Falsettos
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40 free Falsettos trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Falsettos tells nearly its whole story in song. Its two acts began life as separate one-act shows written almost a decade apart, and together they follow Marvin, who leaves his wife Trina for a man named Whizzer and then tries to keep everyone, including his young son Jason, in one family. The first half is quick and funny. The second, set as a new epidemic reaches the city, turns to loss. Because almost every turn of the plot happens inside a number, knowing the show means knowing its songs. This quiz asks which number belongs to which moment, who sings it and why, and what the lyrics are doing in the scene, described rather than quoted. It also covers the characters, the writers, the 1992 Broadway production and the 2016 revival that was filmed for television. It is written for fans who know the cast albums by heart, and for anyone who has just watched the filmed revival and wants to find out how much of it stuck.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Hall of Fame pitcher, named in Falsettos as a Jewish baseball success, was reportedly offended by the joke?
Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax is named alongside Hank Greenberg in a number poking fun at the family's lack of athletic prowess, and the composer, who had invited him, said he was not at all pleased.
Q 02Where does Jason choose to hold his bar mitzvah in Falsettos, after Marvin and Trina fight over every detail?
A hospital
A hospital hosts the ceremony so that the gravely ill Whizzer can be there, a setting the show's composer said came to him in a dream.
Q 03Which board game does Marvin try to teach Whizzer in Falsettos, in a lesson that ends with the couple splitting up?
Chess
Chess turns bitter once Whizzer talks Marvin into letting him win, and the quarrel that follows keeps the two men apart for the next two years.
Q 04Which illness, never once named in Falsettos, strikes Whizzer in the second act, set in New York in 1981?
AIDS
AIDS goes unnamed because the act is set in 1981, the year the epidemic began, so Dr. Charlotte can only describe a mystery sickness spreading among young gay men.
Q 05What is Mendel's job in Falsettos, one he strains by marrying Trina, the ex-wife of his own client Marvin?
A psychiatrist
A psychiatrist to Marvin and then to young Jason, Mendel is instantly attracted to Trina when she comes to see him and ends up proposing to her.
Q 06Which actor, Broadway's first Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, played Whizzer in the 2016 revival of Falsettos?
Andrew Rannells
Andrew Rannells earned his second Tony nomination as Whizzer, six years after his first for the missionary role he is best known for.
Q 07Which US broadcaster aired a filmed performance of the Falsettos revival as part of Live from Lincoln Center?
PBS
PBS showed a version assembled from two performances filmed in January 2017, only days before the revival closed.
Q 08Which sport are Marvin and Whizzer playing in Falsettos when Whizzer collapses, the first sign of his illness?
Racquetball
Racquetball entered the show at its director's suggestion: he and the actor playing Whizzer were regular partners on the court and supplied the terminology.
Q 09Which pop artist's drawing of two adults and a child became the logo of the 1992 Broadway production of Falsettos?
Keith Haring
Keith Haring's image gave the producers the simple logo they wanted, but they came to fear it narrowed the audience and launched a campaign built on photographs of theatregoers.
Q 10Which star of The Princess Bride took over the role of Marvin in Falsettos on Broadway in January 1993?
Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin, the film's vengeful swordsman Inigo Montoya, was already a Tony winner for Evita when he stepped into the part.
Q 11What are Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia to Marvin in Falsettos, where the lesbian couple first appear in the second act?
His neighbors
His neighbors were written in as a tribute to the lesbians who cared for gay men during the epidemic, and one of them is a doctor who watches the first cases arrive.
Q 12Which dish does Cordelia bring when the family gathers at Whizzer's bedside in Falsettos to cheer him up?
Chicken soup
Chicken soup is Cordelia's offering, while Marvin brings love and Mendel some terrible jokes, and only young Jason is honest enough to say how awful the patient looks.
Q 13Which instrument did the composer of Falsettos receive for his own bar mitzvah and then teach himself to play?
A guitar
Q 21Besides the Tony for its book, which other Tony did Falsettos win in 1992 despite losing the top prize?
