Theatre / Falsettos

"Homosexual
Father with children,
One bar mitzvah that
Is scrupulously planned.
Lovers come and lovers go,
Lovers fight and sing fortissimo
Give these handsome boys a hand
Welcome to Falsettoland!"

—Company, "Falsettoland"

Falsettos is a musical with music by William Finn and book by Finn and James Lapine. The show is an amalgamation of the latter two musicals in Finn's "Marvin Trilogy": March of the Falsettos (which was first performed off-Broadway in 1981) and Falsettoland (first performed in 1990). The two plays are preceded by In Trousers, which is not included in Falsettos. The show opened on Broadway in 1992, starring Michael Rupert as Marvin, Barbara Walsh as Trina and Stephen Bogardus as Whizzer. It closed in 1993 after 587 performances. In the Fall of 2016, Falsettos was revived for a limited run through January 2017 starring Christian Borle as Marvin, Stephanie J. Block as Trina and Andrew Rannells as Whizzer.

March of the Falsettos centers on Marvin, a neurotic gay Jewish man in 1979 New York. He has recently divorced his wife, Trina, and left his child, Jason, to be with his lover, Whizzer, an attractive younger man. Trina starts seeking treatment from Marvin's psychiatrist, Mendel, and the two eventually fall for each other. Marvin expects both Trina and Whizzer to serve his needs and be loyal to him, an attitude that leaves him alone, trying to salvage his relationship with his son.

Falsettoland jumps ahead to 1981 where the characters, along with Marvin's neighbors, Charlotte, an esteemed doctor and Cordelia, a kosher caterer, come together to plan Jason's bar mitzvah, though their plans are quickly interrupted by the looming AIDS crisis.

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Falsettos contains examples of:

