Stage: Singing up a Notch

“FALSETTOS” HITS ANOTHER HIGH NOTE AT G.C.T.

A hundred years ago or so, a schoolhouse was built in the middle of nowhere. It was still a nowhere back in 1981 when the City of Germantown offered the building to a little theater group doing shows in a nearby church. They’ve been plugging away in that 112-seat auditorium ever since.

Though life has picked up out on Forest-Hill Irene Road, Germantown Community Theatre remains a schlep for many theatergoers and actors alike. Getting peak participation from both is a recurring question of content. The titles need to be spicy enough for experienced artists to invest the time and mileage, while also being “safe” enough for suburban benefactors.

The theater’s vicissitudes are well-known, with a quick turnover of management in recent years and extended periods of shows that get little notice either in the way of Ostrander nominations or local reviews. (Where critics have gone is another story.)

But GCT is also the Little Engine that Could of local stages. Every so often it reemerges as a real contender for those season subscription dollars.

Its current musical, “Falsettos,” which opened Friday and runs through June 21st, is every bit the artistic knockout as its recent production of “Godspell.” Both shows breathed new life and relevance into older musicals through a combination of vision and casting.

Though small in stature, the 1992 Broadway musical punches above its artistic weight. As a testament to its creative pull we now find director/choreographer team Jordan Nichols and Travis Bradley beyond their usual milieu of big-budget, cast-of-thousands musicals at Theatre Memphis (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Mary Poppins,” “Cinderella”) working on a production with a bare-bones set and a cast of seven.

The inimitable Gary Beard (who tells me he’s sworn off book musicals) came out of retirement to music direct. He, Julian Henderson, percussion, and John Lux, woodwinds, provide zealous accompaniment for this chamber-sized musical, which demands marathon-levels of energy for the entire ensemble.

For actors, the roles ooze complexity. Married couple Marvin (Patrick Jones) and Trina (Emily Chateau) face a domestic crisis that has landed them both in therapy. Marvin has come out as gay and is dating a man, Whizzer (Kevar Maffitt).

As they try to navigate the divorce, their son, Jason (Drake Shehan) hovers pensively over his chess set. Who are the players and who are the pawns in this story? The family’s psychologist Mendel (John Maness) might be a better coach, but he’s fallen in love with Trina. Soon, he’s on the chessboard as well.

With music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Finn and James Lapine, “Falsettos” intelligently explores the clash of Jewish familial values and the need for gay acceptance. Comedy shows us what they have in common.

The first act sprints along, aiming its biggest laughs at the characters themselves. Marvin’s anger, Whizzer’s impertinence and Mendel’s awkwardness are rendered as humane flaws in otherwise good people. As Trina, Chateau captures the myriad anxieties of being a wife, mother and lover torn between, yet situationally wed, to “four Jews in a room bitching” (as the males introduce themselves). Shehan, a child actor who holds his own in this cast of top-notch adults, deserves special recognition for his deadpan delivery and over-the-shoulder hot takes.

Acts I and II of “Falsettos” were originally conceived as stand-alone short musicals. The latter expands the cast to include a couple of lesbian neighbors played by Renee Davis Brame and Mariah Chase. It also comes with a tonal shift. Two years have passed, and the early 1980s bring a new complication to this fractured family–the yet-nameless illness that would later decimate the gay community. As Whizzer succumbs, the characters must once again reexamine their relationships and how they impact young Jason, now on the eve of his bar mitzvah.

“Falsettos” Pride Month timing may seem a natural fit for the subject matter, but as a statement about our current political climate the show is far more ambivalent. Like the musical “Rent,” its advocacy stems from its neutral matter-of-factness about queer existence and the AIDS epidemic. These, like all family matters, are things in life that simply must be navigated.

At Friday’s opening, several audience members who’d seen previous local versions of “Falsettos” commended this staging for its component parts — the music, the acting, the singing, directing and GCT itself. The intimacy of that old schoolhouse brings a living-room vibe to this intimate musical dramedy.

Theatregoers may find themselves post-show flipping through the program to see what’s ahead in season 55. As might be expected, there are no groundbreaking titles. But if the trend of smart stagings continues, we can expect musicals such as “Little Women,” “The Last 5 Years,” and “Company” to make old-school theater a good reason to keep visiting the old school. ✒ C.B.

“Falsettos” continues through June 21st at Germantown Community Theatre.