Falsettos is a sung-through musical theatre with a book by William Finn and James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Finn. The musical consists of March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1990), the last two installments in a trio of one-act musicals that premiered off-Broadway (the first was In Trousers). The story centers on Marvin, who has left his wife to be with a male lover, Whizzer, and struggles to keep his family together. Much of the first act explores the impact his relationship with Whizzer has had on his family. The second act explores family dynamics that evolve as he and his ex-wife plan his son's bar mitzvah, which is complicated as Whizzer comes down with an early case of AIDS. Central to the musical are the themes of Jewish identity, gender roles, and gay life in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Falsettos premiered on Broadway theatre in 1992 and was nominated for seven , winning those for Best Book and Best Original Score. The musical was revived on Broadway in 2016 starring Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, Andrew Rannells, Anthony Rosenthal, and Brandon Uranowitz. The 2016 revival was filmed and adapted for the PBS Live from Lincoln Center television series, and aired on October 27, 2017. The revival was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. Both the original cast and 2016 revival cast performed at the Tony Awards. Other revivals include tours in Australia and the United Kingdom. The musical was praised by critics for its melodic compositions, humor, character development, and positive portrayal of non-traditional family structures.
Finn soon wrote the songs for another one-act musical about Marvin and his family, March of the Falsettos, collaborating with director James Lapine on the book. Actress Alison Fraser, who originated the role of Trina, contributed additional vocal orchestrations. This premiered at Playwrights Horizons in April 1981, ran there through September and moved to the Westside Theatre in October 1981. March of the Falsettos received more positive critical reception than In Trousers: Ellen Pall of The New York Times wrote that Finn's "brilliant form combined with the absolute topicality of his social themes first bowled critics over". In 1989, Finn premiered another musical, Romance in Hard Times, which did not feature any of the characters of Falsettos; it was not a success.
Almost a decade after March of the Falsettos, in the wake of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, Finn followed with Falsettoland. The musical concluded Finn's "Marvin Trilogy" of one-act pieces about Marvin and his circle, beginning with In Trousers and March of the Falsettos. Falsettoland opened at Playwrights Horizons on June 28, 1990, then moved to the Lucille Lortel Theatre, on September 16, 1990, where it closed on January 27, 1991.Dietz, p. 473 It won the 1991 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and the 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.
Marvin and Whizzer fight over Whizzer's disdain for monogamy and Marvin's attempt to force him into the role of a housewife ("This Had Better Come to a Stop"). Trina is concerned that Whizzer is taking her place in the family and has a mental breakdown ("I'm Breaking Down"). Trina requests that Mendel provide in-home therapy for Jason ("Please Come to Our House"). Mendel gets to know Trina and Jason through these sessions ("Jason's Therapy"). Mendel clumsily proposes to Trina ("A Marriage Proposal"). She accepts, sparking jealousy in Marvin ("A Tight-Knit Family - Reprise"). Trina is frustrated with the male-dominated world she lives in and the immaturity of the men around her ("Trina's Song"). The four sing a hymn to masculinity, the three adults singing in falsetto to match Jason's Voice change ("March of the Falsettos"). Trina collects herself and calms down from her frustration ("Trina's Song - Reprise").
Marvin tries to teach Whizzer how to play chess, but both of their bitterness boils over, causing them to fight and break up ("The Chess Game"). Meanwhile, Trina and Mendel move in together ("Making a Home"). As he packs his things to leave, Whizzer reflects on his life and relationship with Marvin. He has been used by other men his whole life, and finally decides that he doesn't want to live like that anymore ("The Games I Play"). After receiving Mendel and Trina's marriage announcement, Marvin breaks down in rage and slaps Trina ("Marvin Hits Trina"). Shocked by his actions, everyone confesses that they never intended to feel so deeply about the people in their lives, and they accept the pain that love can bring ("I Never Wanted to Love You"). Jason discovers his attraction to girls, to his relief. In the wake of the destruction of his relationships with both Whizzer and Trina, Marvin sits Jason down for a talk. Marvin tells Jason that no matter what kind of man Jason turns out to be, Marvin will always be there for him, ending the act with the two in a warm embrace ("Father to Son").
Later, Marvin sits in bed looking at a sleeping Whizzer, and wonders at how much he loves him ("What More Can I Say?"). Dr. Charlotte, meanwhile, is becoming aware that young gay men in the city are arriving at the hospital sick with a mysterious illness that no one understands ("Something Bad Is Happening"). Whizzer collapses suddenly during a game of racquetball and is hospitalized ("More Racquetball"). Trina is disturbed to realize how upset she is at his condition ("Holding to the Ground"). In Whizzer's hospital room, everyone gathers to cheer him up, commenting on how well he looks. They agree that it is days like this that make them believe in God, but Jason is honest and tells Whizzer that he looks awful ("Days Like This"). Jason wants to wait for Whizzer to get well before holding his bar mitzvah, but Mendel and Trina sit him down to inform him that Whizzer may not recover ("Canceling the Bar Mitzvah"). Marvin sits in Whizzer's hospital room and is joined by Cordelia and Dr. Charlotte, and the four reaffirm their commitment to each other despite Whizzer's worsening situation ("Unlikely Lovers").
