Falsettoland
Encyclopedia
Falsettoland is a musical
with a book by James Lapine
and music and lyrics by William Finn
.
Following In Trousers
and March of the Falsettos
, it is the third in a trio of one-act musicals centering on Marvin, his wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay
lover Whizzer Brown. In this chapter of Marvin's life, Jason is preparing for his bar mitzvah and Whizzer is suffering from a mysterious, life-threatening, as yet undefined illness, which the audience recognizes is AIDS
.
Falsettoland opened on June 28, 1990 at Playwrights Horizons
in New York City
. Three months later, it transferred to the Lucille Lortel Theatre
, where it ran for 176 performances. The cast included Michael Rupert
, Faith Prince
, Stephen Bogardus
, Chip Zien
(later replaced by Lonny Price
), and Heather MacRae
.
A cast recording was released by DRG Records.
March of the Falsettos
and Falsettoland eventually became Acts I and II of the 1992 Broadway
production Falsettos
.
. The cast has been enlarged by two, Marvin's Lesbian
neighbors Dr. Charlotte, an Internist, and Cordelia, a kosher Caterer. Marvin has realized that it's About Time that he grows up and get over himself. He has called a truce with Trina and he has managed to maintain his relationship with Jason, who is now preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. He has not seen Whizzer for two years and has still not gotten over him.
One day, when she arrives to take custody of Jason for the week, Trina informs Marvin that it is now time to start planning Jason's Bar Mitzvah, probably the last pleasant thing the ex-couple will ever do together. The pair immediately starts bickering, to Jason's dismay and Mendel's amusement. Mendel encourages them to have a simple party, but Trina (and Cordelia, the caterer) will have none of it. It is the Year of the Child after all, the year that every Jewish parent dreams of: the year their child is Bar Mitzvahed and they can spend insane amounts of money celebrating.
The scene moves to Jason's Little League Baseball game. While at bat, Jason has a lot more on his mind than the game. He is trying to decide which girls to invite to his bar mitzvah: the girls he should invite, or the girls he "wants" to invite; reaching a discussion in this delicate situation would be a Miracle of Judaism. Everyone is there at The Ball Game, sitting watching Jewish boys who can't play baseball play baseball and getting a little too into it, when Whizzer suddenly arrives: Jason had asked him to come. Marvin is struck by how little he's aged, and a tentative offer of reconciliation is offered just as Jason, miracle of miracles, actually hits the ball. He's so shocked he forgets to run.
An interlude: A Day in Falsettoland. In part one, "Dr. Mendel at Work," Mendel listens to the blather of a yuppie
patient and agonizes over being a sixties shrink stuck in the eighties, and how his work is taking a toll on his marriage to Trina. In part two, "Trina works it out", Trina reveals Marvin and Whizzer are back and wonders why that is bothering her. In part three, "The Neighbors Relax," Mendel and Trina jog and discuss Marvin and the Bar Mitzvah, and Dr. Charlotte comes home to Cordelia cooking "neuvelle bar mitzvah cuisine." Cordelia asks Charlotte how her day was at the hospital, and Charlotte exclaims that today was a rare day without a death. Meanwhile, Marvin and Whizzer play racquetball and bicker when Whizzer beats Marvin soundly. All reflect on how wonderful life is.
The peace doesn't last long. Marvin and Trina are warring over every single aspect of the Bar Mitzvah, which makes Jason want to just call the whole thing off. It is up to Mendel to console the boy, telling him that "Everyone Hates His Parents" at his age, but everyone also gets past it and moves on to hate them less.
Marvin sits in bed one morning, looking at the sleeping Whizzer. "What More Can I Say?", he says, wondering at how much he loves him. Dr. Charlotte, meanwhile, has started to become aware that "Something Bad is Happening" among young gay men in the city, who arrive at the hospital sick with a mysterious illness that no one seems to know anything about. Rumors are spreading, but the disease is spreading faster. Then Whizzer collapses during a game of racquetball.
As Whizzer enters the hospital with a disease that the audience immediately knows to be AIDS
, Trina begins to see her world fall apart around her as someone she shouldn't care about but does anyway is clearly sick. She is barely Holding to the Ground and this blow to her family may just be too hard to handle.
In Whizzer's hospital room, the entire cast gathers to cheer him up, everyone commenting on how good he looks. Marvin provides love, Cordelia chicken soup and Mendel some terrible jokes. Everyone agrees that it's Days Like This that make these secular Jews believe in God. Only Jason, in childish honesty, is able to tell Whizzer the truth: that he looks awful.
Mendel and Trina sit Jason down and give Jason the option of Canceling the Bar Mitzvah if he feels he can't go through with it, and Jason is finally told that Whizzer may not recover. Marvin sits in Whizzer's hospital room, soon joined by the Lesbians, and the four Unlikely Lovers wonder how much longer their love can last.
As Whizzer's condition worsens, Jason turns to God, asking him to let Whizzer get better and make another Miracle of Judaism. He'll even get Bar Mitzvahed if Whizzer gets better. But it's to no avail, because, as Dr. Charlotte reiterates, "Something Bad is Happening" to Whizzer. He is soon deathly ill, and he steels himself to meet his maker, reflecting bravely that "You Gotta Die Sometime."
Suddenly everyone bursts into the hospital room. Jason has had an epiphany: he wants to hold The Bar Mitzvah in Whizzer's hospital room so he can be there. Trina couldn't be prouder, and everyone, for some reason, can only think how much Jason looks like Marvin. Jason is Bar Mitzvahed, entering Adulthood as Whizzer begins to leave his, for Whizzer can suddenly take no more, and is taken out of the room.
Marvin is left alone. He sits and asks the departed Whizzer "What Would I Do if you had not been my friend?" Whizzer appears, dressed as we first saw him, and the two sing together one last time, and then Whizzer is gone. Marvin is comforted by his family, now short a member, as Mendel bids us goodnight from the crazy, sad world known as Falsettoland.
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with a book by James Lapine
James Lapine
James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...
and music and lyrics by William Finn
William Finn
William Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.-Biography:...
.
Following In Trousers
In Trousers
In Trousers is a musical, first produced in 1979, with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.The one-acter centers on Marvin, who has an unnamed wife and a son, Jason...
and March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
, it is the third in a trio of one-act musicals centering on Marvin, his wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
lover Whizzer Brown. In this chapter of Marvin's life, Jason is preparing for his bar mitzvah and Whizzer is suffering from a mysterious, life-threatening, as yet undefined illness, which the audience recognizes is AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
Falsettoland opened on June 28, 1990 at Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Three months later, it transferred to the Lucille Lortel Theatre
Lucille Lortel Theatre
The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.The venue was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse...
, where it ran for 176 performances. The cast included Michael Rupert
Michael Rupert
Michael John Rupert is an American actor, singer, director and composer.Rupert made his Broadway debut in 1968 in Kander and Ebb's The Happy Time where he received his first Tony nomination...
, Faith Prince
Faith Prince
Faith Prince is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work on Broadway. Prince has won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical and received three Tony nominations.-Life and career:...
, Stephen Bogardus
Stephen Bogardus
-Biography:Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Bogardus graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1972 and Princeton University in 1976, where he was a member of the Princeton Nassoons and the Princeton Triangle Club.-Career:...
, Chip Zien
Chip Zien
Chip Zien is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim...
(later replaced by Lonny Price
Lonny Price
Lonny Price is an American actor, writer, and director, primarily in theatre. He is known for making statements on current events in versions of his musicals. His acclaimed May 2008 New York Philharmonic production of Camelot was making a statement about the current war including having different...
), and Heather MacRae
Heather MacRae
Heather MacRae is an American stage, film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role in the Woody Allen 1972 comedy film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* ....
.
A cast recording was released by DRG Records.
March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
and Falsettoland eventually became Acts I and II of the 1992 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production Falsettos
Falsettos
Falsettos is a musical with a book by James Lapine and William Finn and music and lyrics by Finn, comprising March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, the last two in a trio of one-act off-Broadway plays focusing on Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay...
.
Synopsis
Mendel the psychiatrist shines a flashlight into the audience on a dark stage, welcoming us to Falsettoland, the conclusion to March of the FalsettosMarch of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
. The cast has been enlarged by two, Marvin's Lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
neighbors Dr. Charlotte, an Internist, and Cordelia, a kosher Caterer. Marvin has realized that it's About Time that he grows up and get over himself. He has called a truce with Trina and he has managed to maintain his relationship with Jason, who is now preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. He has not seen Whizzer for two years and has still not gotten over him.
One day, when she arrives to take custody of Jason for the week, Trina informs Marvin that it is now time to start planning Jason's Bar Mitzvah, probably the last pleasant thing the ex-couple will ever do together. The pair immediately starts bickering, to Jason's dismay and Mendel's amusement. Mendel encourages them to have a simple party, but Trina (and Cordelia, the caterer) will have none of it. It is the Year of the Child after all, the year that every Jewish parent dreams of: the year their child is Bar Mitzvahed and they can spend insane amounts of money celebrating.