• Aerith and Bob: Marvin, Trina, Jason, Mendel, Cordelia, Charlotte, and…Whizzer.
• All Gays are Promiscuous:
  • Whizzer.
  • Somewhat averted with Marvin. In Trousers informs us that Whizzer was the first man he ever slept with. It's even implied in Act II that he doesn't sleep with anyone else during the two years they are apart.
• All Gays Love Theatre: The beginning of act II has Mendel come out with flashlights and point to subjects when he sings about them. The first lyrics is "homosexuals". He points toward the audience.
• All Jews Are Ashkenazi:
  • Though not written explicitly, all of the characters are coded as Ashkenazi. The revival gave Mendel the last name "Weisenbachfeld."
  • All of the foods which Cordelia cooks are Ashkenazi.
  • In the Act II opener, "Falsettoland", the group are described as "Yiddish-Americans", which more or less confirms that they're Ashkenazi.
• Ambiguously Jewish: In the revival, Cordelia's title was changed from "kosher caterer" to "Shiksa caterer"^note Changed back in the tour cast. . Although the term Shiksa can simply refer to any non-Jewish woman, in accordance with the above trope, it has generally come to be used to refer to a Gentile woman who marries a Jewish man, with the implication that she is trying to tempt him away from his faith. Her partner, Dr. Charlotte, is never explicitly referred to as Jewish in the text, but this change seems to imply that she is intended to be.
• Amicably Divorced: Marvin and Trina are mostly able to get along fine despite being divorced.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Marvin describes a few in his attempts to connect to Jason in the third part of "Marvin at the Psychiatrist (A Three-Part Mini Opera)."
• Black Comedy Rape: "The Rape of Miss Goldberg".
• BSoD Song:
  • "Marvin Hits Trina".
  • "You Gotta Die Sometime".
• Bury Your Gays: Whizzer dies of AIDS at the end of Act II.
• Cast Full of Gay: Four out of the seven characters are gay.
• Character Narrator: Whizzer states the titles of some of the songs before they begin.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Marvin and Trina have two children in In Trousers, but only Jason appears in March. What happened to the second child in the years between the two musicals is unexplained.
• Coming of Age Story: Jason's story sees him try to grow into his own man after worrying he'll become like his dad.
• Coming-Out Story: Notably averted - all of the gay characters seem to be out.
• Dark Reprise: "Another Miracle of Judaism," "Falsettoland (Reprise)" and "More Racquetball"
• Defrosting Ice King: Marvin getting back together with Whizzer in Act II is when he really starts to take a level in kindness.
• The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: The disease Whizzer contracts is never explicitly named, but is understood by the audience to be AIDS due to it being set in 1981.
• Dysfunctional Family: Marvin, Trina and Jason are almost never shown interacting healthily as a family until later in Act II. They even describe themselves as "tragic" and "a mess".
• Final Love Duet: "What Would I Do".
• First Law of Tragicomedies: The first act packs in lots of humor, but when it ends and Whizzer collapses in the middle of a tennis match due to AIDS, the second act turns darker.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Dr. Mendel falls for Trina when she comes in as his patient. Trina is also pretty taken with him. It only gets stronger when he starts making house calls for Jason.
• Foregone Conclusion: That Marvin and/or Whizzer would contract HIV, and likely die of some AIDS-related illness. The second act does take place in 1981 after all.
• Irrelevant Act Opener: The Act I opener "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" is just a retelling of the story of Moses and doesn’t really contribute anything to the plot apart from introducing the characters.
• "I Want" Song: "A Tight-Knit Family"
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although Act I has Marvin veering well into Jerkass territory, by the end he proves to be a good friend and person at heart.
• Jewish and Nerdy / Game of Nerds: Jason would rather stay home and play chess than socialize. Later, the company bemoans that his all-Jewish baseball team is better at "reading Latin" than actually playing baseball.
• Jewish Complaining: The opening song, "Four Jews in a Room Bitching," is all about four Jews complaining about their less than ideal state.
• Jewish Mother: Trina
• Jews Love to Argue: Most of Marvin's interactions in the first act and the first half of the second act are spent arguing.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: In "My Father's a Homo," Jason, at age 10, worries that he, like his father, will also turn out to be gay. At age 12, Jason sings "Miracle of Judaism" which proves that in this regard, he is nothing like his father.
• The Masochism Tango: Marvin and Whizzer initially, until they get back together in Act II and their relationship becomes more healthy.
• Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number:
  • "Year of the Child".
  • "The Baseball Game".
• Minimalist Cast: Only five, later seven, characters appear in the show. Only one background character is shown.
• No Antagonist: While Marvin is around terrible enough to be logically seen as the bad guy in Act I (as well as the original March of the Falsettos), the second half of the play focuses entirely on the oncoming of Jason's bar mitzvah, which is complicated by Whizzer's case of AIDS.
• Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: What Marvin’s job was was originally not stated. Subverted in the revival - it was decided by the cast that he's an advertising agent.
