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A CurtainUp New Jersey Review
Falsettos
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I'd like to be a princess on a throne, To have a country I can call my own. And a king who's lusty and requires a fling with a female thing. Great. . .men will be men. . .Let me turn on the gas. I saw them in the den with Marvin grabbing Whizzer's ass. . .—From Trina's song "I'm Breaking Down"
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L to R: Mark Nelson, Anne L. Nathan, Liz Larsen, Sarah Litzsinger, Michael Winther. Center: Malcolm Morano
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Each of William Finn's two one-act musicals, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, had successful runs Off Broadway. In 1992 they were combined under the umbrella title Falsettos and produced on Broadway where they were lauded for contributing to the continuing sophistication of the American musical.
Here we are 15 year later and the George Street Playhouse is reminding us just how marvelous is this musical's savvy melodic language and how easy it is to respond warmly again to the witty libretto (co-authored by James Lapine) that addresses some pretty complicated dramatic issues. By the intermission we realize how protective and concerned we are becoming about the small group of voracious but unremarkable characters. By the show's end we realize how much we have let ourselves become involved in their lives and their loving.
Director David Saint's briskly staged, whimsically conceived production returns us to that benign pre-1980s of recklessly ego-indulged sexual preference, as well as to the beginning of a tremulous, death-harboring new decade. But, if Falsettos is no somber message musical, what is it? It is a wildly funny and frenetic fusion of an unorthodox urban family's life. It is also a musical of life-styles and life cycles. In fact, style is at the fore in this production artfully designed to suggest life as a black and white maze by Beowulf Boritt. The abstract scenic design is repeated in the furnishings, all of which are on rollers allowing for speedily executed changes in locale, as humorously engineered by the cast. Color finds its way into the scheme of things via topical posters and designer Amela Baksic's 1980s apparel.
The story of Marvin, a married homosexual and that of his wife, his son, his psychiatrist, his lover and even the nice lesbians who live down the hall, may shock some of you. However, it is so courageously and joyously convoluted as to effect a surprise and a laugh with almost every musical minute. Finn's delightfully savvy musical jet propels each and every one of its idiosyncratic characters through an ingeniously harangue-filled terrain.
While attempting to tread, as well as understand, the egocentric but oddly likeable Marvin (Michael Winther), who wants out in order to live with his male lover Whizzer (Colin Hanlon), the winningly neurotic psychiatrist Mendel (Mark Nelson) discovers that he is suddenly falling in love with Marvin's wife Trina (Liz Larsen). Noticeably disturbed by the sudden change in partners is Marvin and Trina's son Jason (Malcolm Morano), an otherwise wise and resilient 11-year old. Jason finds himself hurtled into analysis himself and into a situation he must face with a hastened maturity.
Just as Act 1 whizzes along its wacky course, a sobering mist envelops Act II. We first hear about the AIDS epidemic from the family friend and lesbian doctor (Anne L. Nathan). We get the first tremor of things to come as she shares her fears about the disease ("something bad is happening") with her lover (Sarah Litzsinger), a ditsy caterer at work perfecting nouvelle Bar Mitzvah cuisine. The year is 1981. Marvin has broken up with Whizzer, Mendel is living with Trina, Jason is preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and an epidemic touches their lives.
Falsettos has its time of sadness, but this is outweighed by the witty and bright bitching that Finn has set to some really wonderful music. The cast is uniformly strong. Winther, who made a splash Off-Broadway for his performance in Songs From an Unmade Bed, is unassumingly effective as the conflicted Marvin, whose ideas of a happily extended family are not immediately shared by the others. As Trina, Larson deploys a gamut of emotions to considerable effect, giving Trina her defining moment singing the hilarious angst-driven singspiel "I'm Breaking Down" in which she literally does just that. Nothing could restrain the audience from cheering its prolonged approval.
The comely Hanlon and vivacious Litzsinger are reunited, if not paired romantically again on the George Street stage after playing the leads in The Last Five Years, a few seasons back. The 13 year-old Morano, who has appeared on Broadway in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is no less a therapy-seasoned trouper than the three older males. Holding center stage is not an issue for Morano who invests more than just the lyrics into the musically complex arias "My Father's a Homo," and "Miracle of Judaism." He manages to top himself in a solo game of chess in which his speedy moves are timed to keep up with a table he keeps spinning around. The character of Mendel, the by-love-possessed psychoanalyst is earmarked for neurotic shtick but has a poignant layer that Nelson mines with both broad humor and when necessary subtlety, as in "A Marriage Proposal."
You won't find a wrong note in this Falsettos.
LINKS
Falsettos Berkshire summer production--includes song list
Falsettoland NATCO/ - National Asian American Theatre Company production
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Falsettos Directed by David Saint Cast: Michael Winther, Colin Hanlon, Mark Nelson, Malcolm Morano, Liz Larsen, Anne L. Nathan, Sarah Litzsinger Music & Lyrics: William Finn Book: William Finn and James Lapine Musical Direction: Joshua Salzman Set Design: Beowulf Boritt Lighting Design: Christopher J. Bailey Sound Design: Tom Morse Assistant Director: Ben West Running Time: 2 hours 40 minutes including intermission George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, N.J. Performances: April 10 —we get the first tremor of things to come May 6, 2007 Tuesday thru Saturdays, 8 PM; Sundays 2 PM and 7 PM (No 7 PM performance on May 6) Additional Matinee Performances: Thursday April 19 and May 3 at 2 PM Saturday, April 14, 28, and May 5 at 2 PM Prices: $28 to $62 For Tickets call: (732) 246-7717 or www.GSPonline.org Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance April 13, 2007 |
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide
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