Actors Stephen Schellhardt and Jack Ball are currently exploring the dynamic relationship of Marvin and Whizzer, one of contemporary musical theater’s most complex couples, in Court Theatre and Timeline Theater Company co-production of Falsettos.
As the show’s final act ends in 1981, the piece does painfully detail the beginning of the AIDS crisis. But both performers rightly believe that this masterwork, co-created by William Finn and James Lapine, is about both learning how to truly define family structure and discovering how to deeply and honestly love one another.
During their last week of rehearsal, Schellhardt and Ball shared what they believe makes this work and, more importantly, this particular production such a potent and important piece for all to experience.
Windy City Times: Gentlemen, was Falsettos a project you’ve always wanted to do, or is the piece a newer discovery for you?
Stephen Schellhardt: Being cast in this show is truly one of the biggest gifts that I have ever received in my career, especially as a queer man and as a father. I was born in 1983, so I grew up with this piece.
Jack Ball: I wasn’t familiar with the material until this audition came through. I knew it was a show everyone loved so much and that it is a staple in the musical theater canon. I just hadn’t come in contact with it. I’m so grateful it came into my world. The music is so incredible. The relationships are so complex and beautiful. I have never come across material that hit me in the way this has. It’s able to do so much very quickly. It doesn’t let you know where it’s going to take you and then it just takes you there without apology.
SS: Essentially these are two one-acts. March of the Falsettos was written in 1979. Falsettoland was written 10 years later. Then William Finn put them together because they were about the same group of humans and friends and family. The second act takes place two years later. I came into my recognition of this musical with Falsettoland, which is the second act. It was the first musical that I was listening to that was actually a play with music. It’s completely sung through. There’s really no dialogue in it.
WCT: What is the most fascinating thing that you’ve discovered, historically, about the timeframe that Falsettos takes place in?
JB: This company did an incredible job of putting us in conversation with people in the LGBTQIA community who lived through that time. These are people whose lives were completely shattered by the AIDS crisis. I am so grateful that they were so generous in sharing their stories with us. Something they kept talking about was this time of gay liberation after Stonewall era activism and before the AIDS epidemic. There was this burst of freedom and hope in the gay community. And then AIDS changed all of that. It took everything away. And with it came paranoia and fear. The fear of each other. The fear of self. That huge whiplash from hope to devastation is a trauma that is so specific to our community in that time. Hearing these men speak about it just shook me in so many ways.
SS: What I love about Falsettos is that it is a queer story. It’s Marvin’s story, so it’s queer. But at the end of the day, it really is about family. I think it is about issues that, no matter how you identify, you can relate to. That’s what makes it feel so rare. Yes, the AIDS epidemic is in the background. It’s in the landscape of this musical. It comes just as fast towards the characters in this musical as it did in real life in 1981. But the first act is about family structure. It’s about finding a balance with the complexity of love. It’s such an interesting time for a musical to take place. It’s occurs post-Stonewall and also before AIDS even had a name. This show ends in ’81. Right as gay cancer, as they called it, was being written about. Reagan didn’t even speak the word AIDS until ’87. People sometimes think of Falsettoland, the second act, as something that takes place in ’85 or ’86. We have to remind ourselves, even in rehearsal, that it doesn’t.
WCT: Is there a number in the show that perfectly sums up this experience for you as whole?
JB: I think “Thrill of First Love.” Singing with Steven is a thrill. He’s just incredible to work with in all ways. And there’s been so much love in this cast. And truly it’s my first time working with any of these people. So that number ticks all the boxes: Thrills, loves and firsts.
SS: There are really tight harmonies. There are Sondheim style wordplay numbers. Yet, you have some of the most gorgeous and romantic love ballads that, I think, have ever existed in musical theatre. You have them back to back for almost two hours. It’s a musical journey that is just such an honor to explore at this time in my life and with this creative team.
WCT: Jack, do you feel like your past work has been one long preparation for the incredible dynamics involved with playing Whizzer?
JB: Whizzer is such a dynamic character. I’m very excited to continue working on the role. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m meeting Whizzer at an important part of my life. I’m questioning a lot of the same things, challenging a lot of the same things. He has this hunger for life and an understanding of who he is and what he is willing to accept. I’m really learning a lot from him.
There’s a thoughtful chaos to him that I really respond to. In the show, he moves through a lot very quickly. We see him in his prime. Virile. Clever. He’s a force, struggling with old concepts of love. And then we see him truly fall in love. Real love. And then we see him grapple with the reality that he will lose it all much sooner than he ever thought he would. I don’t know if anything really prepares you for that journey, but I’m grateful to go on it with this cast.
WCT: This creative team, as a whole, seems amazing, as well.
SS: Nick Bowling has been a director that I have aspired to work with for my entire career. It’s being produced by theater companies like the Court and Timeline. They are not only important to the landscape of Chicago theater, but to our theater community, nationally. It’s also such an honor to do this with the cast of humans that they’ve assembled for this production. I feel lucky enough to be an artist and do what I love every day. But there are some shows were it becomes work. There are some shows you do and it becomes art. It feels like you are making something that is greater than yourself.
Note: This conversation was modified for clarity and length.
Falsettos runs from November 8th through December 8th at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. More information is available at www.courttheatre.org.