phone, which Beth does, leads to her old colleague Stephan offering her a job in the commissioner's office. Not answering it leads to the deputy's nephew, an "idiot," receiving the job and doing such a terrible job that a [[TearJerker child gets killed in traffic due to a poorly thought out intersection.]]

** Kate and Anna [[spoiler: divorcing or staying together, depending on if Liz/Beth finds out. Beth does find out, and having just had a NearDeathExperience, she convinces them to try to get past their issues and give their relationship a chance to heal. Liz is grieving over Josh's death, and had no idea that they were divorcing]].

* GreenEyedMonster: Lucas shows this in both storylines when different men hit on Liz and Beth respectively. Meeting David in the Liz storyline allows him to get over it, but seeing Stephan flirt with Beth... he doesn't deal with it well. At all.

* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Liz confesses to being this when singing with Josh, but [[spoiler: Beth shows it more when she plants a ForcefulKiss on Stephan, ignoring the fact that he's married and his wife has witnessed their gestures.]]

-->'''Lucas''': " Children are needy, whiny and moody.
-->'''David''': [[StealthInsult I tend to find that endearing.]]
-->Beat.
-->'''Lucas''': I see what you did there.

** In the Beth storyline, Stephan and Beth flirt, but [[spoiler: he eventually breaks it off when his wife gets suspicious and Beth kisses him.]]
** In both storylines [[spoiler: Anna cheats on Kate, the local GenkiGirl and Elizabeth's friend]]. Talk about LoveHurts.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''. Aside from the original cast and the New York-and-proud-of-it setting, the questions of artistic integrity, work and life balance, and passion (of romantic and vocational varieties) resound in both plays.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''

* AlternateTimeline: Liz chose to go with Kate to listen to a musician in the park. Beth chose to go with Lucas to attend a protest. The timeline diverges from there. Amusingly enough, the play is ''filled to the brim'' with events and choices that would seem to prime fodder for the creation of more alternate timelines, (often far weightier than choosing between the advice of Kate and Lucas) although it sticks to the Liz and Beth timelines rather than branching off further or exploring others.

* BittersweetEnding: Both timelines end in a place of loss and hope; Liz [[spoiler:has been widowed but has her beloved children and is finally starting doing the work she first set out to do in college]] while Beth [[spoiler:is accomplished and acclaimed in her field while also being intensely lonely and disillusioned with her job. However she has plans to change careers and finally meets Josh]].

* CannotSpitItOut: Lucas, in regards to his desire to have children. Causes a [[spoiler: falling out with Beth when she has an abortion and doesn't tell him about it.]] In contrast, David in the Liz storyline sees [[spoiler: it and encourages him to consider adopting a child.]]

** Liz/Beth answering or ignoring her phone. Answering the phone, which Beth does, leads to her old colleague Stephan offering her a job in the commissioner's office. Not answering it leads to the deputy's nephew, an "idiot," receiving the job and designing the city so terrible that a [[TearJerker child gets killed in traffic.]]

** Kate and Anna [[spoiler: divorcing or staying together, depending on if Liz/Beth finds out. Beth does and stops them, because she loves them. Liz grieving over Josh's death, had no idea that they were divorcing]].

* FriendsWithBenefits: Beth and Lucas become this after Stephen turns down her advances.
* GenkiGirl: Kate to some extent.
** Heck, she gets nominated Best Kindergarten Teacher of the Year for it.
* GreenEyedMonster: Lucas shows this in both storylines when different men hit on Liz and Beth respectively. Meeting David in the Liz storyline allows him to get over it, but seeing Stephan flirt with Beth . . . not so much.

* LoveMartyr: Lucas tries to be one for Beth, even singing a song about it. [[spoiler: Then he breaks things off with her when she aborts their child, and decides they are BetterAsFriends.]]

* NoBisexuals: Invoked InUniverse. Liz tells Josh that she doesn't "believe in independents; it's like bisexuals, pick a side", and Kate is convinced that Lucas is gay, to the point of being shocked when Beth tells her [[spoiler: she's pregnant with Lucas's child]]. Ultimately subverted in that Lucas's bisexuality is embraced by the narrative; he is romantically involved with a woman in one timeline and with a man in the other.

* {{Tsundere}}: Lucas is this around David, not even willing to say "I love you" because he feels the words are too shallow to express the depths of his affections.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To {{Rent}}

* BigApplesauce

* [[spoiler:SurprisePregnancy:]] In both timelines; Liz with [[spoiler:Josh]] and Beth with [[spoiler:Lucas.]]

*** Beth [[spoiler: aborts the baby because she wants to focus on her career. This becomes a TearJerker because Lucas, the father, has wanted kids but never admits it.]]

* Adorkable: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.

* AdorKable: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.

