Vatican Lokey in Falsettos

The Triviality of Intimacy

Falsettos, the William Finn, James Lapine opera (every word is sung, what else can it be?) recently staged at Le Petit, begins with an upbeat number called "Four Jews in a Room Bitching." Obviously, the song is humorous, not in a wildly camp or satiric way, but in a self-abasing, laughter-at-our-own-expense vein characteristic of New York Jewish humor. And, in fact, these Jews are middle-class professional types (and one adoclescent boy) from the Big Apple in 1979.

The opening number sets the tone for all that follows; this opera will be an intimate, slice-of-life look at a "typical" third-generation New York Jewish family told with a depreciating, familiar jocularity in a musical idiom that wants to stay popular, and, at the same time, sneak upward toward more demanding realms.

I put typical in quotes, because on eof the selling points of Falsettos is its daring. In this family, the husband has left his wife and son to run off with his male lover. Perhaps I've been living in New Orleans too long, but my pulse didn't start racing at shocked indignation at this news. And, after all, the play is very "New York"--so I guess the rest of the country has long since caught up with is in that area (one of the few, it seems, in which we were ahead of the curve).
In any case, the abandoned wife visits the husband's psychiatrist, who falls in love with her--thereby completing an erotic moebius strip that the characters spend the rest of the play trying to unravel.
But before going on with my feelings about Falsettos, I'd like to stop and consider the production--first of all, because I was grateful for the chance to see it. This odd little opera--a bold and ambitious undertaking by Sonny Borey and company--certainly deserved the support of everyone who wants local theatres to step out and take chances. Secondly, the production was excellent. Derek Franklin's direction, Bill Walker's set design, and Debby Simeon's costumes supported the work of a top-rate cast that performed with verve and assurance.
As Marvin, the husband, Jimmy Murphy was believeable as a gay man hoping to live out his own sexuality while deeply attached to his role as a father.
Vatican Lokey gave a compelling performance as Whizzer, the doomed, cynical hedonist who ultimately acknowledges his love for Marvin. The duets between these two provided some of the more arresting moments in the show.

In the straight camp, Kristopher Kael gave Mendel, the psychiatrist, a gentle warmth and whimsicality that made his sudden, easy assumption of his former patient's family plausible. Chris Lusk showed that Trina, the disappointed wife, had a core of strength beneath her bewilderment. Thirteen-year-old Brian Bell created a spunky, likeable Jason, the precocious son. Finally, Jennifer Richardson and Amy Alvarez were a genial pair of "lesbians from next door".
Getting back to the play, Falsettos does off a glimpse at a postmodern New York Jewish middle-class nuclear family struggling with the kinds of imbroglios one has come to expect on afternoon talk shows, but the problem is that is also verges on living up the the promise of the opening number. The intimate too often becomes the trivial. Of course, there is nothing wrong with an unheroic opera. We don't need an Egyptian princess entombed alive. But an aria about who should be invited to the bar mitzvah--especially when taken at face value as a true family crisis--does tend to leave one a bit underwhelmed,
even if sung with considerable skill and conviction. In a sense, the homosexual theme masks the uneventfulness of the proceedings. Substitute a woman for Whizzer (the male lover), and you've got pretty thin chicken soup to ladle out over two and a half hours of uninterrupted song.
Actually, the real problem might be in that extra half-hour of playing time. There are memorable songs, honest emotions and interesting scenes in Falsettos. In fact, at times it seems like a good, small play weighed down by extraneous and repetitious numbers--a miniaure lost in a huge packing crate. According to the playbill, Falsettos actually is two separate on the same theme that have been combined--not combined enough, if you ask me.

Midway into the second act, Falsettos darkens with the arrival of AIDS. The disease brings with it a new somberness and depth. Even the bar mitzvah finally takes on signifigance. Belatedly, these characters escape the trivial and are forced to grow up. We would care more if they didn't take quite so long to get there.

Le Petit Theatre has mounted an excellent production of William Finn's strange hybrid musical comedy called Falsettos which won a Tony Award for best Book and Score in 1992. Although Mr. Finn wrote both words and music for the through sung work, he shares the book writing credit with James Lapine, the original director. For Le Petit's version of this mini-musical with a cast of seven, Derek Franklin has served as director, musical director and conductor and has done a superb job, especially in the musical department, which, for such a seemingly simple work, is actually quite sophisticated and complex -think Stephen Sondheim.

Working closely with the theatre's Technical Director/Designer Bill Walker, Mr. Franklin has positioned his musical ensemble in a loft above the stage (which was too ambitious an endeavor for the last musical offering of New Orleans' oldest community theatre - Grand Hotel) and, with the invaluable aid of sound designer Cliff Strohmeyer, the theatre seems to have solved its musical sound problems. Falsettos, at any rate, fits comfortably into the French Quarter theatre and sounds perfect, or as close to perfection as one may get in a non-professional situation. Actually, there is nothing "non-professional" about this production.

The family values Falsettos espouses are decidedly liberal - Marvin (Jimmy Murphy), although married to Trina (Chris Lusk) and the father of a (precociously charming) pre-adolescent named Jason (Brian Bell) has fallen for another man, Whizzer (a charmingly subdued Vatican Lokey). His psychiatrist, Mendel (Kris Shaw, aka Kristopher Kael), falls for his wife and ultimately marries her. All of this transpires in the first act which occurs in 1979. Jason lives with his mother but spends the weekends with his father and Whizzer and likes Whizzer the best. Act Two, 1981, introduces two new characters - the next door Lesbian lovers Dr. Charlotte (Jennifer Richardson) and Chef Cordelia (Amy Alvarez), so as to introduce a new disease - AIDS -here called "Something Bad Is Happening," which, of course, infects Whizzer. But instead of destroying the cohesion of this extended family, the illness actually
brings all together; that is, when Jason finally decides to have his Bar Mitzvah in Whizzer's hospital room. Jason becomes a man who is not homophobic and everybody lives happily ever after I guess - or until Whizzer finally dies (since this is taking place in 1981 and we know that virtually everyone infected with HIV in that year has long since died) which we do not witness.

Although William Finn has created what is virtually a full length opera, (and spent over a decade doing it) the self-deprecating wit of New York Jews suffuses the work with humor - the words are at all times cogent, witty and easily understood - words and music fit together cleverly and charmingly and with no on stage death, the play remains a musical comedy, although its uniqueness - it is neither campy nor outrageous and pretends at all times to be heartfelt and sincere - is what is off-putting. One may deeply admire and respect the work, but one remains removed and untouched emotionally. The AIDS theme, totally lacking in the first part, also tends to date the piece now, with the AIDS epidemic seemingly under control, at least within the Gay white population.

With its fluid staging utilizing castored contemporary furniture, Derek Franklin's production of Falsettos is a cerebral exercise - an ensemble piece that is greater than the sum of its many parts - a period piece that is a joy to experience.