The scene moves to Jason's Little League Baseball game. While at bat, Jason has a lot more on his mind than the game. He is trying to decide which girls to invite to his bar mitzvah: the girls he should invite, or the girls he "wants" to invite; reaching a discussion in this delicate situation would be a Miracle of Judaism. Everyone is there at The Ball Game, sitting watching Jewish boys who can't play baseball play baseball and getting a little too into it, when Whizzer suddenly arrives: Jason had asked him to come. Marvin is struck by how little he's aged, and a tentative offer of reconciliation is offered just as Jason, miracle of miracles, actually hits the ball. He's so shocked he forgets to run.
An interlude: A Day in Falsettoland. In part one, "Dr. Mendel at Work," Mendel listens to the blather of a yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
patient and agonizes over being a sixties shrink stuck in the eighties, and how his work is taking a toll on his marriage to Trina. In part two, "Trina works it out", Trina reveals Marvin and Whizzer are back and wonders why that is bothering her. In part three, "The Neighbors Relax," Mendel and Trina jog and discuss Marvin and the Bar Mitzvah, and Dr. Charlotte comes home to Cordelia cooking "neuvelle bar mitzvah cuisine." Cordelia asks Charlotte how her day was at the hospital, and Charlotte exclaims that today was a rare day without a death. Meanwhile, Marvin and Whizzer play racquetball and bicker when Whizzer beats Marvin soundly. All reflect on how wonderful life is.
The peace doesn't last long. Marvin and Trina are warring over every single aspect of the Bar Mitzvah, which makes Jason want to just call the whole thing off. It is up to Mendel to console the boy, telling him that "Everyone Hates His Parents" at his age, but everyone also gets past it and moves on to hate them less.
Marvin sits in bed one morning, looking at the sleeping Whizzer. "What More Can I Say?", he says, wondering at how much he loves him. Dr. Charlotte, meanwhile, has started to become aware that "Something Bad is Happening" among young gay men in the city, who arrive at the hospital sick with a mysterious illness that no one seems to know anything about. Rumors are spreading, but the disease is spreading faster. Then Whizzer collapses during a game of racquetball.
As Whizzer enters the hospital with a disease that the audience immediately knows to be AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, Trina begins to see her world fall apart around her as someone she shouldn't care about but does anyway is clearly sick. She is barely Holding to the Ground and this blow to her family may just be too hard to handle.
In Whizzer's hospital room, the entire cast gathers to cheer him up, everyone commenting on how good he looks. Marvin provides love, Cordelia chicken soup and Mendel some terrible jokes. Everyone agrees that it's Days Like This that make these secular Jews believe in God. Only Jason, in childish honesty, is able to tell Whizzer the truth: that he looks awful.
Mendel and Trina sit Jason down and give Jason the option of Canceling the Bar Mitzvah if he feels he can't go through with it, and Jason is finally told that Whizzer may not recover. Marvin sits in Whizzer's hospital room, soon joined by the Lesbians, and the four Unlikely Lovers wonder how much longer their love can last.
As Whizzer's condition worsens, Jason turns to God, asking him to let Whizzer get better and make another Miracle of Judaism. He'll even get Bar Mitzvahed if Whizzer gets better. But it's to no avail, because, as Dr. Charlotte reiterates, "Something Bad is Happening" to Whizzer. He is soon deathly ill, and he steels himself to meet his maker, reflecting bravely that "You Gotta Die Sometime."
Suddenly everyone bursts into the hospital room. Jason has had an epiphany: he wants to hold The Bar Mitzvah in Whizzer's hospital room so he can be there. Trina couldn't be prouder, and everyone, for some reason, can only think how much Jason looks like Marvin. Jason is Bar Mitzvahed, entering Adulthood as Whizzer begins to leave his, for Whizzer can suddenly take no more, and is taken out of the room.
Marvin is left alone. He sits and asks the departed Whizzer "What Would I Do if you had not been my friend?" Whizzer appears, dressed as we first saw him, and the two sing together one last time, and then Whizzer is gone. Marvin is comforted by his family, now short a member, as Mendel bids us goodnight from the crazy, sad world known as Falsettoland.
Song list
- Falsettoland
- About Time
- Year of the Child
- Miracle of Judaism
- Watching Jason (Play Baseball)
- A Day in Falsettoland
- Racquetball
- The Fight
- Everyone Hates His Parents
- What More can I Say
- Something Bad is Happening
- More Racquetball
- Holding to the Ground
- Days Like This
- Canceling the Bar Mitzvah
- Unlikely Lovers
- Another Miracle of Judaism
- You Gotta Die Sometime
- Jason's Bar Mitzvah
- What Would I Do?