A Day In Falsettoland!

This is what all the characters are wearing when they are first introduced (excluding the beginning of Four Jews In A Room Bitching when they're in costume). And I want to take a moment to analyse the relevance of what they're wearing just for their character as a whole before getting into the small changes between scenes that reveal things about their development.

First I would like to make note of the fact that Marvin is wearing blue — a traditionally masculine colour — and so is Whizzer (albeit a more greenish tone), while Trina is wearing red and yellow (more on that in a second). This means that the effect of seeing Marvin and Trina together versus Marvin and Whizzer together is different, because Whizzer is more similar to Marvin, as opposed to his sharp contrast with the colours Trina uses. Also this is just based on vibes, but Whizzer's colours feel colder? I don't know if there's some way to quantify this, but I definitely get the feeling that Whizzer is wearing colder colours than Marvin, which can tie into how Whizzer refuses to really care / show that he cares about the relationship, ergo is colder than Marvin, whom we get to know as the main character and therefore we know the full extent of his emotions.

Now, about Trina wearing red and yellow. Red can be used to represent a plethora of emotions and meanings and I think that a lot of them can be used for Falsettos, but the clearest one (to me) is conflict. Trina is covering the problems she's facing with superficial happiness that she can easily put on and take off (a yellow sweater that comes on and off depending on the scene).

This would tie back into Marvin's tie being red as well, especially considering that, during "The Thrill of First Love", Whizzer takes Marvin's tie off, although I personally love all the different meanings this action can have. Because red is conflict, yes, but it's also Trina's colour in a way, because she's the only character to wear it, and Marvin's link to her is his heterosexuality. There's also the fact that it's a tie, not a jacket or another removable item, because ties also carry a certain formality and expectation with them, so Whizzer removing it in a way can symbolise his removing Marvin from society's traditional expectations.

For Jason, I think the drawing on his shirt is just meant to represent that he is a child, but the green is interesting because it's the combination of blue and yellow (Trina's sweater and Marvin's shirt). There's also the aspect of Jason, Whizzer, and Marving having cool colours while Trina has warm colours, tying into traditional gender roles/expectations.

Now for Mendel. Mendel exclusively wears brown for the entirety of act one (apart from March of the Falsettos, of course). Brown generally carries the connotation of being dependable and mellow, which I think is pretty accurate for Mendel's role throughout the musical. There's also the aspect of his creating a warm-ish colour palette with both Trina and Marvin during their appointments when you take the colours of their outfits, because brown is neutral enough to mesh pretty decently with most colours.

The first change we have (apart from Whizzer taking Marvin's tie off) is for "Marvin at the Psychiatrist", when Marvin puts a green jacket on for part one, as you can see in the image on the right above, and Whizzer puts a dark blue jacket on which I have not included.

And let me tell you, Whizzer's jacket is Perplexing me. I have no clue what it might symbolise apart from mirroring Marvin's own jacket, each acquiring each other's colour to symbolise the influence they have on each other.

This makes some semblance of sense to me because Marvin takes the green jacket off during parts two and three of "Marvin at the Psychiatrist", although Whizzer's jacket never really makes a reappearance and idk what to say about that.

Short perplexity aside, let's continue.

For "I'm Breaking Down", Trina takes her yellow sweater off and instead puts a white apron on. She is also leaving the pretense of happiness and everything being okay behind.

For "Please Come To Our House", Trina changes aprons to one of those half-aprons that you only tie around your waist, not your neck, and this one has flowers embroidered on it. "Flowers make things lovely", and while she's not exactly trying to pretend like everything is totally perfect, she is trying to have a somewhat more positive outlook. It can also tie into trying to make the house seem more presentable for Mendel, who is not yet very close to her.

Trina changes her outfit entirely during "March of the Falsettos". This is the first whole-outfit change we see and I think that, first and foremost, this is symbolic of the large change in her life that comes with marrying Mendel, since it happens shortly after "A Marriage Proposal", and the next time we see her is during "Making a Home".

However, I think there is also something to be said about how she changes from red to white and beige, which are both very light (clean slate) and neutral (being more calm compared to the beginning of act one), as well as being more similar to Mendel's brown clothes.

So. Marvin's first important change. There are two aspects to the red sweatshirt that I want to talk about: red and sweatshirt. Both are fairly obvious, but I'm going to say them anyways. The red, much like with Trina at the beginning of Act One, represents conflict and anger (and in this case, violence), and the fact that it's a sweatshirt represents him sort of falling apart after breaking up with Whizzer and makes him look much less professional and put-together.

Then there's also Whizzer putting on a brown leather jacket when he's packing up, which honestly I can't find much more meaning to other than representing that he's now on the move rather than more settled in. There could be something to be said about it being brown, something much more neutral than his usual clothing, and therefore shielding his true self, making him bring his barriers back up now that he's alone and presumably meeting new people again, but I feel like that would imply Marvin and Whizzer's relationship was much healthier than it actually was in Act One. There is something to be said about how Whizzer likely didn't shield very much of himself from Marvin; they conflicted because Whizzer refused to fit into the box Marvin shoved him in, so it could have something to do with attempting to seem more likeable and malleable now that he is looking for someone new.

