Falsettos NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (1,022)
See it if you like small musicals about family, loss, and love with vivid characters and very cool staging.
Don't see it if you don't care for Jewish or LGBTQ themes, AIDS stories or sad endings. Read more
See it if You enjoy show about real life. You appreciate Christian Borle and Andrew Rannells. You are Ok with musicals that are more like plays.
Don't see it if You are looking for a big musical spectacle. You like to be taken off into a fantasy land. You are uncomfortable with same sex couples.
See it if you love any of the performers (all outstanding) or the music...or never saw the originals. Important work...albeit a bit dated.
Don't see it if are uncomfortable with gay themes and Jewish parody, or if you only like traditional musicals with big show tune numbers.
See it if Phenomenal cast, in particular SJ Block. Poignant performances. Clever staging. Admirable coverage of socially relevant issues.
Don't see it if Upbeat numbers were sharp, funny/sad and energetic, whereas slow numbers were a tad too sentimental or on the nose.
See it if you want superb performers telling a moving story about family, love, loss. Creative use of minimalist set. Witty lyrics. Important message.
Don't see it if You want huge "showy" numbers with big casts, don't like "sung-through" shows, are looking for feel-good entertainment, want memorable music Read more
See it if You love stories of family, enjoy a PHENOMENAL cast, want to be moved by the characters and laugh-cry along with the rest of the audience.
Don't see it if You prefer a more straightforward, linear story line rather than snippets of a family's life. Read more
See it if You don't mind a story that opens very funny, gets a wee bit repetitive and shifts gears big time to a very downbeat ending.
Don't see it if The story of a man who leaves his wife + child for another man depicted completely in song (no dialogue) isn't your cup of tea. Read more
See it if You want a musical with lovely singing, minimal staging. Somewhat dated but a reminder of what was thirty years ago.
Don't see it if You don't need a gentle reminder of how much things have changed
Critic Reviews (49)
"There’s hardly a moment in the exhilarating, devastating revival of the musical 'Falsettos' that doesn’t approach, or even achieve, perfection...Directed by Mr. Lapine—whose work is so sharp it’s as if he were seeing the show with a new pair of eyes...Mr. Borle shines here as he has never before...'Falsettos' never feels like a singing time capsule. Its fundamental subject is that mysterious, maddening, uplifting, life-complicating emotion we refer to as love, which hasn’t changed in 25 years."
Read more
"Few musicals have the range, idiosyncrasy and emotional punch of this profoundly unconventional and personal work...As enjoyable as the snaggletoothed and biting first half can be, it hardly prepares you for the extraordinary second...Finn pushes musical theater to the limits of what we can ask of it. Those who know the show may find fault with some of the revival’s choices...But flaws are written into 'Falsettos,' as is the impulse it elicits to forgive them."
Read more
"A heartbreaking revival...It’s hard to get through the last half hour intact...If this Lincoln Center Theater production, directed by Lapine, has any serious faults, they arise from that agenda. As written, Marvin is so nasty and erratic in the first act ...Christian Borle can’t resolve that contradiction and thus comes off a bit unsteady, at least until he regains his footing in the second act. The other principals, whose roles are more tightly written, are excellent throughout."
Read more
"One of the most dishonest musicals I have ever seen...What can you do with a show that opens with a song called 'Four Jews in a Room Bitching,' and uses AIDS to endow it with seriousness? The rot at the center of 'Falsettos' is slathered in self-congratulation. Finn and Lapine use Jews, AIDS, and so on to rope in a particular audience, which is then held captive to their seemingly endless array of self-referential songs and weak humor."
Read more
"So how does 'Falsettos' hold up...Better than 'The Normal Heart,' but not nearly so well as 'Angels in America'. The first act, 'March of the Falsettos,' remains impressive. Notwithstanding Finn’s inability to write once-heard-never-forgotten tunes, the musical numbers are cleverly crafted and the overall tone is appropriately tart...In 'Falsettoland,' by contrast, a hideously painful situation is portrayed with a sincere but cloying sentimentality that occasionally curdles into kitsch."
Read more
"It’s got tons of heart, unimpeachable performances...But while the production left me teary in all the right places, and laughing in all the other right places, it never actually took flight. It’s earthbound...What’s bafflingly wrong with the production has primarily to do with the visuals...That, combined with a first act that just works too damned hard to win us over, makes for some rough going...But then Act II happens and the show, for all its dark turns, suddenly seems light as air."
Read more
"Life is messy — as everybody knows...That includes creators William Finn and James Lapine. They don’t sugarcoat reality when it comes to love, sexuality and relationships...That clear-eyed take has always been — and still is — an intriguing strength of 'Falsettos'...Finn’s alternately lighthearted and poignant score in this mostly sung-through show is another major asset...Plan on being deeply touched and richly satisfied at this show."
Read more
"This surprisingly fresh revival has been directed by original director Lapine, who plainly understands the bittersweet humor and provisional joy of that period...The warm performances of a terrific cast soften the underlying sadness of Finn’s breakthrough musical...The story is largely told through the easygoing score, a fusion of tuneful melodies with insightful lyrics...Borle’s neurotic hero is well matched with Rannells’ Whizzer."
Read more