Best Original Score
Best Original Score was the composer's alone, while he shared the book prize with his director, and the show left the ceremony with two wins from seven nominations.
Q 22Which actress, a Tony winner in 2019 for playing Cher, was Trina in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos?
Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block was Tony-nominated as Trina two years before that win, and had earlier led the first national tour of Wicked as Elphaba.
Q 23Which Tony winner, television's Tom Levitt in Smash, played Marvin in the 2016 revival of Falsettos?
Christian Borle
A guitar was his first instrument, and he entered college intending to major in it before carrying what he knew over to the keyboard.
Q 14Which career did the composer of Falsettos consider training for after critics savaged his first Marvin musical?
Medicine
Medicine lost out when he struggled in his science classes, so he went back to writing about Marvin and produced March of the Falsettos.
Q 15Why were some lyrics of Falsettos changed when the Broadway revival was filmed for television in 2017?
To remove profanity
To remove profanity, the cast sang cleaned-up lines at the two taped performances, a change a press representative confirmed before the broadcast.
Q 16What did the actors in the 2016 Falsettos revival rearrange throughout the show, starting from one big cube?
Large building blocks
Large building blocks turned the set into a child's toy box, and critics read the skyline they formed as a comment on the grown-ups' immaturity.
Q 17Who wrote the music and lyrics of Falsettos, and later the songs for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee?
William Finn
William Finn was a heavily autobiographical writer who always supplied his own lyrics, and The Washington Post called him the composer laureate of loss.
Q 18Which opening number of Falsettos was meant to be the title of March of the Falsettos until its director objected?
Four Jews in a Room Bitching
Four Jews in a Room Bitching grew out of a melody its composer improvised and hummed while strolling the streets of New York.
Q 19In which Falsettos solo does Trina manically chop bananas and carrots, sure that Whizzer is taking her place?
I'm Breaking Down
I'm Breaking Down was not part of the original 1981 off-Broadway show and only joined the story for a Los Angeles run in 1982.
Q 20Which director and co-writer of Falsettos also wrote the books for Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George?
James Lapine
James Lapine has won the Tony for Best Book of a Musical three times, and this show brought him the second of them.
Christian Borle won his two Tonys for comic turns, as the pirate Black Stache and as Shakespeare, before Marvin brought him a further nomination.
Q 24A trip to which Larry Kramer play with a recent graduate persuaded the director of Falsettos to revive the show?
The Normal Heart
The Normal Heart left his young companion asking whether the epidemic had really been like that, which convinced him a new generation needed the story.
Q 25Which Falsettos solo does Whizzer sing as he packs to leave Marvin, deciding he will no longer let men use him?
The Games I Play
The Games I Play has Whizzer conclude that he does not love Marvin, a verdict the second act overturns when the pair reunite two years later.
Q 26Which number closes the first act of Falsettos, soon after Marvin loses Whizzer and strikes Trina?
Father to Son
Father to Son has Marvin promise Jason he will be there whatever kind of man the boy becomes, and it ends the act with the two in an embrace.
Q 27In which Falsettos number does Dr. Charlotte describe young men falling sick with an illness nobody understands?
Something Bad Is Happening
Something Bad Is Happening returns later in the act, when Dr. Charlotte warns Marvin that he may fall ill as well.
Q 28Which solo is Whizzer's last number alone in Falsettos, sung shortly before Jason's bar mitzvah late in the show?
You Gotta Die Sometime
You Gotta Die Sometime has Whizzer resolve to face the end with dignity and courage once his illness has become terminal.
Q 29Which final duet in Falsettos has Whizzer's spirit return to ask Marvin whether he regrets their relationship?
What Would I Do
What Would I Do lets the two sing together one last time before Whizzer disappears and Marvin collapses into the arms of his family and friends.
Q 30Which quartet in Falsettos unites Marvin, Whizzer, Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia in a vow to stand by one another?
Unlikely Lovers
Unlikely Lovers brings the two couples together at Whizzer's bedside as his condition worsens, wondering how much longer their love can last.