Falsettos (1992)

Falsettos began as a one-act musical by composer William Finn in 1979. A comical foray into the psyche of a man, Marvin, questioning his sexuality, In Trousers was produced Off-Broadway twice. A few years later, Finn would collaborate with James Lapine on two more musicals in what became known as the “Marvin Trilogy.” Along with In Trousers, Finn and Lapine wrote March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1990) about Marvin and his non-traditional family. They then combined the last two musicals into one two-act sung-through musical titled Falsettos. It premiered on Broadway in 1992 at the John Golden Theatre and was nominated for seven Tony Awards for which it won Best Book and Best Original Score. Falsettos was a fairly obscure piece of theatre until 2016 when it was revived on Broadway to great acclaim. The revival cast, directed by James Lapine, included many Broadway favourites like Christian Borle as Marvin, Andrew Rannells as Whizzer, Stephanie J. Block as Trina, and Brandon Uranowitz as Mendel. The production was a limited run and filmed for the PBS television series Live from Lincoln Center. It was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2017. 

 

Falsettos is about an unconventional modern Jewish-American family living in New York City in 1979 and ‘81. While light-hearted and funny, the musical also deals with serious subjects like late 20th century masculinity, the disintegration of a nuclear family, and the personal losses of the AIDS epidemic. Falsettos explores the neuroses of both Jewish men and women, making their religion a central cord of the entire show. Their Judaism is front and centre, many of the jokes in the musical are Jewish in-jokes. The other central cord in Falsettos is the modern homosexual relationship and the AIDS epidemic. Writing while the plague was at its height, Finn and Lapine show the catastrophe AIDS wrecked on individual lives and use the musical as a call to action. If Falsettos is unabashedly Jewish, it is also unabashedly queer, a perfect microcosm of both. 

 

“Falsettos becomes a story about love and family — about making your own chosen family, which is of course a classic gay trope, but also, in its message of accommodation and dedication and, well, l’dor v’dor, very Jewish.”      

 

Plot:

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The opening number of Falsettos is an expository introduction to the characters, also known as the “four Jews in a room bitching.” The main character, Marvin, introduces us to his family and situation as he has just left his wife Trina and son Jason to be with his male lover Whizzer. Aware that he has made his family very unhappy, Marvin clings to the idea that he can have the best of both worlds and they can still be a “tight-knit family.” Trina, deeply troubled by Marvin’s betrayal, visits his psychiatrist, Mendel, for help though Mendel is instantly attracted to her. Marvin and Whizzer show signs that the “thrill of first love” is fading between them, meanwhile Jason worries he will end up gay because his father did. Trina and Marvin want Jason to see a psychiatrist as he is a lonely 11-year-old boy who acts out because of his parent’s divorce. Jason decides to go only after Whizzer talks him into it and Mendel begins making housecalls. Whizzer and Marvin fight as Whizzer declines to be monogamous and feels like Marvin treats him as a housewife. As Mendel visits Trina and Jason’s house more, he falls in love with Trina and eventually proposes to her. This angers Marvin as he feels Mendel has stolen his family. Trina, at first reluctant to marry Mendel, decides to accept after admitting she is tired of the male-dominated world she lives in. Bitter and jealous, Marvin breaks up with Whizzer over a game of chess. Marvin visits Trina, Mendel, and Jason, having just received their wedding invitation and in a fit of anger, Marvin slaps Trina. Trina and Whizzer both admit they never wanted to fall in love with Marvin but they accept the damage he has done. His relationships with Trina, Whizzer, and Mendel now broken, Marvin at last connects with Jason and tells him he’ll always be there for him. 

 

The second act of Falsettos sees a two year time jump into 1981 where Marvin has called a truce with Trina and they now co-parent Jason. Two new characters are introduced, Charlotte and Cordelia, who are Marvin’s lesbian neighbours. Marvin admits it’s time for himself to “grow up” as Jason is about to turn thirteen and have his bar mitzvah. Having discovered his attraction to girls, Jason celebrates that the “miracle of Judaism” is inviting girls to his bar mitzvah. At Jason’s Little League baseball game, Whizzer enters having been invited by Jason. Marvin and Whizzer admit to themselves they are not over each other and Marvin asks Whizzer out on a date. All the adult characters reflect on how great their lives are but Marvin and Trina’s fighting over Jason’s bar mitzvah leads to him cancelling it. Mendel consoles Jason by telling him that “everyone hates their parents” but maturity is inevitable and will make him hate them less. Marvin and Whizzer are blissfully in love when Charlotte, an internist, tells Cordelia of a mysterious disease that is spreading in the gay community. During a racquetball game, Whizzer falls ill, implying that he has now caught AIDS. After he is hospitalised, Trina admits how much it upsets her now that she has come to love and accept Whizzer. Trina says how she thought she’d “live the life [her] mother assumed [she’d] live: very Jewish, very middle class, and very straight” but that life had other plans. Whizzer remains in the hospital where everyone comes to visit him, united as a family. Trina and Mendel ask Jason if he has changed his mind about cancelling the bar mitzvah and he says they can have it after Whizzer gets better. His parents admit that they are unsure of when or if that will be and Jason prays to God for the first time, asking him to cure Whizzer as that would be the real “miracle of Judaism.” Charlotte tells Marvin that the nature of Whizzer’s illness is that it is contagious, implying that Marvin himself could contract it. The AIDS becomes terminal and Whizzer reflects that though he is scared and angry, “you gotta die sometime.” Jason has the idea to have his bar mitzvah in Whizzer’s hospital room and it is there that his blended and non-traditional family celebrate his coming-of-age. During Jason’s haftorah, Whizzer collapses and is taken out of the room, passing away offstage. Marvin reflects on their relationship, saying that he does not regret any of it though they have no future together. The family come together at Whizzer’s funeral and the musical ends on a sombre, dark note.