So, with
The Book of Rannells, I’ve been going chronologically, and we’ve come at last
to Falsettos. But the thing is, I already reviewed that
show back when the filmed recording of it showed in cinemas, and after I got
the cast recording and listened to it a million times (ultimately leading to
starting The Book of Rannells in the first place,) I did a Favorite Characters post
on Andrew Rannells’s Whizzer, along with Relationship Spotlights on Whizzer
with both Marvin and Trina, and
Whizzer is definite feature on my Top Five Songs posts for Act I and Act II. I’ve already written about Falsettos, and Whizzer, a lot.
This begs
the question, “What more can I say?” (see what I did there?) And yet, I can’t not talk about this fantastic, Tony-nominated performance. Not only it one of my favorites of
Rannells’s, it’s also the role that, for me, made Rannells one of “my” actors and
made me excited to see what else he’s done.
So we’re back, once again, with Whizzer (spoilers.)
First of
all, I need a Book of Rannells summation for Falsettos, since none of my many posts on the show explicitly
include one. “Recommend? In General
– Yes. I get that William Finn isn’t
always the most accessible composer, but if you give the show a chance, it
opens up in the most incredible way.
Watch the Live from Lincoln Center recording if you can, but if nothing
else, listen to the cast recording. Andrew
Rannells – Absolutely. Rannells is
wonderful in this role, a sharp performance with powerhouse vocals.”
Speaking
of that performance… Watching the recording again, I’m reminded anew of just
how great Rannells is here. Even though
I’m sure I’ve listened to the score dozens of times and I find it very hard to
get to “The Games I Play” or “You Gotta Die Sometime” and not instantly replay
them, seeing him in the role elevates
it to an entirely new level. As I’ve
said before, Whizzer is the family member we know the least about, the one who
interacts least with characters beyond Marvin.
He spends a decent amount of time in the background, sitting outside the
action, or not present at all.
All that
said, Rannells does so much and gives us such insight into Whizzer at every
turn. It’s interesting to see how petty
and manipulative he can be, turning up his nose at Marvin’s clothes or playing
hard to get just because he feels like it.
When he pulls away from a kiss, when he sweet-talks Marvin into letting
him win at chess, when he shruggingly insists he only cares about sex and
money, these are the tools he uses in his Act I relationship-cum-power-struggle
with Marvin. Both men love each other
deeply, but neither can admit it to the other.
Marvin condescends to Whizzer and calls him a pretty boy, and Whizzer pouts
and brushes Marvin aside. There’s this
irritating, sort of childish tone he gets in his voice at times, making Marvin
put up with him in order to be with him.
Maybe Whizzer can’t play chess, but he can strategize. He cops this attitude because he knows he’s
desirable enough to get away with it – or so he thinks.
When he
needles a bit too far and Marvin breaks up with him, Whizzer is shaken. I’ve said before that Whizzer uses indifference
as a coping mechanism, pretending he doesn’t care to shield himself from hurt,
and that’s a tactic he even tries to employ with himself. But it doesn’t work. Throughout “The Games I Play,” the lyrics get
progressively more honest and vulnerable as the song goes on, but the
expressions on Rannells’s face and the emotion in his voice gives the game away
instantly. We see this same truthfulness
in little moments during his relationship with Marvin, usually in the reaction
shots between his lines – here, though, it takes center stage. Even as Whizzer refuses to apologize and
tries to shrug it all off, it’s clear that he’s utterly heartbroken by what’s
happened.
Act II
gives us the same defense used in different ways, and its façade again crumbles
during Whizzer’s solo. “You Gotta Die
Sometime” is wrenching to watch, the growing terror in Whizzer’s eyes and voice
as he fails to convince himself that he can “go out without care.” It’s a tremendously-affecting scene, hitting
home all the harder for what came before it:
all those shots of Whizzer smiling when others are looking. Before, he feigned apathy to protect his
heart from the man he loved, but now, he feigns optimism to protect everyone he
cares for. As everybody bustles around
his hospital room in “Days Like This” and Marvin, and later Charlotte and
Cordelia, sit up with him in “Unlikely Lovers,” Whizzer is constantly
pretending to have more hope than he feels, not wanting them to see how sick he
really is. He puts on a
decently-convincing act as people tell him he’s “looking very good today,” but
as soon as the camera is on him and only him, the exhaustion starts to peek
through.
I can’t
go without talking a little more about the singing. After hearing him in The Book of Mormon, I concluded that Rannells had an excellent
pop-Broadway type voice, well suited to more contemporary-sounding scores (I
maintain that he has pretty much a perfect voice for a Disney prince. Menken, Lopez, Miranda – any of them could write
him a terrific Disney song.) With this
show, though, I started getting a hint of how versatile his voice really is, a
fact that was thoroughly hammered home by the time I got to his Live from
Lincoln Center concert. William Finn’s
score is a tricky one, but Rannells absolutely rises to the challenge. His lyrics on the faster numbers are crystal
clear, he injects so much character into his singing, and I enjoy hearing those
notes he sings at the tops of the harmonies, making them sound effortless. And on his showcase songs? He commands that stage, and those songs tell
every inch of Whizzer’s story while still sounding completely gorgeous. I’m so glad Rannells had the opportunity to
play this part, and I’m so glad Live from Lincoln Center filmed it so it could
be preserved in its entirety.
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