Court and TimeLine’s “Falsettos,” with Jackson Evans, Sarah Bockel and Charlie Long/Photo: Michael Brosilow
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The most thrilling number, among many, in this joyful production may be the Act I ensemble anthem that might be called “Why Don’t You Feel Alright for the Rest of Your Life?” It’s actually a song-within-the-song “Jason’s Therapy,” in which the show’s adults offer a lesson to young Jason—and themselves—during a therapy session. The song sets the exuberant tone for the show and grows into a leitmotif, that holds the characters and this electrifying production aloft.
This production of “Falsettos,” now at Court Theatre, is a first and fruitful collaboration between the University of Chicago’s professional theater and the North Side’s TimeLine Theatre Company. (TimeLine is currently without its own stage while it awaits the completion of its new building in Uptown.) Nick Bowling, TimeLine’s associate artistic director, directs and brings nuanced emotions, color and velocity to this heart-raising and heartbreaking coming-out and coming-of-age story. Written by William Finn (music, lyrics and book) and James Lapine (book), “Falsettos” premiered in 1992 and is set against the early days of the AIDS epidemic. It balances gravity with hilarity in a still relevant story of an unorthodox family grappling with their individual and collective identities and relationships.
The show centers around Marvin (Stephen Schellhardt), who has left his yearning wife Trina (Sarah Bockel) and wants the “normalcy” of a close traditional family along with his hot (very) male lover Whizzer (Jack Ball) on the side and in the family. Good luck. Mendel (Jackson Evans), Marvin’s slightly hapless and neurotic psychiatrist, falls for Trina, who immediately falls for and marries him. Marvin’s and Trina’s precocious son, Jason (Charlie Long on the night I saw the show, but alternating with Eli Vander Griend), is wise to them all. The lesbians next door, Dr. Charlotte (Sharriese Hamilton) and her lover Cordelia (Elizabeth Stenholt) arrive in Act Two. They begin as comic relief until Dr. Charlotte, Cassandra-like, sees in her clinic—”something terrible… passed from man to man.”
Court and TimeLine’s “Falsettos,” with Sharriese Hamilton and Elizabeth Stenholt/Photo: Michael Brosilow
The show is filled with knowing Jewish jokes and references—some by now cringy—but beautifully discussed (and more) in the excellent program notes. The drama turns in part on Jason’s bar mitzvah as the adults around him fight about it and their identities and relationships.
“Falsettos” is through-sung (nearly no spoken dialog), wonderfully guided by the music direction of Otto Vogel, and is filled with multiple show-stoppers from Trina’s “I’m Breaking Down”—a boiling collapse in song, to the intimate, post-coital love song of Marvin and Whizzer, “What More Can I Say?” to the gorgeously sung quartet, “Unlikely Lovers” of Marvin, Whizzer, Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia. One doesn’t notice the operatic, sung-through convention, because lyricist Finn’s very smart conversations-in-song feel natural.
The cast is universally superb and delivers intimacy, emotional truths and comedy. Every detail is mined—from the colorful, eighties costumes and set (with a loud Pride stripe, which winks at our time) to the color-coordinated, and fabulously used roller skates—to the expert choreography and athleticism of the cast. Bowling’s detailed direction and William Carlos Angulo’s movement keep the feelings real and the energy high.
Ironically, America’s recent and more accepting cultural landscape might have made the show feel like a quaint relic, but the uncertainty of our political climate suddenly makes the themes extra poignant again. “Falsettos” is an important reminder of the power of love. It’s the perfect lesson at this imperfect time.
Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre Company’s “Falsettos” is through December 8 at Court Theatre, 5535 South Ellis. Showtimes: Wednesday-Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday-Sunday 2pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $58-$90, available by calling (773)753-4472 or at courttheatre.org.
