Live from Lincoln Center preserved William Finn and James Lapine’s musical about a family struggling to remain “tight-knit,” eventually redefining what "family" means in difficult times.
The cast is headed by two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten!, Peter and the Starcatcher) as Marvin, Tony nominee Stephanie J. Block (Wicked, Drood) as Trina, and Tony nominee Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon) as Whizzer, with Tracie Thoms (Rent) as Dr. Charlotte, Betsy Wolfe (The Last Five Years) as Cordelia, Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz (An American in Paris) as Mendel, and Anthony Rosenthal (A Christmas Story) as Jason.
Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) joined forces with Jujamcyn Theaters to bring the Tony Award-winning musical back to Broadway for a limited engagement at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
Check out production photos from the revival below:
This production marks a reunion for producer Bishop, composer/lyricist Finn, and playwright/director Lapine. In 1981, while artistic director of Playwrights Horizons, Bishop produced Finn and Lapine’s new one-act musical, March of the Falsettos, in the Off-Broadway theatre’s second floor 75-seat space. It eventually moved to Playwrights Horizons’ larger downstairs theatre for an extended engagement before enjoying a long run Off-Broadway at what was then known as the Westside Arts Theatre.
Fast forward to 1990, when a second new musical by Finn and Lapine, Falsettoland, dealing with most of the same characters, opened at Playwrights Horizons. Falsettoland repeated the success of its predecessor with rave reviews and a move to the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
In 1992, the two one-act musicals — the first, about Marvin's decision to leave wife Trina for his lover Whizzer; the second, about planning a bar mitzvah for Marvin and Trina's son Jason while the reality of the AIDS crisis hits home — were combined into one and opened on Broadway as Falsettos, ran for over a year at the John Golden Theatre, and won Tony Awards for Finn’s score and Finn and Lapine’s book. The production also included a song from an even earlier chapter in the Marvin story, In Trousers, which also originated at Playwrights Horizons in 1979. The original Broadway company was led by Michael Rupert, Chip Zien, Stephen Bogardus, Heather MacRae, Carolee Carmello, and Barbara Walsh.
The revival of Falsettos is directed once again by Lapine. The production also has choreography by Spencer Liff, sets by David Rockwell, costumes by Jennifer Caprio, lighting by Jeff Croiter, sound by Dan Moses Schreier, and musical direction by Vadim Feichtner, conducting Michael Starobin’s original orchestrations.
Falsettos, according to press notes, is “the story of the charming, neurotic Marvin, who struggles to find an unconventional and loving extended family after leaving his wife and son for his lover Whizzer.”
