There is something I have always found so beautiful and magical about musical theatre: it brings you the good, the bad and the ugly of so many stories that bring out the truth of humankind. These compelling stories move people to tears, make people come together, light a flame of triumph; essentially, they allow audiences to simultaneously step into the lives of these characters as well as feel these feelings of awareness for themselves. They say art holds a mirror to nature which is what makes art so culturally relevant. Especially when it comes to musical theatre, I find it is such a dynamic, layered and interdisciplinary form of expression and beauty. For all of the above reasons, a show so carefully crafted as Falsettos will forever have a piece of my heart.
As a queer woman, myself, the messages that Falsettos spreads to its audiences are extremely relevant – now more than ever – with a rise in hate crimes targeted towards the LGBTQ+ community in North America in the last couple of years. I truly believe that the most important and particularly topical message presented by the show is the value of love and being true to who you are, whole-heartedly and unapologetically. The show explores the exceptionally complicated themes of love and queer identity, more specifically, exactly what those entail in a modernized setting. As these unconventional characters discover the uncomfortable and confusing parts of what it means to love someone unconditionally, regardless of gender, as they navigate the toxicity of the relationships they are currently involved in. There is so much truth to this show because of its realistic interpretation of how complicated love and identity can be; in that sense, Falsettos is very ahead of its time.
It truly takes a village to assemble a project of this grandeur. Although, with the phenomenal group of superstars that were involved with this production, they genuinely made this whole process so much more manageable and all-around fun. That being said, there are many people I would like to take some time to thank: our unfathomably talented and exceptionally dedicated cast – who have since become like my children – they have been working so hard these last few months and putting up with me, even at my worst, and pulling through for the sake of the show each and every time. Thank you so much to Kalliopé and our absolutely stellar set and props crew for carefully crafting and selecting our sets. I am also very grateful for Olivia, Mariann and our incredible costumes, hair and makeup team for their tireless efforts to make us look great. Thanks so much to the fantastic M and Meehan in the booth, playing God, show after show with the beautifully planned lights and sound design. I am eternally grateful to our stage manager, Miller, our assistant stage manager, Decio, and the stage hands for being the spectacular hard workers that they are and for being so organized and reliable all of the time. Thanks a million to our spectacular band for bringing this beautiful music to life. Thank you so much to our amazing choreographer, Sallia, who brings so much energy and liveliness into whatever she does. Thank you so very much to our insanely gifted musical directors: Melissa and Bradley who have put in countless hours of effort to make the show sound as beautiful as it does. Lastly, but certainly not least, Rose-Marie. I cannot even find the right words to tell you what you mean to this show, this company and to me. You have been my rock throughout this whole process, the ultimate person to lean on, and I am so unbelievably grateful for you and everything you do for this company. Our blood, sweat and tears went into this show and I could not imagine doing any of this without you. Thank you.
A very special thank you also goes out to Marianopolis College and its staff, notably: Wayne Clasper and his team, the TLT team, and the incredibly supportive Student Services team, Trudy, Adam, Véronique and Louise.
Finally, thank you to all the parents, friends, loved ones, and theatre-goers who are supporting us tonight because the magic of live theatre is only as beautiful as those who behold it.
On that note, I welcome you to Falsettoland! Enjoy the show!
Emilia Carpineta-Gaul
Director, Marianopolis Theatre Company 2019-2020
