Falsettos#1:You know, I heard that Brynna was in China with a torn meniscus...

  

“Four Jews in a room bitching” is one of the best opening-numbers ever. The characters are introduced as Jewish stereotypes and even though this song doesn't give us much information about them, besides their names and some small hints about their personalities, the whole act one is summarised in just two sentences: “We are manipulating people and we need to know our worst sides aren’t ignored.” “What would they do for love?” is the central question of the show. No one knows how far they’ll go for love, how much they’ll sacrifice, and how love will make them suffer. While watching the show you’ll realize that this number is constantly giving you hints about the way things will end. It’s like an endless nudge. Take “Four Jews itching for answers” for example: throughout the show, multiple lines refer to this. Mendel especially uses this concept in his ‘therapy sessions’. First, he asks Trina “Happy or sad?” just to interrupt her with “That’s a question with no answer.” He also establishes the “nothing is black or white” theme of the show. Later, when he wants to find out more about her, he tells Marvin that he has “questions that should probably go unanswered, but they’re questions”. We revisit this motif, again, when Trina tries to convince Jason to see a psychiatrist and she describes him as “a man who I think knows the answers to all your problems” (he doesn’t). But when she asks Mendel who is in fact responsible for this mess (they all are), he reacts with “Don't ask me questions! I’m frightened of questions.”. Unlike declarative sentences, questions are much more complicated and have more interpretations when in a musical. Interrogative sentences make the characters more likable; they give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to be humans, have doubts, and be insecure. I find the whole “I'm neurotic, he's neurotic/They're neurotic, we're neurotic” clever and hilarious at the same time. And let’s not forget about the choreography. The way all of them take care of Anthony (he got thrown around A LOT... His words, not mine) is simply heart-warming. From the very beginning, you see Jason as the ‘mature’ person of the group. But he’s still a kid. An intelligent and confused little boy who just wants to understand what’s happening. After the spin, Whizzer makes sure Jason can stay still on his own and I like to believe that's Whizzer acknowledging that ‘Hey...he’s a kid. Let’s take care of him.’ Or maybe is just Andrew Rannels being careful with Anthony Rosenthal (which is equally sweet=)). Also, the line “what we need is a miracle” foreshadows Jason’s two songs in the second act. But we’ll get to the second act much later =)).    

At the end of the song, Trina adds herself to the count. There are in fact, five Jews. Although she is an important part of their lives, she is often left out. Men are playing their games, constantly forgetting her and she doesn’t really react, and that’s because she doesn’t know how to escape the housewife stereotype, as we’ll see later in the show (she is singing “four Jews in a room” until the end).  

This opening number is amazing. It’s the first song I heard from the soundtrack and what got me into this musical in the first place. If you wanna read more about how I thought Falsettos is a crime story, check out my post called ’Falsettos?’. Leave a comment, share the link for this website, and subscribe to get notified about my newest posts. Byeeeee.

 

Note: In this essay I’ll talk about the ProShot of the 2016 revival.  

The cast: 

Marvin......Christian Borle 

Whizzer......Andrew Rannels 

Trina.........Stephanie J. Block 

Mendel......Brandon Uranowitz 

Jason.........Anthony Rosenthal 

Dr. Charlotte.....Tracie Thoms 

Cordelia......Betsy Wolf