On & Off Broadway

‘Falsettos’

Review by Elyse Trevers

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“Everything has its season” and this is the right time for Falsettos. Topics that were once taboo are now commonplace. Many television shows feature mixed-race couples and homosexual partners. AIDs is no longer a secret and the epidemic is somewhat under control. The musical evolved in stages. With music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Finn and James Lapine, Part I opened off-Broadway in 1981 as March of the Falsettos. Later in 1990 Finn completed his play with Falsettoland. Falsettos is the combination of the two.

The show opens with the quirky number, “Four Jews in a Room Bitching,” a funny number that introduces us to the male characters in the play. All revolve around Marvin (portrayed by the marvelously talented Christian Borle) who has divorced his wife, Trina (Stephanie J. Block), and left her and their son, Jason, to go off with Whizzer (Andrew Rannells). Brandon Uranowitz plays Mendel, Marvin’s psychiatrist, who ultimately weds Trina, making it all a strange “A Tight Knit Family” (another musical number). The cast is terrific and young Andrew Rosenthal (Jason) makes a very impressive Broadway debut. Marvin is understandably angry and annoyed when he loses his psychiatrist to his wife, or is he upset that he’s lost his wife?

Ten-year-old Jason finds solace in his chess board. He’s angry at his father but also fearful that he may become like him. Act I may have worked well on its own originally but combined with Act II, it drags and goes on too long.


Despite the serious topics, Falsettos manages to be quite funny. Much of the humor comes from the clever, tuneful songs, even when dealing with heavier topics. When Mendel tries to counsel Jason, he sings “Everyone Hates His Parents.” Throughout the entire show, Trina must deal with the challenges created by the men in her life. Sometimes things are difficult for her, and Block delivers a show-stopping number, “I’m Breaking Down.”

Falsettos has an especially creative set, designed by David Rockwell. The musical opens with a large cube center stage made of interlocking pieces. The performers arrange and rearrange the pieces to create different rooms and settings. We see an office, a living room and even bleachers for Jason’s baseball game.

Once Mendel and Trina marry, the adults form an uneasy truce to deal with Jason. In Act II, the cast grows with the addition of a couple of lesbians next door, one a doctor and the other a caterer. Marvin and Whizzer reconnect (“The Baseball Game”).

Much of the action revolves around Jason’s bar mitzvah and Whizzer’s AIDs (“Something Bad Is Happening”). Then the two events converge in a touching scene in the hospital that is the only scene that doesn’t incorporate the block pieces.

Directed by James Lapine, the show has certainly found the right time to be on Broadway. No one in the audience was offended or distracted by the pairing of the characters. Alternative life styles have become a new normal.