* ChekhovsGun: An extremely subtle one: the play opens with Elizabeth speaking about first meeting Josh in the park, and mentions how it was at the end of his ''third'' tour of duty with the Army. However as Josh has two tours in the Liz timeline, [[spoiler:and dies during the third]] and he doesn't approach her in the park scene at the start of the play during the Beth timeline, it seems like a flubbed line or a weird inconsistency until the very end of the musical, [[spoiler:when it turns out to have been Beth speaking, as she does eventually meet Josh in the park after his third tour]].

* YourCheatingHeart: A few exampels

** In both storyline [[spoiler: Anna cheats on Kate, the local GenkiGirl and Elizabeth's friend]]. Talk about LoveHurts.

* [[Adorkable AdorKable]]: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.

* AdorKable: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.

** Josh [[spoiler: getting killed despite being a medical doctor in the army, precisely because insurgents were targeting it.]]

** Kate in the beginning assures Lucas that she is not just a good kindergarten teacher, she is a "f**king good kindergarten teacher". In the Beth storyline, when she receives Kindergarten Teacher of the Year Award, he says, "You are a f**king good kindergarten teacher!"

** Lucas tries to be one but fails at it.

* [[WhamEpisode Wham Song]]: "I Hate You/ I Love You" when [[spoiler: Josh is killed during his third deployment]].
* SpiritualSuccessor: To {{Rent}}

* [[WhamEpisode Wham Song]]: "I Hate You/ I Love You" when [[spoiler: Josh is killed during his third deployment]].

** Liz doesn't want to start a relationship with Josh because the odds are against their relationship succeeding. She proceeds to spend the night with him, after realizing that they agree on the odds being against them. As she puts it herself the morning after, [[PrecisionFStrike, "What The F**k?"]]

* Adorkable: Liz/Beth, Josh and Lucas have their moments.

** Josh's third deployment. [[spoiler: Liz's pregnancies delayed this deployment, so that when he finally ships out he gets killed. In the Beth storyline, he goes on this

* ManChild: Discussed about Lucas, when his boyfriend David implies he is one.
-->'''Lucas''': I see what you did there.\\

** Liz doesn't want to start a relationship with Josh because the odds are against their relationship succeeding. She proceeds to spend the night with him, after realizing that they agree.

* CannotSpitItOut: Lucas, in regards to his desire to have children. Causes a [[spoiler: falling out with Beth when she has an abortion and doesn't tell him about it.]]

** Liz/Beth answering or ignoring her phone. Answering the phone, which Beth does, leads to her old colleague Stephan offering her a job in the commissioner's office.

* ManChild: Discussed with

* [[spoiler:SurprisePregnancy:]] In both timelines; Liz with [[spoiler:Josh]] and Beth with [[spoiler:Lucas.]]

* GriefSong: "Learn To Live Without"

* [[spoiler:SurprisePregnancy:]] In both timelines; Liz with [[spoiler:Josh]] and Beth with [[spoiler:Lucas.]]

* ChekhovsGun: An extremely subtle one: the play opens with Elizabeth speaking about first meeting Josh, and mentions how it was at the end of his ''third'' tour of duty with the Army. However as Josh has two tours in the Liz timeline, [[spoiler:and dies during the third]] and he Beth don't meet in that timeline, it seems like a flubbed line or a weird inconsistency until the very end of the musical, [[spoiler:when it turns out to have been Beth speaking]].

* [[spoiler:AccidentalPregnancy:]] In both timelines; Liz with [[spoiler:Josh]] and Beth with [[spoiler:Lucas.]]

* AlternateTimeline: Liz chose to go with Kate to listen to a musician in the park. Beth chose to go with Lucas to attend a protest. The timeline diverges from there.

* BittersweetEnding: Both timelines end in a place of loss and hope; Liz [[spoiler: has been widowed but has her children and a new job]] while Beth [[spoiler: is intensely lonely and disillusioned with her job but has plans to change careers and finally meets Josh]].

* PrecisionFStrike: "What The F**k"

A 2014 Broadway musical by [[Theatre/NextToNormal Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey]], starring Creator/IdinaMenzel. "If/Then" is a look at the life of Elizabeth, who has recently moved back to New York following her divorce to start a new life. At the beginning of the show, Elizabeth is given a seemingly minor choice of which friend to go with; that choice ends up dramatically changing the course of her life.

* The ElevenOClockNumber: "Always Starting Over"

* NoBisexuals: Invoked InUniverse. Beth tells Lucas that she doesn't "believe in bisexuals; pick a side", and Kate is convinced that he's gay, to the point of being shocked when Beth tells her [[spoiler: she's pregnant with Lucas's child]].

* BetaCouple: Kate and Anne; the "Liz" timeline also has Lucas and Josh.