As Whizzer's condition deteriorates, Jason turns to God, offering to get bar mitzvah-ed in exchange for Whizzer getting better ("Another Miracle of Judaism"). Dr. Charlotte explains more about the illness to Marvin and implies that Marvin may become sick as well ("Something Bad Is Happening - Reprise"). Whizzer's illness becomes Terminal illness, and he resolves to face death with dignity and courage ("You Gotta Die Sometime"). Everyone bursts into the room; Jason has decided he wants to hold the ceremony in Whizzer's hospital room ("Jason's Bar Mitzvah"). As Jason completes his recitation, Whizzer collapses and is taken from the room, followed by everyone but Marvin. Marvin, left alone, asks the departed Whizzer what his life would be if they had not loved each other. Whizzer's spirit appears, asking if Marvin regrets their relationship, and Marvin states he would do it all again ("What Would I Do?"). Marvin's friends and family surround him, and he breaks down in their arms. Mendel steps forward, declaring: "This is where we take a stand" ("Falsettoland - Reprise").
† - Indicates a song not included on the cast recording
Falsettos, the last show of Broadway's 1991–92 season, had a budget of $957,000, a low budget by Broadway standards. Producers Barry and Fran Weissler tried various marketing strategies to promote the musical. Hoping to create an easily-identifiable logo inspired by the minimalist design of Cats, the Weisslers used the work of artist Keith Haring in which two adults and a child hold up a bright red heart. Although audiences were enthusiastic at previews, the producers worried that the marketing strategy would not draw a large audience, and Barry Weissler explained that "Since Keith died of AIDS, many people felt the drawing was meant to attract a gay audience." The Weisslers then hired advertising agency LeDonne, Wilner & Weiner, who launched a promotional campaign centered on photographing audience members "not targeting specific Catholic or Jewish or family audiences, but trying to get across the idea that Falsettos is for everyone." The advertisers invited the newly-crowned Miss America, who had recently launched an Atlantic City-based AIDS awareness campaign, to attend the show and be photographed. In the following months, the producers began to earn back their initial investment and to profit from the show.
In 2014 Darlinghurst Theatre Company presented a revival directed by Stephen Colyer. The cast featured Tamlyn Henderson as Marvin, Katrina Retallick as Trina, Stephen Anderson as Mendel, Ben Hall as Whizzer, Elise McCann as Cordelia and Margi de Ferranti as Charlotte. The production played as part of the Sydney Mardi Gras festival throughout February and March 2014. In her review of the production, Cassie Tongue of Aussie Theatre viewed the production as a "promising sign of things to come" for the Sydney theater scene, and praised the casting by remarking, "Henderson's Marvin and Retallick's Trina are clear standouts, and de Ferranti and McCann are so essential to the emotional weight of the second act that they are just as impressive as if they had been there from the first".
In 2022, the National Institute of Dramatic Art presented a production directed by David Berthold, with music direction by Michael Tyack and choreography by Kelley Abbey.
The production closed on January 8, 2017. Two performances were filmed on January 3 and 4, 2017, which were repackaged into a presentation for the PBS television series Live from Lincoln Center and aired on October 27, 2017.
A North America tour of the 2016 Broadway revival launched in February 2019, under Lapine's direction, and ended in late June 2019. Max von Essen starred as Marvin, with Eden Espinosa as Trina, Nick Adams as Whizzer, and Nick Blaemire as Mendel.
Before the production opened, a group of more than 20 Jewish actors and playwrights, including Miriam Margolyes and Maureen Lipman, signed an open letter to the producers, concerned about the lack of Jewish presence within the cast and creatives. Despite this, the show opened to mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the cast, story, and music, but aiming criticism at the scenic design. The show was nominated for Best Video Design and won Best Off-West End Production at the 2020 WhatsOnStage Awards.
Jason's bar mitzvah is a major plot point. Jesse Oxfeld of The Forward wrote that the musical is "in its message of accommodation and dedication and, well, l'dor v'dor, very Jewish." He also noted that due to the musical's matter-of-fact depiction of homosexuality, "the lesbians are most interesting for being Goy." The song "The Baseball Game" pokes fun at a stereotypical lack of athletic prowess among American Jews, but Mendel then points out the success of Jewish baseball players Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. Finn, who played Little League baseball as a child, invited Koufax to a performance of Falsettos in Los Angeles, and Koufax was reportedly offended by the joke.
Finn said about Falsettoland: "I can't have AIDS be peripheral in the show, and I don't know that I could write about AIDS head-on because the horror is too real and I don't want to trivialize it." Finn later described Falsettos as a "catharsis for people who've been going through the AIDS epidemic as well as for people not going through it," hoping that the show would allow the latter to empathize with people who had lived through it first-hand. The inclusion of lesbian characters Charlotte and Cordelia is a tribute to the lesbians who assisted gay men during the epidemic. The show also explores Trina's perspective on Whizzer's illness in "Holding to the Ground", where she shows solidarity with him despite previously struggling to accept his relationship with Marvin.
