March of the Falsettos

(Photo credit to Mark Garvin.)

Although the classics are very important, the modern musical is what we’re hearing now.  A lot of this was ushered in in the early to mid nineties, and themes vary, which is something really interesting when you look at it.  Falsettos was a modern musical written in 1992, and tackles a lot of really tough issues, such as gender roles, discovering your sexuality, and AIDs.  It’s one of those musicals that I never really got into, but after seeing the production at the Arden Theatre, my feelings towards this show have changed a lot.  I really loved what I saw, even though I wasn’t sure I would.

Following a family in the late seventies into the early eighties, Falsettos has a cast of char

acters where no one is perfect, or always likable.  I think that’s a really good start…they were characters that I couldn’t love or couldn’t hate.  They were real human beings.  I want to start with this, because I think Falsettos greatest strengths lie within the characters.  We have a very diverse cast with very diverse wants and needs.  For me as an audience member, it made for interesting relationships with all the characters.  What it comes down to is that they were real.

It’s not just the characters that are varied, though.  It was all the issues that were tackled.  As a queer Jew, I was absolutely delighted to see a show that tackled both being queer and being Jewish.  Honestly, you just don’t see that combination in most types of entertainment, especially something you’re seeing on stage.  Falsettos is both mainstream and extremely niche.  It brought out a lot of emotions for me…and that’s something I always look for when I’m seeing a show.  Judaism and queerness are difficult things to tackle.  But so are being a thirteen year old kid, like the character of Jason, and the AIDs crisis.

We see many different relationships in Falsettos.  There are romantic relationships, family relationships, friend relationships…the tangle of it all was done so beautifully.  It was a gift to watch Marvin want a relationship with a man while still wanting to be a family man.  Jason and Whizzer were friends, against all the odds.  Mendel did something no psychiatrist should ever do, he fell in love and ended up with his patient.  “The lesbians next door” really showed a very alternative sort of love.  They were all relationships that meant something, and the actors really delivered on that.

The show opens with the song, “Four Jews in a Room Bitching”, which is a great way to open a show where one of the main themes is Judaism.  As a Jew, I actually really enjoyed a lot of what was shown in Falsettos…even if some of it was very stereotypical (though I think I laughed the most at those things).  We see the neuroticism of Jewish parents.  We see Jewish guilt at its finest.  We hear it from Trina…you meet a nice Jewish boy, get married, and have nice Jewish kids.  It definitely hits home, and I loved it for that.

Falsettos takes place at the start of the AIDs crisis.  We all know things were different about that back then (even if we didn’t live through it).  There was a certain curse to being a gay man when it came to this.  Obviously no one wants to see a character they love fall victim to this, even if we know what to expect.  But Falsettos handles it really beautifully.  I think part of this is actually Marvin’s character.  In act 1, he’s not a likable guy.  He’s truly a jerk, and is hurting pretty much everyone in his life.  But he loves Whizzer, and Whizzer getting sick is definitely part of Marvin’s development into someone who cares, someone who’s not such an asshole.

I think my favorite part of the show is the idea of found family.  At the start of the show, we see a family that is absolutely miserable.  Trina is losing her mind, Marvin wants to be with Whizzer and remain a family man, and Jason is just done with his entire family.  But as the characters and relationships develop, we see so much more.  We see how much Jason likes his father’s lover.  They have a really special friendship, and Whizzer is some combination of friend, father, and mentor to Jason.  Mendel and Trina cross some boundaries, but they still have a meaningful relationship.  All these webs of relationships are really beautiful to see.  The family may be quite a bit different, but they work somehow.

As a whole, Falsettos is a really important piece.  It gets a message out that not much else does.  You can be Jewish and gay and a family man and a lover and…well, you get the idea.  This is a show that takes on some really huge issues, and makes it presentable to the audience.  We’re looking at a piece of history here, where you really couldn’t be that sort of combination of things but it happened anyway.  Falsettos addresses being a “man”, whether it’s as a father or a boy getting Bar Mitzvahed.  It addresses AIDs, and what comes along with that.  Most of all, it addresses love.  And the Arden did a fabulous job of doing just that.