Daniel Boys and Oliver Savile in Falsettos at The Other Palace, London. Pictures: Standout Company
Falsettos continues at The Other Palace, London until 23 November 2019.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
If love really can tell a million stories, to use the show’s tag line, then Falsettos is close on being the ultimate tale of one sad, joyous and tragic relationship all woven beautifully into a wider family picture, the cast being cleverly framed, when off-stage as the production’s backdrop.
Played out on a chessboard stage, the characters are pawns to their fate, their past, present and future decided by matters both within and outside their control. The show’s origins stem from when William Finn originally conceived In Trousers, a one-act musical performed on Broadway back in 1979, then a few years later, collaborating with James Lapine, Finn created two additional, one-act shows, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, premiering off-Broadway in 1982 and 1990.
In thankfully more enlightened 2019, it’s hard to imagine the moral furore that greeted what would have been a pretty brave piece of theatre back in 1991. Producing a musical about a Jewish man who leaves his wife for another man while still clinging onto his son and staying in contact with his ex-wife was clearly edgy back in the day.
Therein lies a slight problem in that this show’s main message is really now taken for granted by younger generations without even a second thought so in creative reality, it comes across as part musical, part redundant history lesson. But, its cast is joyous, not least the superb Joel Montague as Mendel, the meddlesome and somewhat comic psychiatrist. Any actor whose mannerisms remind you of comedy greats John Candy and Oliver Hardy must be doing something right.
Falsetto’s success all hinges on the credibility of the on, off, on again relationship between ex-husband Marvin and his younger beau, Whizzer, played by Daniel Boys and Oliver Savile respectively. The best accolade you can give is that you never doubt their sincerity and depth of love for one another for a minute the whole evening. When they unite early on, to sing ‘The Thrill of First Love’, their on-stage chemistry is immediately apparent.
As for the musical numbers, there’s 39 listed in the programme, so you know there’s going to be something for every taste. For sheer tragic comedy set to a tune, you won’t get much better than ‘I’m Breaking Down’, performed by the excellent Laura Pitt-Pulford as Trina, the jilted wife, watching her life unravel and hitting ‘the sauce’.
As the grim reaper in the form of the so called ‘gay disease’ comes knocking on the door, the show has its most touching, tender moment, ironically in the most depressing of settings, a hospital ward. ‘Unlikely Lovers’, performed by Marvin, Whizzer and couple Charlotte (Gemma Knight Jones) and Cordelia (Natasha J Barnes) is just glorious, nailing the production’s entire moral philosophy in just a few flawless minutes.
It’s not all sadness and gloom, how could it be when it focuses on a Jewish family, there are some great comic moments along the way including ‘The Baseball Game’ which pokes fun at the acknowledged lack of Jewish boys’ sporting prowess. Jason, played by the impressively audacious and very cheeky Albert Atack, provides the perfect youthful antidote throughout evening to all the adult angst around him.
This production, directed by Tara Overfield-Wilkinson, has had a fair bit of criticism due to its scarcity of Jewish actors, but the acid test of any show surely has to be the talent quotient of its cast, not their ethnicity. Given that, there’s nothing false about Falsettos.
Derek Smith
Tickets for Falsettos at The Other Palace are available HERE.
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