There will be an upcoming Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of “Falsettos” on PBS. The Tony winning musical. The special was filmed January 3-4 just before the final performances on the show.
Falsettos tells the story of Marvin, Marvin has a lover Whizzer and a wife Trina through the early days of the AIDS crisis.
The cast includes Tony winner Christian Borle as Marvin, Tony nominee Stephanie J. Block as Trina, Tony nominee Andrew Rannells as Whizzner, Tracie Thomas as Dr. Charlotte, Besty Wolfe as Cordelia, Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz as Mendel and Anthony Rosenthal as Jason.
Stephanie J. Block was on hand on day 2 of the PBS press tour to talk about the upcoming program. She discussed her time with the musical during the panel.
Block was the first actress to play Elphaba in “Wicked”, before the role went to Idina Menzel. When asked about the situation and Broadway, she stated “As an actor, it’s always hard to digest the business part of show business. And I think it will forever be a question mark to me, because what leads us to this art form is our heart, rather than a lot of our head. Do you know what I mean? Anytime I look back this may sound airy-fairy but anytime I look back, I know exactly why that happened in my life, why that decision had to be made, why that wasn’t going to work.”…. “That stuff happens. But, you know, you wake up the next morning, you figure out what that next audition is. I decided they did offer me to replace Idina on Broadway, and that would have given me a second Broadway credit, but I decided to get back into the rehearsal room, with Joe Mantello, create the Elphaba that I wanted to create; and, in turn, I met my husband, we bought an apartment, I have a child. And so she got the Tony, I got the Sebastian, and it all worked out just fine. It’s not that easy to say, you know when it’s happening, but it certainly makes sense when you look back and say, artistically, I know exactly why these choices were made, how I grew as an artist, and how I will never have to hopefully go through that again.”
Block received great reviews for “Falsettos”. Later that evening, she performed an amazing live performance set for the television critics.
