Falsettos NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (1,020)
See it if You love original unique love stories
Don't see it if You don’t like realistic stories
See it if You love broadway, and stories that are emotional. The acting, singing and staging are wonderful- it is moving and well performed.
Don't see it if you are homophobic or dislike strong emotional stories. Read more
See it if you're a fan of any of the actors, enjoy disfunction in the extreme, and want an emotionally cathartic experience that'll make you ugly cry
Don't see it if you can't appreciate moments of absurdity, you hate crying in public, or homosexual relationships make you uncomfortable
See it if you want to a beautifully moving and funny musical about a dysfunctional family.
Don't see it if you're a terrible person (i.e. homophobic or anti-Semitic).
See it if you love Christian Borle
Don't see it if you are very conservative
See it if you love musical theater
Don't see it if you don't want to cry
See it if you want to see some great acting and singing. Every member of the cast deserves a Tony.
Don't see it if You are homophobic.
See it if You remember & love the original, or if you've never seen it! It's hilarious, touching, delightful & heartbreaking. Surprisingly fresh & new
Don't see it if I honestly can't think of a reason not to see this. You don't have to be gay or Jewish to appreciate this timeless story; & the music is fun
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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"Pretty much everything about Lincoln Center Theater's ideally cast Broadway revival, again directed by Lapine with as much humor as sensitivity, makes it pure pleasure...The characters are so fresh, the writing so emotionally insightful and the situations played with such feeling that 'Falsettos' hasn't aged a day...Part of the show's durability is the generosity of spirit and affection with which the writers approach every last one of their imperfect characters."
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"You don’t want to walk into the Walter Kerr Theatre without a pocketful of Puffs...There’s no shortage of laughs, from tuneful one-liners to entire numbers...But amid all the laughter, there will be tears...It’s nice to see Borle finally playing a flesh-and-blood human being, even if he lacks Marvin’s necessary menace...Curse you, William Finn, for writing these heart-wrenching songs. And curse me for forgetting the Kleenex."
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"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."
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"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."
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