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Back to Falsettoland w/ the Original Cast - Part 2
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Nov 6, 2022
BroadwayWorld has reunited the original cast (Michael Rupert, Stephen Borgardus, Carolee Carmello, Heather MacRae, Chip Zien and Jonathan Kaplan) to reminisce about all things Falsettos. In Part 2, watch as they recall the long road to Broadway- from March of the Falsettos, to Falsettoland and beyond. Click here to watch Part 1 and check back Friday, September 16, to watch the final edition!
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0:00
James Lepine and Bill Finn, what accommodation, like, to work together
0:09
So what was that like? For me, I've always thought of them as being like the yin and yang of show business
0:13
I mean, James is like laser focus, very sharp, organized in his mind
0:19
Bill is like, I'm going to write this and I'm going to throw it. You know, let's see what they're
0:24
I love that. So, you know, it's like nutty. I mean, like really wild and crazy
0:30
And the two of them together were, that was a really important collaboration
0:36
I think it made them both better and brilliant. But within, out of that kind of craziness and undiscipline almost
0:46
comes something, and I remember so clearly the first time we sang through four unlikely lovers
0:50
And we thought, look what this kind of crazy man has written
0:55
How beautiful is this stuff, you know? And how raw and emotional he is
1:03
It's like a raw emotion, you know. It was fascinating. I also remember thinking I wasn't in that song, so that was kind of a problem for me
1:14
That's a whole not. Well, take it from us. Stephen, for you, being in that room with that original cooperation
1:21
with the two of them working, what it was like for you? Well, I came into the game a little late when we were doing
1:28
March of the Falls Out is in 1980. You guys had been in rehearsal for a week or two
1:33
and the guy who played Wizard got offered... Dan Howard and I was right in the Ukraine
1:39
I actually forgot that. And he left the show. Who was it? He left the show
1:43
He left the show, and they literally just had like 12 of us guys
1:48
15 of us come in, sing a song. I sang Pinball Wizard. Oh my God
1:54
And at the end of the day, they called my agent, and they said, okay, you got the job
1:58
And we really didn't know what we had. Bill was, it was very scattered and James was trying to pull together an arc for a story
2:10
We were in a studio, upstairs studio, playwrights obviously that no longer exists
2:15
There were, like, not even 100 seats, maybe 75, 80 seats. Yeah, tiny theater
2:20
Tiny, tiny. The ticket prices were $12. We made $102 a week
2:27
And then we moved downstairs. into their bigger theater when Frank Rich came and sort of gave us a really solid review
2:35
That was right after I told Andre, I said, we should, do you guys want Frank Rich to show
2:39
Don't the critics to come? I said, are you kidding me? We are so not ready to open
2:43
This show cannot open. We are in no condition. We kept bringing our friends to the show and saying, well, it's just so many good
2:51
You know, you didn't want to bring people from the business until you had some of the company
2:56
Yeah, well, ready for that. Frank Rich came in. loved it. Loved it. Yeah
3:01
Put us on the map. But those early rehearsals were fun because I remember, one of the things I remember
3:07
is Lepine like Bill would show up with a new song and the Pine would like read it down on a sheet of paper and go like okay we not doing that Throw it on the floor No that not in the show We put that throat on the floor
3:18
And the other thing was, if you remember, they had, like, index cards. Yeah. Get a button board of index cards of separate numbers that he kept shuffling around going, like, well, let's put this thing here and this song here
3:27
And eventually, it became a show. He did that in Fossetto then, too, because I remember Bill, he would send Billy away to write, and then somebody would, they had messenger somebody up to get the music
3:38
he'd bring it down and James would go, oh, yeah. That's not what I wanted. I didn't ask for that
3:42
He just like toss it. No, no, no, no. Also, in those early days, like, particularly March of the falsetto
3:48
the pine was basically wandering around with the corona in one hand. It was like, it was very loosey-goosey
3:54
Yeah, it was so loose. I mean, he was young and drinking beer all through the hippie. He was like chugging coronas
4:01
Yeah, okay, let's go on here. I said 1980, but it was 1981
4:06
And then we did some workshops in like 87 or 88 or 89 in there
4:12
We did a couple of workshops for falsetto land before we actually, they actually gave us a slot at playwrights
4:20
And we went through the whole process. Again, what is this? You know, introducing the whole AIDS through line
4:28
And that was, Billy had really matured as a writer. You can see it in the writing and he talks about it too
4:36
but you were also talking about something that was happening to us that we were living right at the time
4:42
and to get that balance right to get the temperature right of it took took a long time a lot of
4:49
different lyric changes a lot of melody changes that was a that was a long process and and then
4:55
they were still two one acts it wasn't until graciela put it together up at hartford stage
5:01
with a completely different cast that they got heat there was some heat behind hey
5:06
Let's do this on Broadway. The Weissers went inside. Well, let's talk about this
5:10
You know, with Falsettos coming back to Broadway, take me back to 1992
5:14
when you all found out that you were going to Broadway with this important show
5:18
We tend to go back before when we found that we weren't going to Broadway. That's part of this story, but seriously, yeah
5:23
No, the first thing we found out was that we were not. Wow. You know, that's probably going to be the Hartford production
5:30
Bratzi's production. You know, the Weissers really wanted to take it. Which was done through a thrust stage
5:34
But Gratzi had staged it on a thrust stage. stage apparently and didn't have either have time or want to restage it for a proscenium
5:41
So she actually passed on it. It's my understanding they wanted to do at Lincoln Center, but John Ware, you know
5:49
because he was in residence kind of there, and I think four bad boons of Dorian was playing
5:54
And he, they wouldn't relinquish the theater. And Bill, from what I understand, Bill said, I don't want to be off Broadway again
6:00
I wanted to have a Broadway house. And so he said, I don't want to do it there. They were going to put it in the Mitzie Newhouse, the smaller
6:06
