The 2016 Broadway revival of William Finn and James Lapine‘s Falsettos will get a 10th anniversary reunion concert October 18 at Carnegie Hall, with the entire adult cast—including Tony winners Stephanie J. Block, Christian Borle, and Brandon Uranowitz; Tracie Thoms; Betsy Wolfe; and Andrew Rannells—back to reprise their performances. The evening will also feature a special guest appearance from the production’s original Jason, Anthony Rosenthal.
The one-night-only performance will be given in support of The BroadwayEveryDay Foundation and Family Equality. Vadim Feichtner will again music direct and conduct, leading a band made up of most of the production’s original players.
“I am thrilled to have the chance to revisit this extraordinary show with this incredible cast,” says Rannells in a statement. “Being part of the 2016 revival remains one of the proudest moments of my career, and bringing it to the stage of Carnegie Hall feels both surreal and deeply meaningful. It’s a tremendous honor and a beautiful tribute to Bill and James’ extraordinary work.”
“I’ve been trying to imagine what it’s going to feel like when the lights go down and this company walks back onstage together for the first time in 10 years, and honestly, I don’t think any of us are ready for that moment,” adds Wolfe. “There’s something incredibly special about knowing it will only happen once.”
“One of the greatest gifts of filming Falsettos for PBS has been watching an entirely new generation fall in love with it. This one-night-only concert is a chance for those fans to experience what can’t quite be captured on a screen: the electricity of this cast back together, the immediacy of live theatre, and the heart and humanity that make Falsettos so unforgettable,” says Block.
The revival, which opened in 2016 at the Walter Kerr Theatre via Lincoln Center Theater, was the second time Falsettos played Broadway, following its 1992 original production. Originally produced Off-Broadway as two separate one-act musicals, the work follows the unconventional family that arises after Marvin tells his wife, Trina, that he’s gay. Featuring songs by the late Finn and a book by Lapine (who also directed both of the show’s Broadway bows), the musical was a landmark moment in theatre history, created at the height of the AIDS crisis and becoming one of the first major mainstream depictions of queer life and family units. The 2016 revival was filmed live on stage and later shown on PBS, and was nominated for five 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Tickets are at CarnegieHall.org.