Keegan’s ‘Falsettos’ Is Heartbreak Done Right
Keegan's passionate march through "Falsettos" sings of the joys of chosen family while leaning into the agonies of divorce.
As musical protagonists go, Marvin, the central figure of William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony-winning Falsettos, is not exactly lovable. He’s no Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but the guy does cheat on his wife Trina, and walks out on her and their 10-year-old son Jason, to shack up with his gay lover Whizzer.
At perhaps his lowest, he hauls off and hits his ex. Still, flawed but not forsaken, Marvin is held dear by Whizzer, by Jason, by his lesbian friends Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia, and, in spite of it all, by Trina, who, again and again, grants him forgiveness.
Yet, the bitter chill of the couple’s breakup and divorce lingers over their respective attempts to move on with their lives. And that chill wind blows through Keegan Theatre’s impassioned new production of Finn and Lapine’s landmark sung-through musical.
Staged in the wake of composer, lyricist, and co-book writer Finn’s very recent passing due to pulmonary fibrosis, the sober tone of the show, and of John Loughney’s Marvin, feels fitting.
Though committed as ever to wanting it all, as he pleads in “A Tight-Knit Family,” this Marvin is racked with guilt and self-reproach, or some form of exasperation, much of the time, even when he supposedly shows his lighter side. “Marvin always played the clown,” Trina and Whizzer sing in “Marvin Hits Trina,” but, clearly, we shouldn’t take the line literally.
As Trina, Katie McManus navigates her character’s rough seas of emotions smoothly, turning in a ferociously funny “I’m Breaking Down,” Trina’s ragtime breakdown of all she’s put up with in this situation. Although, again, the bitter hurts of the past, and Trina’s sense of victimhood, stay embedded in the portrayal, visible at the surface to the very end.
More than just Marvin’s selfishness might be upsetting Trina. The gayness gets under her skin, too. This is the first Falsettos I’ve seen that left me pondering how homophobic Trina would be if the man she married had not turned out to be gay.
It is 1979, after all, in the first act, 1981 in the second. She moves on romantically with Mendel, Marvin’s totally unethical shrink — portrayed with genial appeal by Ryan Burke — but she stays salty about having been left for a man.
Jabs like Trina’s line to Marvin in “Everyone Hates His Parents” — “You have paintings of dicks/Don’t talk to me about taste” — don’t register here as banter, playful or otherwise, but as straight-up Anita Bryant-style disdain.
This is still a story about making the most of second, and third and fourth, chances in life, and building a non-traditional, queer, and Jewish family from the pieces of Marvin and Trina’s broken marriage. Most compelling to our sympathies in that regard is young Jason, performed admirably by Nico Cabrera, whose acting impresses even if his singing voice and pitch sound trapped in his nasal passages.
Jason and sort-of-stepdad Whizzer, warmly played by Kaylen Morgan, are the glue holding this fragmented family together. Cabrera and Morgan forge a convincing rapport that lends genuine pathos to latter scenes depicting Whizzer’s sickness due to HIV/AIDS.
Director Kurt Boehm and company craft a tender number around explaining to Jason that Whizzer might never get well enough to leave the hospital. Morgan and Loughney also deliver an affectingly poignant take on “The Chess Game,” Whizzer and Marvin’s first good-bye song, but not their last.
Finn’s sung-through score offers several endearing tunes, from the fun of “The Baseball Game,” to “Unlikely Lovers,” a lovely quartet for Marvin, Whizzer, and lesbian couple Charlotte and Cordelia (Shayla Lowe and Kylie Clare Truby).
Playing practically nonstop, the small but well-amped orchestra, led by music director Elisa Rosman, keeps the show moving with metronomic precision through the constant flow of songs and emotions, too-simplistic choreography, and many heart-rending seasons of change.
Falsettos (★★★☆☆) runs through June 15 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $64, with discounts available for students, seniors 62+, and patrons under 25. Visit www.keegantheatre.com.
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