theater. And then Gratzeella, as Michael said, she said, I don't have time to restage it
6:11
So then they went to James and because James wanted to use his people. So first we were
6:16
devastated and then that second cast cast was devastated But the Weissers wanted to produce it but they wanted Barbara Walsh to play Trina Who had done it at Hartford Who had done it at Hartford And Faith was already doing guys and dolls So we went from like feeling so depressed in wanting to kill ourselves you know
6:34
but we saw that this other company was going to be doing on Broadway. And then it was like, oh, my God, we're going to Broadway
6:39
So when you each found out, I mean, like I said, there's musicals like Fun Home now that, you know
6:44
I'm sure these musicals set the tone for shows like Fun Home
6:47
I mean, this was a lot at that time to bring to Broadway. Did you think it was going to be successful
6:52
I mean, were you just happy you were going? I think we did think it would be successful
6:57
I mean, I don't know that I thought it was going to touch so many lives in such a profound way
7:06
But we had done falsetto land. We knew what that 90 minutes that, sorry, that 70 minutes did to its audience
7:18
But you're still going to the, you know, You're going where you have to fill, you know, 800 and 900 seats a night
7:25
Where you work, you know, just, you know, down to Laertel, we had 200 seats
7:29
And, you know, clearly we didn't do as well there because Chip wasn't with us in the cast
7:33
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He was a presence. He was the oldest member and the best known
7:41
And he wasn't with us. But it kept showing up outside. It's wandering around outside
7:48
He eventually took him in. But it wasn't, it was interesting, you know, again, once we put the two, once we did it, the two together, I mean, it was there, we were also in the Golden Theater, which is tiny, you know, it's one of the smallest houses
8:00
And the teeny tiny band is in the back. So, you know, I'm literally like, we're this close to the first row, you know, and there were so many times during the, during the show, we're at the end of the first act, you know, at the end of father and a son, after all this craziness, I would look down and there'd be like, you know, always
8:20
like some guy, usually a guy, sitting there going, what did my wife bring me to
8:26
In the front row, like going from Westchester. I'm gone from Westchester. And then that same guy, by the time we got to the Bar Mitzvah
8:34
you know, because we could, again, easily see these people, you know, the same guy would be in tears
8:40
And I'm thinking, like, we really are doing something here. I mean, the writing and the direction and the performing performers, you know
8:48
I mean, obviously, you know, this story has touched. people, even people who were resistant to it perhaps
8:54
It seems now like it wouldn't have been so controversial, but it really was
9:01
I mean, I ended up after the Broadway run doing touring with the show for a while
9:05
I'm playing Trina. And in the Hinderlands, I mean, we had many times people walking out
9:12
People saying, I remember in Miami Beach, we could hear a guy when the lights came up
9:20
on Wizzar and Marvin in bed, he went to, oi again with the boys
9:27
And everyone on stage, you know, and all was backstage. But that, you know, it was, it was not an easy sell
9:34
I mean maybe easier in New York but when we were out in the rest of the country you know it seems tame now compared to what has followed but it really was groundbreaking
9:45
Something has to change it. Something has to change an audience, and this was the show that did it, you know
9:50
that sort of brought this out to them. My uncle was always so angry about it
9:54
He said, how could you start a show? You're starting a show with four Jews in a room g
9:58
How dare you? How dare you sing that song? Wait, is your other Jewish
10:02
Because I am Jewish. I am Jewish. unlike these fake some of the fake Jews
10:07
that are on a serious note too also just one of the
10:13
for me one of the great and really sad memories of falsettos on Broadway
10:18
was going through the alley of the Golden Theater and there were so many tears
10:23
shed in that alley with actors, friends of ours who had lost friends
10:26
so many people that we knew and standing there and just hugging each other
10:31
and I mean you know it was an incredible emotional experience. And the number of people, too, who were, you know, who, I remember people suffering
10:42
from HIV. Suffer. Yeah. Who would come to the stage door and just thank us for this, saying things like, I'm in town
10:49
to go to Sloan Kettering, and we came to see this, and it, you know, and like, you know
10:55
and even opening night, I don't if you guys remember this, opening night on Broadway, La Pine
10:59
one of the first times I ever saw, I remember him being emotional
11:04
Do you remember this? Where he gave his glitter stuff he gives and we, you know, and all he said was, let's
11:10
do this for those we've lost and our friends. Remember that? And he actually was like almost in tears, I remember
11:18
This was right before our opening. And I thought, wow, even the pine, even Jim is like, it was just a really powerful thing
11:26
to be a part of. I always think that that opening night, you know, I'm always terribly nervous on opening nights
11:33
But I would say that night was the only opening I've ever experienced were the fact that critics were going to review us and all that stuff was going to happen seemed beside the point
11:44
And it was, you know, it was overwhelming. Jonathan, for you, because you were the youngest
11:50
Well, I remember actually the first preview that we had. I remember the reaction, because we were talking about whether or not this was going to work
11:58
It's always a risky thing to do an interesting new musical like this
12:03
But I remember that first preview, it was packed with people who had been following the show from day one
12:09
And the response was so uproarsely positive. I don't think we had any doubt that it was going to, or at least I didn't have any doubt that it was going to be successful in some front
12:19
And it had enough fans that had followed and enough for long enough. They're both off-prol iterations that were really like a huge fan of the story and what it was trying to say
12:29
And I think that I was very fortunate. I still feel very fortunate that I was just able to let the words kind of speak through me
12:38
You know, I didn't have to put anything onto it. It was a very, it's a beautiful story that needed to be told
12:45
So I'm very glad I was able to
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