“What Would I Do?”

“What Would I Do?” is the final song of the show. The majority of it is a farewell duet between Marvin and Whizzer. They sing about how they love and respect each other as men, friends, and lovers. They have no regrets but wish they could spend just an hour more with one another. It is sad, sweet, and genuine. After Whizzer exists the stage and Marvin sings his last refrain, the rest of the cast surrounds Marvin. The entire musical then ends with these lines from Mendel:

Lovers come and lovers go.
Lovers live and die fortissimo.
This is where we take a stand.
Welcome to Falsettoland.

Marvin begins to cry as it becomes clear the group is standing in a cemetery. The scene fades to black and the show ends. Not only are these haunting words to end the musical on, but they give the audience one last complex take on the topic of love. The line “lovers come and lovers go” defines love as temporary. An idea that many people are uncomfortable with. “Lovers live and die fortissimo” suggests that love, as an emotion is loud, especially in the wake of something as severe as a lover’s death. In the show’s very final lines “This is where we take a stand. Welcome to Falsettoland,” Mendel drives home the idea that, for these characters, the events of the show were real. In turn, this makes them feel more real to the audience. It can also be seen as a reference to standing in solidarity with those that lost their lives to the AIDS Crisis and to unfair treatment of LGBTQ+ people everywhere. While Falsettos is careful never to excessively romanticize these relationships, it does a lot to suggest that they are normal relationships that deserve equal treatment. In their article “Love Wins?” Amanda K. Baumle and D’lane R. Compton argue that while in 2017, same-sex marriage was now legal, LGBTQ+ people still faced legal discrimination and that there were still goals left to reach for the community. As Mendel suggests in these final lines, a stand needs to be taken in order to secure equal rights for all. For these reasons, the final lines of Falsettos leave the audience on an eerie unfamiliar note. They are in mourning, yet taking a stand. They had the chance to see Marvin and Whizzer truly fall in love, but they also saw it ripped apart due to something out of anyone’s control. This show does not have a happy ending. It can leave audience members feeling raw, and it therefore puts them in the perfect place to reflect on the complexities of this feeling we refer to as love.