"Falsettos" - Artistic Differences - Friday Evening

I arrived late, and sat too far away for my slow camera to get really good pictures. Nevertheless....


'March of the Falsettos'


'Jason's Bar Mitzvah' (left to right: Margaret Hollinbeck, Kevin Caravalho, Joey Harris, Craig Howard, Kristen Wagner, Jessica Stein).


The gala afterwards (left to right: Michael R.J. Campbell, Jerry Lee, Kyle Hadley, Kevin Caravalho, Jason McDowell, Jon Daniells, Nora Abaoli).

I think everyone was in agreement here: what a wonderful show! Strong, strong leads. Even young 14-year-old Joey Harris, who apparently has been in the chorus of two Natomas Charter School shows prior to this, and may have never even had lines before this, did fantastic.

Can't go wrong with Gino Platina's choreography! Since I was late, my first impression of the show was "March of the Falsettos." How bizarre!

This show is, in some ways, a kind of hothouse flower: narrowly perched on a small but important demographic at a moment of crisis - homosexual Jews in the 80's, coming to grips with AIDS. Add in the normal crises of adolescence, work/gender roles, and martial dilemmas, and you nearly have too many crises to effectively deal with in a single musical. Which, I guess, is why "Falsettos" is actually an assemblage of three musicals. According to the Artistic Differences Web Site:

Falsettos is a musical by William Finn that ran on Broadway in 1992 and 1993. The play is actually the second and third parts of a trilogy: the first show is called "In Trousers", the second is "March of the Falsettos", and the third is "Falsettoland." Each were produced singularly as one act plays before the second and third were put together as acts one and two of Falsettos.

I think many of us in the audience were intrigued to see a new musical of which we knew little. Of greater interest, however, was seeing so much superior talent on display.

The basic approach of Artistic Differences is to focus first on the talent and the music, and worry later about the tedious logistical details, such as securing a permanent venue for a full season of shows. If not for the potential of scheduling conflicts, that home could easily be DMTC - 'Artistic Differences' certainly are exemplary guests - but a full season might be difficult to accomodate with DMTC's current schedule.

I recall 1979, when I was vice-president of the University of New Mexico Ballroom Dance Club, trying to secure reservations for the on-campus Student Union Ballroom. "These people are supposed to help students, and we are students," I thought. "Is there a reason why they have to be so nasty, peevish, and myopic?"

The answer, of course, is that all facility managers, no matter how well-meaning, are doomed by their role to be difficult. It seems to come coded in the DNA, part of the business of worrying about who is paying for the lights and why is that item out-of-place and did someone lock the doors? Despite seeing first-hand the example of what being a facility manager did to the City of Davis, I worry that transformation will happen to us as well. It's not our fault. It comes with the territory. It's not just like being a parent: it's a bit like Smeagol playing with that damned Ring......

So worry about those logistical details. They are crucial. But not quite yet....

First, glory in artistic triumph! What a wonderful show!