Who knows how much energy I have... I'm not sure if I have it in me for a full-throated defense of FALSETTOS, but this is a strong, original, moving musical.
Bill Finn is a truth teller, first and foremost, and that continues to make MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS / FALSETTOLAND really stand out from the crowd, particularly the latter. We simply don't have a whole lot of musicals which aim to ruminate on something as generic and universal as 'love,' yet manage to do so with such a fresh, acerbic, pessimistic / optimistic voice. That was DEFINITELY true in 1982 / 1990. What should surprise many of us is that it's still true today.
Radar123, those weren't platitudes. If anything, what FALSETTOS did so beautifully was shoot holes in the oh-so-limited platitudes that we'd been taught up to that point. We'd never had a musical that treated same sex relationships as ordinary.
I think the writing style of FALSETTOS certainly isn't for everyone, but I find it original, fresh, insightful and telling. Mr. Finn's sweet and sour recipe -- bright and optimistic lyrics on top of cynical, even sad music -- feels like real life to me.
More importantly, it's stunning to look back at the ways AIDS was ravaging the nation, and the NYC gay male community in particular, and see how Mr. Finn found the heart to write about it with such specificity and pathos without ever tipping toward maudlin. In this aspect, FALSETTOLAND was a stunning achievement.
I'd never seen this show professionally staged before, so I had relatively basic expectations for this Lincoln Center cast. I do agree that Andrew Rannells was probably miscast, but my god, so many of these other players brought fantastic moments to the work. Christian Borle played it truthfully, more than anything. "What More Can i Say?" was wonderfully unfussy and sincere. Stephanie J. Block absolutely wowed me. She was stellar. I was floored by how well she managed to communicate the complexity of Trina's thinking / her evolution toward acceptance. And I thought Brandon Uranowitz was exceptional.
And yes, "I'm Breaking Down" should have earned Ms. Block a Tony Award. I rewatched it ten times.
- GMB |
