Falsettos

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a revival of a much loved show now playing again on Broadway after a long rest.  Falsettos, a book by James Lapine with music and lyrics by William Finn returns to Broadway with great fanfare.  The show is actually two shorter plays, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland combined into one musical.  It seems that in a rush to the stage with the subject matter, Mr. Lapine threw it all together without much thought as to what would look like.  It's cute, tender, and touching - yes.  However, the requisite "he's dying from AIDS" storyline seems a bit disjointed, sloppy, and thrown on the stage in a rush to get it before the public.

Marvin seems a bit mis-cast (Christian Borle).  He's a bit older, he was (tragically) married and has a kid - it was the generation for such nonsense i suppose.   Wizzer (Andrew Rannells) is younger, sexier, and quite clearly gets around as it were.  Even the name of the character seems a bit dated, to be honest.  The performance I attended was quite unique in the fact that both Stephanie J. Block (Trina) and her understudy Courtney Balan (Trina).  A second understudy Stephanie Umoh (Trina) with a mere 2 hours of rehearsal time went on - script in hand.  I was nervous for the first 15 minutes but soon realized she was not going to miss a note, a step, or a line.  In fact she was fantastic.

I sort of wish the entire show was as rewarding as watching an actor really executing her craft with aplomb.  I still do not really know exactly what the falsettos are or were or represent.  Bizarre to say the least.  I think the best character and actor on stage was perhaps Mendel (Brandon Uranowitz).  By far he seems to be comfortable in his own shoes in this show.

While I enjoyed the overall performance, it left me with a feeling of being incomplete, unexplained at times, and disjointed.  The actors seemed mostly mis-cast and the lack of set (mostly a geometric block of shapes that fit together to all sorts of un-identified formations) did not do the production and favors.  I don't see this one lasting very long.  But stranger things have happened.

The Book of Mormon

Previews just started on what I firmly believe is going to be the best new musical of the season!  Without a doubt, a clever, intelligent, and completely irreverent book written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame and Robert Lopez of the Tony Award winning Avenue Q fame.   Did I mention it's irreverent?  In 2 1/2 short hours they manage to skewer the entire Mormon religion, all the while your gut is busting from all the laugh out loud moments.  Behind it all there's a message about religion, humanity, faith and community. Now how awesome is that?!

As you would suspect, the story is about the required mission that all young Mormon boys must take when they turn 18 - in this story - Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) and Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and their wild trip to Uganda in Africa.  Did I mention the play is irreverent?  To take a quote from another show, "Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night".  By the time they meet up with Elder McKinley (Rory O'Malley) and a village of Ugandans including Nabulung (Nikki M. James), Mafala Hatambi (Michael Potts) - your side is already throbbing from the infectious laughter.  The entire ensemble cast is divided into two - the local Mormon mission and the local African villagers.

The other adorably handsome boys at the mission never fail to entertain and delight - filling both acts with rousing, big-Broadway dance numbers - including some rousing tap with shiny pink sequin vests (yes, it's occasionally more than your basic black and white outfits for these boys).  The local Ugandan villagers start us off with a great African inspired number titled Fuck God - and the temperature in the theatre heats up from there.  When the two groups meet up it's double the singing, dancing, dream sequences and insults all around.  I mean, seriously, there's a lot to laugh about when it comes to Mormons!

No spoiler alert needed here - I won't give away Matt, Trey, Robert or the ever-brilliant choreographer, Casey Nicholaw's, big-Broadway secrets.  If you want to see a deliciously entertaining new Broadway musical chock full of blasphemous humor, adorably handsome Mormon boys and an African village filled with AIDS - get your tickets for this Book today.  Did I mention it's irreverent?

WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO FOR MORE BACKGROUND ON THE SHOW: