Over the course of June, I have dedicated every Sunday to exploring the long road that it took William Finn to get Falsettos onto the Broadway stage. Considering that it’s Gay Pride Month, I felt the need to explore a show that I personally feel is the best LGBT musical conceived not only for its touchy subject matter, but also because it does so with a phenomenal balance of humor and sadness, reflecting a story as much about one man’s struggle with his sexuality as it is a story of Judaism and what it means to be a man in a “normal” family.
March of the Falsettos, released in 1981, was the first chapter of The Marvin Trilogy that would make it into the final story. That could be in large part because it was the moment where Finn first met James Lapine: a significant collaborator who helped to make his second musical about a man named Marvin into a character study that’s as strong as the twisted knots that make up these relationships. It was a minor Off-Broadway success, and one that promised to make Finn a household name… eventually. After all, he had been focused on this series since 1975’s In Trousers, which also got a major rewrite following March of the Falsetto’s success.
If there was an issue with Finn up to this point, it was that his one-act plays were fun, but they weren’t necessarily satisfying stories. It’s true that March of the Falsettos is a fun romp, but its ending lacks satisfying closure. In Trousers was also reflective of an artist still finding his voice. Both entries in The Marvin Trilogy didn’t have enough energy to translate to Broadway, yet one by itself would have an underwhelming presence. Everything could’ve ended right there for Finn and Lapine, but there was something that kept coming back to them, making them want to revisit Marvin around 1990.
That something probably had to do with one of the secret gifts that this franchise has: a snapshot of the different eras. In Trousers was about a gay man of the 1970s, where his struggles could easily parallel the culture in direct ways. March of the Falsettos was near the start of a shift in gay culture, and something that was better commented on in Falsettoland. Then again, by 1991 the world was a different place. It would’ve been irresponsible if Finn and Lapine didn’t comment on the AIDS crisis – becoming one of the first musicals to openly do it.
It is also the breaking point for the duo. Maybe it’s because Lapine wrote the book, but there was a significant shift in how the whole project felt. Sure there was a lot of humor, arguably the sharpest in the entire trilogy, but what becomes most impressive was how dire the whole thing felt, taking a relationship that has been growing over 15 years and gives it a tragic third act. It was always founded on a bit of dysfunction, but there was something endearing about Marvin’s relationship to Whizzer Brown. He was the only man who made Marvin happy, and even then he was a neurotic mess.
We’re also two years in the future, and it’s clear that Marvin gave up on his family (though he has his sons on Saturdays) and now lives exclusively with Whizzer. Everyone seems happier, and things seemed to have worked out. There’s even an extended cast that includes two lesbians next door. Even the orchestration feels much stronger, capturing the growth of an artist being allowed to use every tool.
Sure, we don’t have songs like “Four Jews in a Room Bitching,” but Finn has saved his most insightful comments for last. Considering how much of the story is built around Jewish identity, the idea of Jason having a bar mitzvah as the crux of this 70-minute musical is brilliant. Even if it leads to a moment involving the AIDS crisis, it is also a celebration of a boy becoming a man. He has lived under the eye of a dysfunctional family who makes him feel insecure every second of the day. In a story where everyone feels childish, having death parallel this significant moment shows how everyone has grown up so much, realizing the value of life and love.
That is the thing about Falsettoland that makes it essential. Whereas shows like Rent sentimentalize the AIDS epidemic, Finn chose to add humanity and growth. As Whizzer deals with this unknown disease throughout the story, it captures an experience that many homosexuals faced throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was the fear that HIV would destroy their lives, making them weak and helpless to an already judgmental society. For the show to lull into these sad moments without ever becoming overwrought is a gargantuan achievement. The final 20 minutes may be soul-shattering, but it’s because of how much value we’ve come to recognize in Marvin and Whizzer’s relationship. They may be imperfect, but they were more than queer characters. They were humans, experiencing familiar struggles that had nothing to do with orientation.
That is why the opening is especially jarring. Finn thankfully has a gift for knowing how to attract his audience. By the end of each opening number, you have something that is empathetic, that you can latch onto and help you navigate this journey. In “Welcome to Falsettoland,” Marvin opens by singing:
HomosexualsWomen with childrenShort insomniacsAnd a teeny tiny bandCome, right inThe welcome mat is on the floorLet's, beginThis story needs an ending
While this comes across as the most self-aware chapter in The Marvin Trilogy, it comes with its own cryptic point. Along with the next passage that suggests that only boys live in Falsettoland, it creates this sense that things aren’t going to be as pleasant this time around. For starters, the lyrics are more sparse, and the choice to comment on this story needing an ending can both serve as a literal nod to The Marvin Trilogy, but also is reflective of many things in the story. It’s all a form of closure to have Marvin finally mature, Jason to become a man, for Whizzer to die. These are things that have been playing out for years, and they need to end for the next chapter of life to begin.