ACT TWO

Time for another initial analysis. I am much less sure about this one.

So for Trina there are two aspects to consider: her pink shirt/sweater (?) and her flowery skirt. I always assume her flowery outfits are connected to "flowers make things lovely", but rather than trying to salvage a mess, in this case I think it's just being a bit more positive. Allowing herself to hope and be happy and try to make her life lovely. For the pink, I see it as her now having created herself again. She's no longer beginning a new moment in her life (like she was at the end of act one), but rather has matured in it and has now turned back into someone with colour, one that's more subdued than her red from the first act, but that still has a certain liveliness to it.

There is a Lot of dark blue in the second act. I want to say it represents maturity and seriosity, along with other dark colours in general, which I will have another example for towards the end of the musical. But I think it makes sense for Mendel, Jason, and Marvin. They've all matured between the two acts. Jason has just grown two years older, Marvin's character developement is pretty much the main plotline of Falsettos, and Mendel goes from "why don't you feel alright for the rest of your life" to "we can't be sure when he'll get better". Jason's dark blue is also mixed in with red stripes, which has to do with the strain all the bar mitzvah fighting is putting on him. And Marvin's gone from a button-up to a polo, something that is a bit less formal, so he still maintains his up-tight image while being a bit more relaxed.

Cordelia having light blue and white stripes that are somewhat similar to Mendel's sweater ties into her character nicely, I think, because she is one of the more lighthearted characters, especially in the second act, and I think both she and Mendel play the same role in that their particular feelings aren't as important as the comfort they can offer the other characters.

Which isn't to say they don't have feelings or problems (see: "I can't fucking deal with that" and "I don't get it at all"), but they more often take on the role of comforting another character (see: "what's the matter, Trina, darling" and "she's my doctor and I love her"). But while Mendel sometimes treats more serious topics head-on ("why don't we tell him that we don't have the answers"), Cordelia doesn't really deal with the same emotional weight, so it makes sense for her blue to be lighter.

Also a quick note about Cordelia: later on, she puts on a yellow apron, and I feel like it's nice to contrast that with Trina's white apron in "I'm Breaking Down", because Cordelia actually enjoys cooking, while for Trina it just represents part of the oppressive housewife role she's supposed to play.

Then there's Dr. Charlotte. I don't personally believe her lab coat is meant to represent anything other than her being a doctor because she only ever wears it during her introduction and when Whizzer is in the hospital. As for the clothes she has on underneath, I just think they're meant to be somewhat lively (green like nature and life with blue, which we've established as maturity, because she is a pretty mature character). This acquires more meaning when considered with her changes further on, which I'll talk about when they appear.

And finally. Whizzer. *sigh*. I don't know, man. I feel like his resemblance to Trina is intentional. It feels like it has to be, what with their sharing some lines and being placed so close together, but I can't really figure out why. There is the possibility of this being from Marvin's point of view. He views them both as exes, but that feels like a superficial similarity, because his relationship to Whizzer and Trina is different. There could be the aspect of his projecting the fact that Trina has moved on and now has a life of her own (as I established I believed pink meant for her) onto Whizzer. I think that's the interpretation I like the most, with the sweater swung over Whizzer's shoulders separating him from her, because I don't like an interpretation where Marvin views the two of them the same way.

Jason's baseball uniform is blue! He's growing up and playing baseball and thinking of girls and those things go together. Nuff said.

OKAY SO. Hear me out. This is from Whizzer's point of view. Marvin is wearing the same red sweater he was wearing at the end of Act One, when he hit Trina and generally just reached the peak of his unlikeability, because that is when Whizzer last saw him, so that is the image he has of him. However, underneath the sweater is a dark blue polo. Marvin's newfound maturity.

Whizzer himself is wearing a leather jacket, much like at the end of Act One, meaning he's still defensive? It could be him trying to seem cool as he meets Marvin for the first time in two years?

I can't find much meaning in Trina's green sweater. Maybe she's just cold.

For Whizzer I'm gonna go ahead and analyse the white clothes the same way I did Trina's in "Making a Home": a clean slate. He and Marvin are restarting their relationship.

Then as for Marvin suddenly wearing yellow and red, it's a complete change from anything he's even worn and this is also the song where we first really realise that he's changed. He's gone from "winning is everything to me" to "don't you think it's a blessing I'm so pathetically bad", and, in turn, his clothes have gone from blue to yellow and red. (There's also the aspect that yellow is happiness and Whizzer and Marvin are much happier in act two than in act one. (Until like. Everything. But yeah.))

Trina and Mendel might just be wearing the same colours to show they're more in sync?

Cordelia has changed a couple times but she mainly rotates through white and other light colours. Dr. Charlotte has changed from a lively green and white to a sort of red-pìnk and black, which are much more serious (red like blood, like death; black like a funeral) reflecting her actual work at the hospital and sort of foreshadowing that although everything's going great right now, that doesn't mean it will forever.

