Impact of Falsettos on the United States

Falsettos Impact on Modern Day America

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Broadway in New York City.

Falsettos is an award winning Broadway musical known for its portrayal of homosexuality, Jewish nationality, and the AIDS epidemic. Although it was criticized when it originally released, Falsettos has quickly become popular among many people, especially those that follow Broadway. Falsettos shows the connection of father and son, a newly outed gay man as he rebuilds and finds love once more, the effects of the AIDS epidemic on the homosexual community, and the role of religion within it's main characters lives. Falsettos ultimately tells the audience that being homosexual is not a bad thing and that there is love in the world for everyone. In addition to the social aspects of the musical, the AIDS epidemic and the repercussion that become of it are depicted as the main characters face the virus in it's earliest stages.

Falsettos the Musical and its Portrayal of Culture during the AIDS epidemic

The musical Falsettos, originally released in April of 1992 addresses life and culture of Jewish, homosexual and heterosexual families and relationships from the late 70’s to 80’s, particularly during the early stages and height of the AIDS epidemic. The reflection of culture displayed in the show brings a more relatable light to a group of people whose existence at the time was considered by many to be wrong. This way of thinking would continue to be acceptable to Americans for another 20 years before the first state in the United States of America (Massachusetts) passed a law to legalize same sex marriage. The musical became such a hit on Broadway that it received a revival on Broadway in the year 2016, in which the original director from the 1992 production, James Lapine, wanted to revisit the premise of the original musical to keep the history alive and to educate a new age of viewers.

Falsettos the Musical broke numerous boundaries that many had seldom been attempted to destroy in Broadway history.  Plays and musicals concerning homosexual characters were traditionally rejected and despised by the overwhelming majority because homosexuality was a taboo subject in the public eye. Lapine noticed these ill feelings and determined to help change the way people perceived the homosexual community. Lapine’s groundbreaking musical portrayed the homosexual characters as normal, everyday people and was a catalyst in changing Broadway norms and public opinion. Because of Falsettos’ overwhelming success during its original release, Lapine decided to make a comeback and create another musical, being the sequel to the original release.

Original Release

The show was well received even before its opening on April 29th of 1992. Critically very well appreciated, receiving seven total Tony Award nominations, even winning some including Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, the show came off as an impressive piece, tying together two One Act musicals written by the same composer displaying the now full story. While the releases of the original One Acts were closer to that of the events actually taking place in the show, as the first, March of the Falsettos, was released in 1981, and the second, Falsettoland, was released in 1990, the full shows release in 1992 was still a time in which the AIDS epidemic was taking its toll on many. Though the peak of the virus occurred in the mid 1980’s, it was still an issue at the time of the original release of the musical Falsettos. In the original release of this critically acclaimed Broadway musical, Lapine walks the audience through the life of a recently outed homosexual male. Lapine showed the dramatic changes in both the lead character and his family’s lives resulting from him divorcing his wife and running off with his lover, while still wanting a close relationship with his first family. He portrays, to the audience, what it meant to be a gay Jewish man and the stereotypes that were placed upon the main character, Marvin, and his partner Whizzer. In addition, the AIDs epidemic was greatly emphasized by Lapine to illustrate the widespread fear, impartiality and sheer lack of knowledge surrounding the virus.

2016 Revival

The 2016 revival of Falsettos came from a different place than its predecessor. While opening on October 27th of 2016, years after what would be considered as the end of the AIDS epidemic, the musical still addresses all the same elements of the first with little to no departure of the original storyline and plot. The revival was also very well acclaimed critically, receiving five total Tony Award Nominations. The director who made the choice of putting together this revival in the first place was, James Lapine, the same director who directed and co-wrote the original, with conductor William Finn. James Lapine was enticed by the idea of a group who knew nothing of the events events in United States history that were spurred by the AIDS crisis. This was shown through the fact that Lapine casted a 12 year old actor to play the main character's son and had to explain the events of the AIDS epidemic to the actor in the show who knew next to nothing of them. The revival ran as a limited three month engagement on Broadway, but in it's it time blew away many critics and audience members. This rendition of the show received a pro shot recording and is viewable on Amazon Prime Video and Broadway HD

Influence of Falsettos

Falsettos was a leading figure in it's time, correcting the place of Homosexual people in entertainment as actual people instead of caricatures of a musical. Religion was emphasized as well in the musical as the Jewish religion and its customs are repeatedly shown and explained by the characters. Falsettos also highlights the relationship of father and son as the main character and his son fight to maintain the relationship that they enjoyed with each other in the past before the father admitted that he was gay. It is during the course of the musical that the audience witnesses the son comes to terms with his father's sexuality and eventually accept his father for who he is and who he is becoming. In addition to the main character's son accepting his father's sexuality, there are many other characters that begin to understand and love themselves despite their sexuality. These characters begin to understand that they do not need to be ashamed or sorry for showing who they are. They realize that they are entitled to live a full happy life, just as their heterosexual neighbors were doing. This play begins to show the rise of the new generation of homosexual population and sets the stage for the accomplishments that this group of people would strive for and achieve in the future.

Because Falsettos was revived after originally being released on Broadway, the director and the actors in the musical were tasked with teaching a new generation about the AIDS epidemic and just how lethal it actually was. When the musical originally released, the generation that tended to attend Broadway were those who had not witnessed the chaos of the AIDS epidemic at an age where they could remember or comprehend it. In order to create the emotions the people felt as this virus swept across the world, the characters conveyed feelings felt by those suffering from the epidemic at the time to introduce the acute fear that was felt by many homosexuals and heterosexuals during the height of the epidemic. It establishes, to the audience, the lack of information that people had during the outbreak and the most lethal parts of the epidemic.

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Hospital bed.

The AIDs Epidemic

The AIDs Epidemic shocked the world as it swept relentlessly from continent to continent. The cause of the virus was unknown, even to the most highly recognized medical professionals, and created a widespread fear throughout, in reference to the musical Falsettos, the United States in particular. The show elaborates on the fact that the main cause of the fear behind the virus was simply nobody knew what it was. Mass groups of people suddenly began to get the virus and die from it, yet no one was sure how to cure it. The show never mentions AIDS by name, however it does describe the virus with titles such as "the thing that kills". The mystery and the fear that it caused was an element director James Lapine and composer William Finn wanted to very thoroughly emphasize and convey to the audience. These creators did this in many ways, one of which was shown by avoiding the topic of AIDS and disease as a theme entirely in the first act of the musical. Additionally, a character in the second act, known as one of the “Lesbians Next Door”, is a nurse who is not referenced at all in the first act. All characters in the second act also express confusion and misplaced hope in the recovery of Whizzer, the afflicted homosexual character, though these same characters eventually come to terms with the severity of the disease and the time they have left with their friend.