• Opposites Attract: Marvin and Whizzer admit that the only thing they have in common is a love for arguing.
• Parental Love Song: "Father to Son"
• Parental Substitute: Whizzer to Jason. Initially, Jason purposefully annoys his parents by going to Whizzer for advice rather than listening to his biological parents. By the end, it's clear that both love each other as if they were family.
• Parent with New Paramour: Jason has good relationships with both of his parents' significant others:
  • While angry at his father for leaving the family to be with Whizzer, Jason adores Whizzer himself, much to his parents' dismay. He even rearranges his Bar Mitzvah to be at the hospital so that Whizzer can attend, because Whizzer is family.
  • Mendel starts out as Jason's not-so-helpful therapist, who Jason is quite skeptical of. But Jason later encourages Mendel to act on his feelings for his mother, to make both of them happy.
• The Patriarch: This is how Marvin sees himself, especially in Act I. The rest of the characters don't always regard him in the same way.
• Patter Song:
  • "Love is Blind".
  • "How Marvin Eats his Breakfast".
  • "High-School Ladies at 5 O’Clock".
• The Song Before the Storm: Either "What More Can I Say?" or "Something Bad Is Happening", depending on where you draw the line.
• "They've Come So Far" Song: Pretty much any song with Marvin and Whizzer after they get back together, but special mention goes to "What More Can I Say?" and "Racquetball".
• Quarreling Song: "Year of the Child" and "Round Tables, Square Tables" in the off-Broadway Falsettoland which became "The Fight" in Falsettos.
  • Also "Thrill Of First Love" and "Tight-Knit Family (Reprise)".
• Queer Romance: Marvin/Whizzer and Charlotte/Cordelia.
• Real Men Hate Affection: This was mostly played straight with Marvin and Whizzer in the original production, but is averted in the revival.
• Running Gag: In the revival, one is made of Cordelia being the only non-Jewish character in the show. Special attention is paid to her inability to pronounce 'gefilte fish' despite being a caterer specializing in Jewish cuisine.
• Sanity Slippage Song: "I'm Breaking Down," which also happens to be the Show Stopper.
• Self-Soothing Song:
  • In "A Day in Falsettoland", Mendel assures himself at least he has Trina while dealing with annoying patients. Trina, stressed about her son's bar mitzvah and Marvin getting back together with Whizzer, is assured by Mendel that, "Everything will be all right", which she then repeats to herself throughout the song.
  • In "Holding to the Ground", Trina tries to keep her head up while she struggles with the shifting notions of what she expected her life to be and the hospitalization of her ex-husband's boyfriend from AIDS. This includes a Dark Reprise of the "Everything will be all right" lyrics from "A Day in Falsettoland".
• Set Switch Song: "Holding to the Ground" as the set is changed to Whizzer's hospital room. Also serves as The Eleven O'Clock Number.
  • To a lesser extent, "Miracle of Judaism" covers the change from Marvin's house to the stands for "The Baseball Game."
• Shotgun Wedding: implied about Trina and Marvin's marriage in "I Never Wanted to Love You"
  Trina: Our hands were tied
  My father cried
  'You'll marry!'
  We married!
• Straight Gay / The Whitest Black Guy: Marvin is committed to presenting himself as masculine. In his relationship with Whizzer, he must be the breadwinner while Whizzer and Trina cook for him, he refers to Whizzer's interest in fashion as "dreck," and his competitive streak leads to him dumping Whizzer after the latter wins at chess.
• Sung-Through Musical: Although there is some spoken dialogue, it's all brief and and vastly outnumbered by the singing in each scene.
• 13th Birthday Milestone: Discussed and Zig-Zagged. The second act ^note  originally its own one-act play, Falsettoland centers around preparation for Jason's Bar Mitzvah.
  • Initially, the adults in his life consider it a bigger deal than he does — Jason himself sees it as "a celebration where I get presents", more fixated on which girls from his class to invite than the meaning of being a man. At one point he threatens to cancel it just so his divorced parents will stop fighting about it.
  • However, when Whizzer's AIDS symptoms make him bedridden, Jason is forced to make a mature decision over whether or not to cancel, and decides to hold the Bar Mitzvah in the hospital room, giving up the girls and the big party so he can be with the people who matter most to him. Whizzer dies soon after, marking an end of innocence for Jason.
• Tragic AIDS Story: Act 2 becomes this, with Whizzer succumbing to AIDS by the end of the show. Notably, the disease is never called as such due to the 1981 setting, but is generally understood to be this. By extension, Marvin is implied to have contracted HIV from Whizzer, and may have died not long after the end of the show.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • If Marvin contracted AIDS and possibly died of it.
  • Finn confirmed that Trina attempted suicide after the events of Falsettoland and may or may not have succeeded.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In Trousers, the first part of the "Marvin Trilogy" which didn't make it into Falsettos, introduced several characters from Marvin's past, as well as alluding to Marvin and Trina's second child and a pet parakeet, none of whom are ever heard from again.
• Yiddish as a Second Language: The script is littered with Yiddish words and phrases to remind the audience that the characters are Jewish.