“If I had not flown to New York to audition for The Book of Mormon, I would not have done Carousel. “I can go back all the way to college, to every little funny thing that happened that led me from one job to the next job,” said Snyder. Then again, Snyder might not have been at Goodspeed to be seen had he not been advised by his agents to take the regional gig in Connecticut. If the fiancée of producer David Stone had not cajoled Stone into seeing a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel at the Goodspeed Opera House one night during the summer of 2012, Stone might never have seen Snyder in the role of Billy Bigelow, and might never have thought to put Snyder forward for the role of If/Then’s nice guy army doctor, Josh. Snyder can relate, since he has a few key if/then moments of his own. The divergent paths scenario plays out nightly for Menzel, whose character Elizabeth chooses between love and career as the heroine of If/Then. James Snyder is a firm believer in the power of chance, those “only just suppose…” decisions that can take you to New York for an audition, to the party attended by your future wife, to a regional theater in Connecticut or even, ultimately, to the Richard Rodgers Theatre where the School of Dramatic Arts graduate (BFA ’03) is wooing Tony winner Idina Menzel on a nightly basis in the new musical If/Then.

Goodspeed opera house foundation