Jason's shirt is now a bit less childish than it was in act one, but still has a design you wouldn't likely find an adult in. It's a lighter blue than he was wearing at the beginning of the second act, and I feel like this song sort of cements that Jason is still very much a child and still has his parents make decisions for him. I don't have much to say about Marvin's wearing green now. Bit less traditionally gendered, maybe a bit more mellow. Nothing in particular with this song and it's pretty much the only time Marvin wears this.

In "What More Can I Say", the bedsheets are striped: yellow and blueish grey. I'd say yellow for happiness and greyish-blue for masculinity but greyed out in the sense that it's not Marvin's main point of concern anymore.

In "Something Bad is Happening", Cordelia's shirt goes back to her first one, which would tie into what I said in the beginning about how she matches Mendel because both of them serve to comfort other characters, and that is her main role in "Something Bad is Happening".

In "More Racquetball", Marvin's shirt is green now, not yellow, so I would like to take back what I said earlier about not knowing what the green is, because in the first racquetball scene, he's wearing yellow, which I believe is meant to represent the great change he went through between his meetings with Whizzer. To Whizzer, who has just now encountered him again, Marvin seems like an entirely different person as of "A Day In Falsettoland". However. By now, they have spent enough time together that it has become clear that Marvin is not entirely changed. He is still the same person and still has some of the same qualities as he did two years ago, but he has changed, and incorporated new qualities in as well.

Hence, blue + yellow = green.

(There's also Whizzer's clothes being larger to show he's losing weight, but I feel like a lot of people have talked about that so I'll just leave it at that.)

OKAY. Now we're talking.

First of all: Marvin. He's now wearing a sweatshirt, much like at the end of act one, but rather than red (a lively colour, representing conflict and anger), it's a pale grey, which sharply contrasts with the brightness and vivacity of most colours the characters wear in this show. He's falling apart, just like at the end of the first act, but he's not turning violent or angry about it.

Both Whizzer and Marvin have had all the colour sapped out of their clothes along with the life that's been sapped out of them, both metaphorically and literally.

(Fun fact: the whole origin of this post was a compilation video where there was a scene of Marvin in his red sweatshirt, I think he was talking to Jason in "Father to Son", immediately followed by what I think was a frame from "Unlikely Lovers" of him and Whizzer next to each other, and it struck me how much of the colour had been sapped out of everyone's clothing.)

Starting from now, Cordelia wears dark colours which are serious and mature and all that like I explained at the beginning of act two. I really like Cordelia's role, actually, because while she does become more serious when the events themselves become more serious, she still holds the bit of positivity which I believe made her match Mendel at the beginning of act two. While "we don't know what time will bring" is arguably a more solemn line than any other she says in the previous songs, the response of "I've a clue" "I have two" "Let's look like we haven't" still presents her as the more idealistic or positive of the four of them.

Now, during "Holding to the Ground", Trina wears the light-coloured floral pattern that she's wearing in the image above, but minus the red sweater and. Well. I like the idea of this was just a normal day for her. She was going through a normal day, a calm day where everything was fine and lovely and then this entirely unexpected and unpredictable thing happened and you just have to deal with it. And that is what "Holding to the Ground" is about. It just feel very fitting for this to be what she wears, because it's not something that reflects the severity of the situation like how Cordelia's darker colours do.

It's especially fitting considering that when she appears in "Days Like This", she's wearing a red sweater, which, rather than tie it to conflict, I would tie it to pain. To feeling like it's unfair both for Whizzer to die and for her to care about him. She's short on time and finds something that somewhat fits the occasion, although it isn't entirely right, just like how she grabs at a feeling that somewhat fits because she doesn't have the time to think it over carefully because it's happening now.

And that tied together with doubling down on the flowers and bringing in actual flowers to decorate Whizzer's hospital room, I feel like it perfectly paints Trina as a character and her reaction to Whizzer's death.

(Maybe that one was a bit of a stretch. I like it though).

Now, for "Another Miracle of Judaism", Jason is wearing a red sweatshirt identical to Marvin's from the end of act one. Need I say more? (Falling apart, being mad, in pain like Trina, following the only models he's had for how to react to emotions he can't control).

And just. Just look at how dark the colours are. How sombre the moment becomes. Trina's dark red, how she's gone from pale pink to this. Cordelia's dark brown, because this is the most serious she's ever had to be. Sure, suits are usually dark, but even Whizzer's wearing a dark robe. Charlotte wearing a darker version of her original colours. Mendel's suit is brown (his colour for act one) and his tie is red (Trina right now, as well as the pain everyone feels). Jason's entire suit is blue (maturity), and Marvin's tie is blue (his colour in act one and part of act two). It's so conclusive and sombre and alskdjfkssk

I can't take credit for this, but I saw someone say once that Whizzer's wearing the same clothes as he was at the beginning but without the colour because Marvin is already starting to forget him and all his intricacies.

Fuck.