There’s not a show on Broadway with a finer ensemble than Falsettos. Each actor has a gem of a moment, and the audience is constantly dazzled. What makes up this “Modern Family”? A somewhat ragtag group of friends and family. Jason (Anthony Rosenthal) is a bright, precocious, and, at times, nerdy, boy. His dad, Marvin (Christian Borle) has divorced Trina (Stephanie J. Block), and is in love with boyfriend Whizzer (Andrew Rannells) who doesn’t/does love him. Marvin is more than a little neurotic, and depends on his psychiatrist, Mendel (Brandon Uranowitz) to act as his sounding board. When Trina decides to go into therapy with Mendel, too, the shrink falls madly in love with her, and he grows close to his other new patient, Jason. There are also the two Lesbian neighbors, Dr. Charlotte (Tracie Thoms) and her partner, Cordelia (Betsy Wolfe), a caterer who has one of the best lines in the play, “She saves lives, I save chicken fat.” It’s all a hodgepodge of high emotion, discontent, friendship, and love. More an operetta than a traditional play, most of the dialogue is sung, and the voices on stage are superb. Act II finds Trina and Mendel married, but after a couple of years, the ardor has cooled. They are still devoted to each other and committed to doing their best to help Jason decide if he does/doesn’t want to go through with his Bar Mitzvah. Marvin and Whizzer are estranged, but when Jason invites Whizzer to his baseball game, the spark is kindled again. Dr. Charlotte is concerned; something bad is happening, and she doesn’t know what. It’s 1981, and AIDS isn’t on the list of concerns for the medical community. But when Whizzer gets really sick, the entire mishpocheh pulls together. There are so many fine moments in this production, it’s hard to single them out. Stephanie J. Block brings down the house with “I’m Breaking Down.” Christian Borle shows us the many sides of Marvin. It’s truly exhilarating that a kid like Anthony Rosenthal brings such a wallop of talent and good old-fashioned moxie. Tracie Thoms and Betsy Wolfe are the neighbors we all wish lived next door; it would be fascinating to see a play which is principally about them. If forced to name a favorite, I’d have to go with Brandon Uranowitz. He couldn’t be more perfect as Mendel; he has tremendous appeal and a captivating intensity. The question has been raised as to whether this play holds up today, now that AIDS is blessedly not an automatic death sentence. As a work of art, it’s timeless. For anyone who has ever experienced the agony of watching a loved one suffer with a terminal disease, it’s heartbreaking and cathartic. Falsettos goes a long way to showing us how pulling together, despite our differences and frustrations, makes us all stronger. This realization couldn’t come at a better time.
