retrofalsettos

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ACTUAL FOOTAGE OF MRUPERT GLASSES MARVIN GAHHHHHH

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anytime (i am there) - elegies: a song cycle by william finn (1952 - 2025)

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genuinely doesn't feel real. i feel sick

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Pose studies of the boys wholly leaning (lying) on each other to show some appreciation for 1993 obc Whizzvin

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we ARE bringing in trousers into 2025.

'In Trousers.', a production from 1993, Chip Zien, Mary Testa, Alison Fraser and Victoria Clark. Original 1979 script. please enjoy it like I have.

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first verse of 'I Am Wearing A Hat' in trousers 1993, Mary Testa. I'm unsure whether these are the original lyrics for all of this casts productions and the changed them from the cast recording or what?? so confusing. transcript won't be cut off as its very hard to hear for alot of people.

also if you want any specific parts of songs or any questions please comment !!!

[Miss Goldberg]

Write his name. Write ten more below that.

How was I to know that they admired my brain?

Send them naughty letters, perfume, stationary, very pink. But honest lie.

Kiss the man goodbye.

Drink another drink, or die.

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marvins monologue from 'My Highschool Sweetheart' chip zien as marvin (he is my son ☹️) again, transcript below

[Marvin]

Three ships. Three ships; the number three being important in its war mythology.

Coronado stopped looking for the three cities of gold after- for the seven cities of gold after three cities.

He said “after three cities and no gold, I'm beginning to suspect..uh..

I mean- I mean most of my men dead.”

I for- I forget.

I mean- I mean- I mean-

“Most of my men dead. Or, uh..or sneezing..”

[Ladies]

He loves Miss Goldberg.

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chip zien and mary testa singing the original scene 2 for 'The Rape Of Miss Goldberg: By Marvin', was cut for time in the cast recording but still used in production. transcript below for people who need it.

[Sweetheart]

Scene Two.

[Miss Goldberg]

Marvin how, tell me, how did you get in here, please?

[Marvin]

I drugged the man who was guarding the floor.

[Miss goldberg]

Marvin, open up the door. Marvin, please turn on the lights. Marvin, listen, I'm the only one here in this school except you and the guard who you beat in a fight.

[Marvin]

He was drugged!

[Miss Goldberg]

He was drugged?

[Marvin]

Not with pills.

[Miss Goldberg]

Then with what?

[Marvin]

With some apples from a basket! Would you like a few Miss Goldberg? What I do for you, Miss Goldberg, is your pleasure.

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Comments on Falsettos recording describing people's experience with pre-revival casts & being gay in the 80's and 90's

for @holdwinetosky

“I lived in Manhattan in 1981, met my husband that year.  We lived through the AIDS drama of real life on the Upper West Side. This show speaks to me on So many different levels.

Saw this production  on Broadway shortly after it opened. Crazy, Intense, Wonderful .

Just like it was in 1990 as Falsettoland at the Lucille Lortel, and when it first moved to Broadway as Falsettos in 1992. Saw the original casts of each, and each production multiple times (1 time with Mandy Patinkin as Marvin), saw the road companies that came to Philadelphia........etc...lol

Freakin Love this Show."

@ rugby8-Philadelphia 

“Saw a traveling company which came through Phoenix, AZ. I left Manhattan in '81 as numerous friends were getting ill and shortly thereafter died.  This show made me laugh out loud AND cry out loud!”

David Helmstetter (@ davidhelmstetter6661)

“Thank you. You signed my program when I was a kid. I waited by the stage door. My Mom didn't want to see the show at the time. She turned into the most accepting woman and this musical changed my life. xo”

@ castChicagoactors

“An absolute perfect moment in theater... this opened in nyc in 1990!!!!! We all had just lost lovers and friends and it was still raging without any meds.  Vowing to "buy the farm arm in arm" was and still is the most moving loving words to hear so beautifully sung”

Jeff Schecter (@ jeffschecter4543)

“I saw Falsettoland at the Theatre De Lys in the Village shortly after my brother Marty died of AIDS, and I have never cried so hard in my life as during "What More Can I Say" and "Unlikely Lovers."  I cried so hard that in part of my brain I thought someone might escort me out of the theatre, but there was nothing I could do about it, Michael Rupert you gave voice to everything I felt and there was no stopping it.  Thank you thank you thank you.  Of course saw the short multiple times on Broadway and afterwards in various productions and I will just never forget this song and that moment until every brain cell I've got has given up and every memory is erased because this is the such an honest statement of what love is all about.  To all of you in the show and William Finn I am forever grateful.”

David Fleischer (@ davidfleischer455)

“Thanks for posting, Michael.  Today, after 29 years together, my husband and I are legally married in our state of Georgia.”

@ theBestArts

“I have seen many Broadway musicals in my day. Over one hundred original and first run shows since 1980. I can honestly say without heistation that Falsettos in 1992 is the best musical I have ever seen in NY. The ensemble cast, simple set, lyrics, and use of character to tell a story is a perfect example of theatre art. Every theater lover should have seen this one, it is a masterpiece. Chip Zien and Barbara Walsh shine in every performance they give.”

@ muscled57

“I saw March of the Falsettos in 1980 and marvelled at it's musical brilliance and ended up seeing it half a dozen times. Then I saw Falsettoland a decade later which devastated me with it's sensitivity and humanity. Years later I saw a regional production of Falsettos which is the combination of the two shows and was enchanted and remain grateful to Mr Finn for writing such a masterpiece of musical theatre that I could see again and again.”