The revival of the show in 2016 was partly intended to educate LGBTQ youth about gay life in the 1980s and to instill a sense of gratitude at how both societal attitudes toward homosexuality and HIV/AIDS treatment have vastly improved since that period. Lapine was inspired to revisit the show when attending a performance of The Normal Heart with a recent college graduate. He recalled: "At intermission, she just looked at me and she said, 'Well, I kind of know about AIDS, but was it really like this?'" AIDS activist and playwright of The Normal Heart Larry Kramer attended a performance of the 2016 Falsettos revival. Andrew Rannells, who portrayed Whizzer, noted his admiration for Kramer's activism and the impact of having him in the audience.
Trina's struggles with the men in her life are also expressed in "I'm Breaking Down", where she manically chops bananas and carrots, "an unusual combination but an appropriately Phallus one." About the major plot point of Jason's bar mitzvah, Finn explains: "There's so much about what it means to be a man in the show. It's not only the kid becoming a man – it's kind of all the men becoming men. It's a metaphor that resonates." Critics interpreted the set design of the 2016 revival to reflect immaturity by representing the New York City skyline in the form of children's building blocks. The musical additionally explores the link between masculinity and sexuality, with Jason questioning his sexuality and worrying that his father's homosexuality could be genetically passed down to him.
In her report about Finn's Tony Award acceptance speech in June 1992, Kim Hubbard of People characterized Falsettos as both "a laugh-a-minute musical" and "a tragedy filled with hope". Sylvie Drake of the Los Angeles Times called a 1993 San Diego performance a "stunning ode to modern living" noting that the musical's "virtuosity is in its mastery of the bittersweet – and eventually the tragic – wailing over life's nasty habit of giving and taking away, but without wasting time on self-pity. Instead, the show makes intricate songs from the sour lemons. And the result is glorious lemonade." In 2016, Daily Herald writer Jennifer Farrar wrote that the play was considered "groundbreaking for its time" upon its 1992 debut.
John Simon of New York magazine, however, lamented the musical's "big lie" of portraying the illness of AIDS to look "gentle, elegant–something like a nineteenth-century heroine's wistful expiring of consumption–where we all know that it is grueling and gruesome".Dietz, p. 87 Clive Barnes of the New York Post wrote that the musical "clatters like a set of false teeth in a politically correct ventriloquist's dummy". Douglas Watt of the New York Daily News described the musical as "too sweet and sugary by far" and its plot as "sticky with sentiment", comparing the tone of Falsettos to that of a soap opera. In his book The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz called the musical "commendable … but weak and disappointing in execution" and described the characters as "too bright, too self-aware, too articulate, and too 'on". He further commented that "one never had time to get to gradually know and discover the because they were forever explaining themselves."
Linda Winer of Newsweek praised Finn's "enormously quotable, conversational lyrics that catch in the throat as often as they stick in the mind." Winer also commented on the show's set design, noting that though the blocks "can get a bit monotonous, they support the passion by getting out of the play's powerful way." Marilyn Stasio of Variety praised the cast and characterized the music as "a fusion of tuneful melodies with insightful lyrics." Christopher Kelly of NJ.com praised Rannells and Block, but felt that Borle "comes across as too staid – it impossible to see what Whizzer sees in the guy." Melissa Rose Bernardo of Entertainment Weekly gave the show a B+ and noted the musical's emotional impact. She described "The Baseball Game" as "a work of lyrical comic genius."
The Broadway revival cast album was released on January 27, 2017. This album peaked at number two on the Billboard Cast Albums chart and number 98 on the Billboard Album Sales chart. PBS aired a filmed performance of the revival as part of Live from Lincoln Center on October 27, 2017. For this recording, several lines were edited for profanity.
Composition
Synopsis
Act I: March of the Falsettos
Act II: Falsettoland
Song list
Productions
Original Broadway production
Australian productions
2016 Broadway revival
2019 off West End
Themes
Judaism
AIDS epidemic
Masculinity
Reception
Early performances
2016 revival
Recordings
Notable casts
Awards and accolades
Original Broadway production
1992 Tony Award Best Musical Best Book of a Musical William Finn and James Lapine Best Original Score William Finn Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Michael Rupert Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Jonathan Kaplan Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Barbara Walsh Best Direction of a Musical James Lapine Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Barbara Walsh Theatre World Award Jonathan Kaplan
2016 Broadway revival
2017 Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical Best Actor in a Musical Christian Borle Best Featured Actor in a Musical Andrew Rannells Brandon Uranowitz Best Featured Actress in a Musical Stephanie J. Block Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Brandon Uranowitz Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Stephanie J. Block Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Christian Borle Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Andrew Rannells Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Stephanie J. Block Drama League Award Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical Distinguished Performance Christian Borle
2019 Off-West End
2020 The Offies Male Performance in a Musical Daniel Boys Male Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical Oliver Savile
Bibliography
External links
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