This past weekend, the Villanova Student Musical Theatre (VSMT) performed “Falsettos” at the Mullen Center Court Theatre. The production opened on Thursday, April 16, and the seven-person cast began a four-show run of this engaging and extremely emotional musical.
“Falsettos” follows the story of a dysfunctional Jewish family in late 1970s/early 1980s New York City. Marvin, his wife, Trina, and son, Jason, make up the ideal family unit. They are disrupted by Marvin’s infidelity with his lover, Whizzer. Marvin, Trina and eventually Jason all begin seeing a psychiatrist named Mendel. Mendel falls in love with Trina, and the insanity of the family dynamic intensifies.
The musical is completely sung-through, meaning there is no intermediate dialogue between musical numbers, and the story relies heavily on the actors. The VSMT cast was certainly up to the challenge. Members belted out high notes, harmonized perfectly and expressed complex emotions through their voices. A standout performance was by freshman Lucy Best, playing Trina, in the song “I’m Breaking Down,” which gave the audience insight into the tension her family’s disintegration has put on Trina’s psyche. Best’s powerful vocals, as well as her commitment to portraying the ways Trina’s anger and sadness broke through her carefully constructed mask of the perfect housewife.
The first act focused mainly on the familial tensions and the complicated relationship dynamics between Marvin and Whizzer, as well as Trina and Mendel. The actors conveyed these relationships very convincingly, even during difficult or uncomfortable scenes.
Sophomore Samantha Whitehair was also an impressive Jason, playing a suppressed, snarky tween trying to process his parents’ divorce and his father’s queerness while wondering how these traits might be reflected in him.
The second act of “Falsettos” took on a much more serious tone than the first. It initially appeared to keep the same comical energy with the introduction of the final two characters, the “lesbians next door,” and a scene of Jason (poorly) playing baseball that was quite the crowd favorite. Later, though, Whizzer and Marvin get back together, and Dr. Charlotte sang the ominous song “Something Bad Is Happening.”
By this point, anyone well-versed in the history of 1980s New York caught on to the direction of the story. The decade involved decimation of the gay community due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which the government ignored.
Not too long after the doctor’s warning, Whizzer collapsed during a game of squash with Marvin. Jason, who was reluctant to have his bar mitzvah, decided to hold it in Whizzer’s hospital room with their dysfunctional, but tight-knit family. Whizzer did not survive the entire ceremony, having grown too weak from the aggressive disease. Junior Joey Amapani did an incredible job portraying his character’s fight to stay strong for his loved ones. This, along with the emotions and cracking voice in his final song, was a mark of an actor who really understood his character and how to portray this incredibly taxing experience.
“Falsettos” closed VSMT’s season for this academic year and was a very ambitious choice of a musical to produce, but the cast and crew pulled it off spectacularly.
