The Book of Rannells: Favorite Characters: Whizzer, Revisited (Falsettos)

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.