It starts off with a lot of great establishment songs. “Miracle of Judaism” in particular finds Jason talking to his step-father/psychiatrist Mendel about his bar mitzvah. There’s jokes about getting girls from the other side of the tracks, and there is this playfulness that Jason was missing with Marvin. There’s clearly some fulfillment and character growth in those two years, and it makes Marvin seem more tragic. He’s the deadbeat father, but maybe it was worth it when Mendel understood him better. But if Whizzer dies, what will he have?
To be honest, a sign of Finn’s growth as an artist comes best in “Watching Jason (Baseball).” On the surface it’s the familiar repetition of “We’re sitting and watching Jason play baseball” as the adult characters watch Jason missing pitches. However, the harmonies grow eager as intertwining plots begin to fit in. This is more than a moment to give Jason self-confidence. This is also where Marvin and Whizzer appear, making a scene in front of Marvin’s ex Trina as she comments:
Just what I wanted at a Little League gameMy ex-husband’s ex-lover!Isn’t that what every mother dreams aboutHaving at a Little League game’
Again, it’s the clashing of adult situations with youthful activities, distracting each other from what’s important (Jason playing baseball). The way that Finn manages to juggle every second of this song is amazing, eventually showing how Whizzer can reach Jason through some personal advice. Nobody has a conventional arc here, and it’s so wonderful to watch them all take away something different from this moment. It’s also very funny, especially given that Trina had just gotten her life together since Marvin left. She was only really dealing with him to help pay for the bar mitzvah.
At the crossroads of the second half is Whizzer’s declining health. As he dies of an unspecific disease, though the audience knows it to be AIDS, we watch a painful side of love. For the first time, it’s Marvin wallowing over the health of others, putting their joy over his own, and the self-sacrifice becomes very clear as the hospital bed becomes a central location to the story. We hear Marvin and Whizzer sing to each other the painful acceptance of this moment, unable to really let go.
They question what their relationship truly means to each other, and it becomes a serious debate that Finn has been having since In Trousers: what does it mean to be happy? To recall that original show, the song “In Trousers” posited that there would always be one person sad and left alone. Even if Finn never intended it to be about Whizzer, it feels haunting in hindsight, as Marvin once again is on the precipice of being alone. Only this time, it comes with a mature acceptance.
It also comes with the strangest bar mitzvah ever in Broadway history. Because of Jason’s affection for Whizzer, they have it in the hospital. Everything else is the same, including the reading of the Torah. However, it ends with the passing of one life and the birth of another man. There’s acceptance that Marvin needs to be a better father, and it comes at the end of an emotional clamoring so rich that you are left stunned, unable to really speak.
It all builds to “What Would I Do,” which comes as the moment of closure not only for the show, but for Marvin and Whizzer, who duet over the happiness that they brought each other:
What would I doIf I had not loved you?How would I know what love is?God only knowsToo soon, I'll remember your faultsMeanwhile, though, it's tears and schmaltzThere are no answers, butWhat would I doIf you had not been my friend?
It’s one of those great questions that we have to ask about everyone in our lives. This kind of stuff makes you believe in fate, that something is guiding souls together and that we’ve met for a reason. As the moment brings with it the end that was promised in “Welcome to Falsettoland,” it’s the death of childhood, the start of something more mature and honest. Everyone has gone through experiences that make them appreciate the value of each other’s lives.
Whereas Finn did music, lyrics, and book for the previous three, having Lapine do the book here may have been for the best. While he’s directed Finn’s work in the past, this personal collaboration allowed for some personal depth on a narrative level that is unsurpassed. You don’t have to see March of the Falsettos to feel the emotional weight of Falsettoland, though it does paint a fuller picture, of a life that has lived through years and struggles.
Unlike In Trousers, it makes sense to pair this chapter of The Marvin Trilogy with March of the Falsettos. This isn’t only because of how thematically the music flows together, but just that it best captures something direct in the narrative. This isn’t just a queer love story, but a study of Judaism as well as various minor themes like love and maturity. You come out in awe of how this dysfunctional family turned things around by the end, able to grow and become better people. The reason that In Trousers feels like a crass addendum is because it’s about the self, only ever to understand juvenile emotion. It’s not enough to compliment the other two.
Considering that it had a successful run in 1990, it’s easy to see why things were looking up. Finn had finally landed on a formula that worked for him, able to take all of these subjects and make one of the funniest and saddest musicals of the 1990s. This was what a near two-decades of effort culminated in, and the results are beautiful, honest, and one of the most compassionate looks of love. The Marvin Trilogy, as unorthodox as it may seem, deserved to have an ending that was more than existential dread. It deserved to have a deeper understanding, and with that, Finn finally learned how to make us care.
While this has been a study of The Marvin Trilogy, I would be remiss if I didn’t explore the final product: Falsettos. Closing out False Start will be a look at the final show and the culmination of a character who was looking for worth only to realize that it took time. I’m personally thankful that it took Finn this long to land on the right ending, though I’m just as sad that reality made it the only reasonable endpoint. Still, because of his intuition, he was able to make one of the landmark LGBT musicals in history. Not bad for a show about homosexuals, women with children, short insomniacs, and a teeny tiny band.
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