“Falsettos” – family, and extended family

Hitting the high notes

“Falsettos” on stage at the Ahmanson Theatre, a review

To some extent, you get double your money’s worth with “Falsettos,” currently through May 19 at the Ahmanson Theatre. This sung-through musical, a modern day light opera, has a book written by William Finn and James Lapine, with Finn also composing the music and lyrics. Lapine (best known for his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim) is the director.

If the work seems to run a little long (over two-and-a-half hours) that’s largely because “Falsettos” is essentially two short musicals melded into one. “March of the Falsettos” was Finn and Lapine’s 1981 creation. They then took up the story in 1990 for “Falsettoland.” Two years later they combined the two, and here we are. The current incarnation is the North American Tour of the Lincoln Center Theatre Broadway production, which was nominated for five Tony Awards in the fall of 2016.

The sequence of events in the story is reminiscent of musical chairs, the way relationships are formed, lost, balanced, redressed, etc. While “Falsettos” is mildly engaging on its own terms, what gives it heft and resonance are the lead performers: Max von Essen as Marvin, Eden Espinosa as Trina (you’ll remember her as Elphaba in “Wicked”), Nick Adams as Whizzer, Nick Blaemire as Mendel, and to some extent Thatcher Jacobs as Jason (a role he co-shares with Jonah Mussolino, whom I did not see). The second act contains limited roles for Audrey Cardwell as Cordelia and Bryonha Marie Parham as Dr. Charlotte.

Marvin and his wife Trina have a son, Jason, but what might have been a fine, traditional marriage comes apart at the seams when Marvin falls in love with Whizzer. During this transition from straight white male to budding homosexual Marvin and Trina visit Mendel, a therapist. After Marvin moves in with Whizzer, Mendel moves in on Trina. Marvin is not happy about his therapist becoming the surrogate father of his son, and in fact Marvin wants to retain a normal relationship with his boy (never mind that he’s divorced Trina for a male lover). If this is beginning to sound like Jewish angst, well, it is. But clearly Marvin is conflicted, and somewhere early on we hear him singing, “I want it all!”

On the face of it, a therapist beginning a love affair with a client is highly unprofessional, but Mendel doesn’t come across as opportunistic. Although Trina has her showstopper, “I’m Breaking Down” (which Espinosa performs splendidly), she eases happily into her new marriage. In short, you find love where you find it.

Marvin, trying to cling to the most important aspect of his former life, sings “Father to Son” with Jason, but this last song in act one borders on the sappy.

During intermission the calendar has gone from 1979 to 1981, and Jason is now preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, which at first he doesn’t want. Maybe he sees all the pitfalls that being a grownup entails and so wants to put off the inevitable plunge.

In some ways, though, Jason might serve as the moral center of “Falsettos.” He’s the dumping ground of everyone’s affections (not only his mother and father, and then Mendel, but also Whizzer, who almost becomes another surrogate father). Additionally, he represents the future, and it’s fitting that late in the play, when Whizzer is succumbing to AIDS, Jason goes ahead with his Bar Mitzvah and becomes a “man” just as Whizzer is forfeiting his life.

The “lesbians next door” (Cordelia and Dr. Charlotte) is the one piece of the puzzle that seems a bit forced, and we may even wonder if the reason it’s a lesbian couple is in some ways to counterbalance Marvin and Whizzer’s same-sex relationship. If you aren’t a critic trying to write something for a newspaper you may gloss over this fact, and focus on the so-called “interconnectedness” of all things when Dr. Charlotte eventually tends to the ailing Whizzer.

I’ll mention the set, designed by David Rockwell, which is comprised of several large box-like blocks, the kind that children play with, only supersized in this show. These building blocks are reconfigured into different shapes and forms throughout, and thus reflect the ever-changing relationships, which are “building blocks” of a human sort. The effect is enhanced by Jeff Croiter’s lighting effects. Also, the choreography, by Spencer Liff, with associated choreographer Ellenore Scott, is admirable throughout.

While the second half of “Falsettos” descends a little into the maudlin, and even into a topic that might currently seem passé (although the burgeoning AIDS crisis could stand as a metaphor of any sudden and debilitating illness or catastrophe), what buoys the story and keeps it afloat are all those things I’ve been mentioning: the talents and skills of the cast and the technical crew. One may not have an inherent interest in the lives of the characters, but the production itself is thoroughly first-rate. And that, of course, always counts for a lot.

Falsettos is onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles in the Music Center. Performances Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. There’s an additional show on Thursday, May 16, at 2 p.m. Closes Sunday, May 19, with the matinee. Dark Monday. Tickets, $135 to $30. Call (213) 972-4400 or go to CenterTheatreGroup.org. ER

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