@ donovan3535

“I was fortunate enough to be reach up and touch Mr. Patinkin at the Golden Theatre in February, 1993, during his run with this amazing show. Those who don't think he made a good Marvin: I have to disagree with you completely. The man is one of the best American talents alive today and gave an amazing performance, in my opinion.”

@ dyabolykyll

“I can't believe I've never seen this before. I've sobbed all the way through the second act. Such strong memories of my dear friend Sammy, who died in 1993. The last time I visited him with my kids, he asked if he could change my daughter's diaper, and afterwards he cried because I wasn't afraid.

 It hits so hard for those of us who were young adults when AIDS came on the scene. People were afraid to be in the same room with someone who had it, much less to touch them. It made hand holding and hugs mean so much more."

@ VeracityLH

[retrofalsettos]

The Original Text for How America Got Its Name

I recently purchased the vinyl for the 1979 version of In Trousers and in the liner notes it has the entire original text for How America Got Its Name. It's quite different from the 1985 version with the main difference being that Marvin is the only one who says anything; it is a solo monologue. There are other differences, but I would rather not list them all out. Anyway, here we go:

Marvin: (Dressed like Columbus) Columbus didn't use to be a sailor. He was first and foremost director of medicine at a prestigious institute for doctors in Eldoro. That's the truth. But nobody ever talks about his medical career anymore. He was embarrassed out of his job. Harassed. Made to be the butt of jokes at medical conventions. This is what happened. One day--now this is the truth--one day outside Poma del Fuego, he picked up a social disease from a man with red hair and broad shoulders like his mother. By the time Columbus got to the Verona Baths, he had cancres all over his chest where once bronze hairs grew. And back at the Institute no one could fail but notice an incredible diminution of intelligence on Columbus' part. He was half insane by the time they strapped him to a ship, and pushed him to sea.

MUSIC

With him on that boat were other socially diseased persons. From the few clippings extant, it appears they had a ball the whole trip and screwed like bunnies, never worrying if finally they were going to contract the dread disease, because they all had it, you see--so they debauched the whole night and awoke refreshed. This went on for thirty-four days.

MUSIC

I am going to discover Cincinnati, Columbus cried. Why Cincinnati, they asked him. For my Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Nathan, he said, who died four years earlier in a plague which my Institute never quite found the cure for. This is what the Jews do, he added, name other countries for the dead.

MUSIC

Halfway out to sea, or on the thirty-fifth day, Columbus' cancres began to disappear. He stopped moaning in the middle of lovemaking and began to say: "How about that, young man?" or sometimes, boasting, "Tell me you didn't like that." Well, everyone was glad to see Columbus becoming his old self again, but everyone was saying what a prick Columbus was. In his diary he wrote: "Whatever it is I discover, it better not give me any lip."

MUSIC

Fifty miles off Martha's Vineyard, it became clear that everyone's cancres had disappeared, their brains restored, bodies once again sound; and everyone had a good laugh about it, maybe whistled with relief, maybe gave a few pecks on the cheek here and there, but there was no heavy petting, you can be sure of that. "Hey, keep your hands off me fella"--you heard that pretty often on deck. And then later, "I said keep your hands off me!" Well, Lord knows, many lonely evenings, clippings extant say, because each man feared acquiring the dread disease which had brought him there in the first place. In his diary Columbus posed the question: "How many passionate persons can fit comfortably on the head of a pin?" He pondered the question, he sat with his chin resting neatly in the palm of his hand, and he replied. Question: "How many passionate persons can fit comfortably on the head of a pin?" Answer: "Merely one. Or... I don't know." (MUSIC BEGINS) I don't know.

MUSIC

So there they were on board looking out to see this new land Columbus was going to discover. And soon the blue horizon disappeared to be replaced by a magnificent array of greens. Fir green, evergreen, lime green, dark green, light green. The entire palette of greens stood maybe only a day's float ahead of them. No one moved. No one was allowed to move. When they were maybe fifty or seventy-five yards away, Columbus could not withstand his enthusiasm any longer. "My land is so beautiful," Columbus cried. "So beautiful," they agreed in unison, like a chorus, like a barbershop quartet multiplied by fifteen. 'So very beautiful." There were tears in Columbus' eyes. "Men," he turned to them, he looked at every one straight in the face, he was very moved by this discovery, "Men, no longer do I call this land Cincinnati; rather, this fine, green, beautiful land which I discovered today, I name AMERICA! After Amerigo Vespucci. A young man I met in Poma del Fuego with red hair and broad shoulders like his mother.

MUSIC

The thing about explorers is: they discover things that are already there. Columbus closed his diary and went ashore.

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stephbog whizzer motf hair you will always be famous

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Michael Rupert, Faith Prince, Chip Zien (Falsettoland)

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save me obc wizzvin

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In Trousers actors Mary Testa and Chip Zien with William Finn.

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a huge thank you to @/onewordshy for posting this track (as well as something bad is happening!) nearly a decade ago. They've since been removed from Christine Toy Johnson's website and without your blog I never would have heard them!!

more pics + audio from NAATCO's 1998 + 2007 productions of Falsettoland here :)

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this is my first time posting my art here so i decided to post one of my In Trousers fanart!!

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well the situation's this