Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#1Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 1:03am
Falsettos is a very special show. It's post intellectual Sondheim and pre stream of conscious Fun Home...it's one of the musicals that changed the rules in terms of how musical story telling could be structured and proved people were ready to hear more conversational lyrics and melodies also gay stories that were still on the fringe at the time....it's important....much more important than what you'll see if you go to the revival at the Walter Kerr Theatre this fall on Broadway.
This is largely to do with one thing....but when doing this show it's the most important....THE CASTING! This show is so specific, these characters have to be lived in not stereotypes, they need to be funny, sad, weird, flawed, REAL PEOPLE, that's the only way it works. This casting is just not right for this revival. Christian Borle, a very talented performer, just doesn't have the alpha male, stubborn, selfish, egocentric quality to pull off Marvin in the first act which is a problem. He sails in the second act when true love changes Marvin so songs like 'What more can I say' are lovely, but there is no real progression in terms of him slowly opening his heart. Marvin's journey is essential to the plot which is missing here. He has never played this kind of character in his theater career, so it's puzzling as to why he was chosen. Andrew Rannells, very funny in The Book of Mormon and in some tv roles, is the true weak spot here....Whizzer i supposed to be a hunk, someone with quiet confidence, a social climber with anger issues, stuck on himself. Andrew is not a Whizzer...he's cute and camp, he's whiney and sarcastic...all the stereotypically gay things tv capitalizes on. Plus he's a burst into song kind of guy, i get it in Mormon, thats the way it was written, it was funny there. Here, he is absolutely out of his league in terms of conversational singing and flat out vocal ability. And he has a modern pop sound that is at odds with Whizzer's material, especially 'You gotta die sometime'. Plus he just isn't the kind of actor that digs into a character...he plays surface humor much better. You never believe him. He and Borle have no chemistry. It just doesn't work and unfortunately kills the production. James Lapine had to have known this during auditions. This seems like a case of something that is happening a lot these days in theater...name recognition over talent. Brandon Uranowitz fares much better as Mendel, at least he is the right type. But he lacks the quirk of someone like Chip Zein so he never feels like a real person and hardly gets the laughs the character should get. He also is just not believable as a therapist. Stephanie J. Block sings Trina marvelously and is probably the best casting choice of the bunch, but her characterization lacks dimension. You don't go on the emotional journey with her the way you did with Barbra Walsh. She doesn't show the hurt and damage Trina should feel so you don't get the healing quality she should exude in the second act when she is with Mendel. Tracie Thoms and Betsy Wolfe are forgettable as Dr. Charlotte and her lover Cordelia. It's like they were told to bring it so far down that they couldn't show personality. Carolee Carmello was brimming with life when she did the show. And no one has a natural voice like Miss Heather MacRae did. Anthony Rosenthal is too young for the role of Jason, but talented. He is more just saying lines here. He isn't expressing any kind of feeling or going on a journey, but he has his charms.
The set is clever...a large square made up of blocks in all different shapes that fit together like the toy you see in most children's playroom. Each piece can be taken out and used as a chair, a couch, a combination can create a doorway and dozens of other sett pieces. It's minimal in gray, and made of material that allows actors to topple them, throw them, kick them around and not make any noise. But it's devoid of any color and that is all there is on the stage besides a very cheap looking New York Skyline silhouette that moves up and down.
The whole production looks cheap. The costumes are very bland for a show that makes reference to people being rich in the lyrics...and doesn't really signify any real time period even though it says 1978 in the script and the 1980's in the second act....it looks like they went to H and M and bought off the wrack.
It also sounds cheap. The orchestrations of the tiny band don't quite play like they might have 20 years ago and the music direction is sloppy. This needs much more precision to make the characters come alive. At one point Tracie Thoms starts riffing during 'Something Bad is Happening'...that is unnecessary and not in the score I'm sure.
This is a missed opportunity for sure. Part of that in the choice of Lapine as the director....don't get me wrong the man is a legend and a genius, he's part author of this piece, but it needed someone who was going to rediscover it and bring out all the things that make it even more relevant in terms of its historical context. like what Bart Sher brings to R and H. Sometimes the creator isn't the best and reinvestigation. That certainly happened in this case.
What is wonderful to hear is that genius score by Will Finn...so ahead of its time, witty, real, dark, funny, imperfect and often times gorgeous. glad to see it back on broadway
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#2Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 12:22pm
To be fair, they aren't even a week into previews. Let them work out the kinks.
MinnieFay
Stand-by Joined: 5/19/16
#3Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 12:26pm
Good thing you started a whole new thread. Because god knows there aren't enough existing FALSETTOS threads...
#4Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 12:34pm
I second the gushing appreciation for this new thread, solely dedicated to your incredibly cogent and pithy review in which you spell the composer/lyricist's name wrong.
Updated On: 10/5/16 at 12:34 PM
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#5Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 4:23pm
Alex, absolutely agree. Sorry I didn't mention that fact in my review. They are also doing a lot up there in terms of pulling pieces out of the cube and setting the scene throughout. its intricate and at this point they are probably just trying to get the tracking down.
Minnie Fay, I didn't see the other thread so I created one. it's not a crime, I didn't do it maliciously. I'm not exactly sure why you seem offended by it. And your sarcasm seems really unnecessary. If you have thoughts about the show post them. Be great to hear what you thought.
New in Town. Thanks for letting me know. I corrected that error. You've blasted me before for simply expressing my opinions on a theater chat board and you hardly ever actually strike up a convo about why you disagree...that's why we post here. Debate or move on man. Nothing personal.
#6Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 4:27pm
Thank you for using paragraph breaks.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#8Falsettos Broadway (spoilers)
Posted: 10/5/16 at 5:20pm
My, my, my... such a defensive standing ovation.
After five years on this site, you couldn't possibly big ignorant of the fact that multiple threads on the same topic are unloved. And look! The Falsettos thread is mere inches below this one!
And I'm more than 100% sure that I have never ever ever "blasted" you for merely "expressing an opinion." I grant that I probably have wryly chided you for less-than-brilliant acts like starting a redundant thread or misspelling "Finn" (and I'll probably do it again, I imagine). That sort of thing could only be seen as "blasting" by an over-coddled millennial who is afraid of triggers and microagression. And I'm sure that doesn't describe you, right?
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