Character guide

Jason

Jason is Marvin and Trina's young son in Falsettos, William Finn's sung-through musical about a nontraditional family navigating divorce, love, and the arrival of the AIDS crisis.

Show: Falsettos
Broadway premiere: 1992
Role: Supporting
Music by: William Finn

Jason: role facts

Originated on Broadway by: Jonathan Kaplan (1992)
Notable performers: Kaplan earned a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award; Anthony Rosenthal played Jason in the 2016 revival, and future countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo was an original-run replacement.
Voice type and range: Tenor, A3 to Bb4 in Miracle of Judaism
Songs Jason sings: My Father's a Homo (solo)
Everyone Tells Jason to See a Psychiatrist (with Marvin, Trina, and Whizzer)
Please Come to Our House (with Mendel and Trina)
Father to Son (with Marvin)
Miracle of Judaism (solo)
Everyone Hates His Parents (with Mendel, Marvin, and Trina)
Cancelling the Bar Mitzvah (with Mendel and Trina)
Another Miracle of Judaism (solo)

Who is Jason?

Jason is caught in the middle of his parents' divorce and his father's new relationship with Whizzer Brown, observing the adults around him with a mixture of confusion, wit, and surprising perceptiveness for his age. His upcoming bar mitzvah becomes a structural anchor for the show's second act, drawing the whole extended family together around a single event.

Jason's chess games and blunt questions often cut through the adults' evasions, and his growing bond with Whizzer becomes one of the show's quieter, more affecting relationships as the story moves toward its final act.

Jason's role in Falsettos

Jason is a supporting role in Falsettos, typically played by a young performer who must hold his own alongside an adult ensemble in fast, wordy musical numbers. The role requires sharp comic timing along with the ability to land the show's more emotional beats as the family faces crisis.

Audiences remember Jason as the show's clear-eyed observer, a child whose bar mitzvah becomes the occasion that finally brings his fractured, unconventional family fully together.

Jason: frequently asked questions

What show is Jason from?

Jason is a supporting character in Falsettos, which opened on Broadway in 1992.

Is Jason a lead or supporting role?

Jason is a supporting role, the young son of Marvin and Trina.

Who wrote the music for Falsettos?

William Finn composed the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book with James Lapine.

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