Falsettos
Falsettos is a sung-through musical 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.
For the singing technique, see falsetto.Falsettos
William Finn
William Finn
James Lapine
April 29, 1992: John Golden Theatre
1992 Broadway
1993 U.S. tour
2016 Broadway revival
2019 U.S. tour
2019 West End
Falsettos premiered on Broadway in 1992 and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning those for Best Book and Best Original Score. The musical was revived on Broadway in 2016 starring Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, and Andrew Rannells. 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.
Encore
† - Indicates a song not included on the cast album
Reception[edit]
Early performances[edit]
Frank Rich of The New York Times praised the 1992 opening night performance as "exhilarating and heartbreaking", speaking favorably of the musical's cast, humor, and emotional depth.[46] He called Jason's bar mitzvah scene "one of the most moving you've ever seen" and explained that in addressing the AIDS epidemic, "It is the heaven-sent gift of Mr. Finn and company that they make you believe that the love, no less fortissimo, somehow lingers on."[46] Joe Brown of The Washington Post praised the chemistry between Marvin and Whizzer, calling their relationship "sexily combative".[3] Brown also highlighted the emotional ending, stating that the audience, "which began the play roaring with laughter, is left in tear-soaked shreds".[3] Jeremy Gerard of Variety commented that "to call Falsettos a musical about gay life in modern times is also to shortchange its tremendous appeal as a masterly feat of comic storytelling and as a visionary musical theater work".[53] Gerard thought "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" "hilarious" and praised the musical's pacing, opining that "Lapine and Finn tell their complex story with astonishing economy".[53]
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".[4] 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."[54] In 2016, Daily Herald writer Jennifer Farrar wrote that the play was considered "groundbreaking for its time" upon its 1992 debut.[27]
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".[55] 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".[55] 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.[55] 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'".[55] He further commented that "one never had time to get to gradually know and discover [the characters] because they were forever explaining themselves."[55]
2016 revival[edit]
Reviewing the 2016 revival, Alexis Soloski of The Guardian called the show "radically intimate" and praised the musical's emotional depth and character development, remarking that, "anyone who leaves without shedding a tear may want to see his or her ophthalmologist".[56] She viewed the first half as more complex than the second, which she described as "more conventional, its narrative arc familiar, its characterizations less intense, particularly those of the lesbians".[56] Jesse Green of Vulture.com described the ending as "almost unbearably moving".[57] Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Falsettos "throbs with passion and compassion, a masterwork strong enough to bare [sic] formative comparison to the work of Stephen Sondheim, but a whole lot more cuddly of a show".[58] He praised the performances of Block, Thoms, and Wolfe, writing, "The show centers on men in its structure, but the women in this cast all are so strong that you sense a realignment from 25 years ago."[58] Emily Bruno of Broadway World wrote, "Groundbreaking...achingly poignant."[59]
Linda Winer of Newsweek appreciated Finn's "enormously quotable, conversational lyrics that catch in the throat as often as they stick in the mind", describing "Unlikely Lovers" as an "emotional killer of an anthem".[60] Winer also commented on the show's set design, noting, "though David Rockwell's modular foam set pieces and silhouetted Manhattan skyline can get a bit monotonous, they support the passion by getting out of the play's powerful way".[60] Marilyn Stasio of Variety called the cast "terrific".[61] She characterized the music as "a fusion of tuneful melodies with insightful lyrics".[61] Christopher Kelly of NJ.com praised Rannells and Block, stating that the latter's performance of "I'm Breaking Down" "sends the show to such dizzying heights that it takes the audience a few minutes to recover".[62] However, he felt that Borle "comes across as too staid – it [sic] impossible to see what Whizzer sees in the guy."[62] Melissa Rose Bernardo of Entertainment Weekly gave the show a "B+" and noted the musical's emotional impact, exclaiming, "Curse you, William Finn, for writing these heart-wrenching songs. And curse me for forgetting the Kleenex."[45] She described "The Baseball Game" as "a work of lyrical comic genius".[45]
Recordings[edit]
The original cast recordings of the Off-Broadway The March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland were both released by DRG Records on January 1, 1991.[63][64]
The Broadway revival cast album was released on January 27, 2017.[65] This album peaked at number two on the Billboard Cast Albums chart and number 98 on the Billboard Album Sales chart.[66][67] PBS aired a filmed performance of the revival as part of Live from Lincoln Center on October 27, 2017.[33][34] For this recording, lines in "I'm Breaking Down," "The Chess Game," "The Baseball Game," "You Gotta Die Sometime," and "A Day in Falsettoland" were edited for profanity.[32]