In Trousers

Tessa Shaffer

U.S History II

Mr. Rice

05/23/2024
 The Marvin trilogy is a collection of musicals created by William Finn and James Lapine.

The three musicals are In Trousers (1979), March of the Falsettos (1981), and Falsettoland

(1990). The latter two were eventually combined to create Falsettos (1992). These shows will

always have a special place in my heart. The trilogy has helped me better understand issues in

the world. These musicals have helped show the world the truth of the Aids Epidemic. Sadly, I

cut this paper to just the first act In Trousers. If I wrote something about the whole trilogy it

would’ve been around twenty pages.

In Trousers was created in 1979 by William Finn but didn’t premiere until 1985 off-

Broadway. The show consists of four characters, Marvin, His wife, His high school sweetheart,

and His teacher, Miss Goldberg, who is noted always to wear sunglasses. In Trousers is a sort of

abstract show. One of the actors who played Marvin even said, “In Trousers is a sort of abstract

fever dream.” It’s not very well known for that reason. People don’t like to popularize things

they can’t fully understand. It almost made William Finn quit showwriting after seeing how his

show was perceived. The show starts with introducing Marvin and the other three. Marvin soon

has a revelation that his fantasies don’t line up with his actions. While he might have a wife, he

truly wishes he were with a man.

Then Marvin regresses to show his high school memories. His memories start on his

fourteenth birthday. We later hear his sweetheart explain that Marvin has ‘seizures’ (Finn, 1986).

We can understand those to be a cry for attention because throughout the show we hear remarks

about his mother’s love for him. “Maybe this whole seizure thing is something he invented or is

it medicinal? Should his mother be blamed?” Said by his sweetheart (Finn, 1986). There is

another song “Your Lips and Me” which is not in the stage version. Within the song, we hear his

wife say, “Your mother withheld her love from you, dear I try withholding mine” (Finn, 1986).
We can imagine from this that Marvin’s family life isn’t the best, and he constantly wishes for

the attention of others.

The next memory we see is Marvin being a part of the school play. He plays Christopher

Columbus. Columbus is symbolism for Marvin’s sexuality. While Columbus ‘discovered’

America, Marvin discovered that he wasn’t attracted to who he thought (Finn, 1986). Miss

Goldberg is his teacher for the play. We then get to see a ‘fantasy’ of Marvin’s. A fantasy in

which he gains a romantic relationship with his teacher for his fourteenth birthday. “I turned

fourteen just today And I thought, for a not unseemly price You'd introduce me to the wonders of

the bed and also treat me nice” (Finn, 1986). We can view this fantasy as a way of Marvin trying

to repress his true feelings. This is the end of the fantasy and the end of Marvin’s childhood

memories. Next, we see a bit more into his relationship with his wife. We get to his wedding.

Before his wedding, Marvin sings “Three Seconds.” Within the song we see Marvin start

to panic about his future. Even going as far as saying, “Have pity on one who's dying Four

seconds my heart will stop” (Finn, 1986). It is referenced but never said in In Trousers if Marvin

was forced into this marriage. Although, it is more talked about in March of the Falsettos. The

song then concludes with Marvin saying, “Did I ever have... No. Did I ever have... Will I ever

have fun?” (Finn, 1986). Then we can hear machine gun fire like Marvin is truly being killed. He

opens his eyes and dejectedly returns to his wedding. We see his wife smiling. This is one of the

few times she is ever happy throughout the trilogy. She loves Marvin, but he doesn’t love her.

In the next songs, we hear Marvin’s wife talk about their life together. The Ladies start

the song with, “How the body falls apart First the groin and then the heart” (Finn, 1986). This is

referencing Marvin's withholding from the sexual aspects of their relationship. “First the groin

and then the heart” (Finn, 1986) shows how their relationship will inevitably fail because of their
different wants. The next song “I Feel Him Slipping Away” ends with his wife realizing that she

is not the only one Marvin loves. “I feel him slipping away I feel him dead in my arms His

charms Are not for me How Can I ever compete? The cause of all his lust She must Be sweet...

Liar!” (Finn, 1986). She still tries to convince herself that Marvin loves another woman although

deep down she knows it’s a man. Marvin then goes on to tell us, the audience, about his new love

Whizzer Brown. He expresses how happy he finally is with his new partner.

Next, we see the wife's reactions to finding out about Whizzer Brown. She sings “I’m

Breaking Down.” In this breakdown, she shows how low this has made her standards. “I only

wanna love A man who can love me... Or like me... Or hold me... Or touch me... Or stand me...”

(Finn, 1986). We later, in March of the Falsettos, see her settle for a man she doesn’t deserve.

Marvin then packs up and plans to leave his ‘wife.’ He says how he really feels about this

moment; “Honest to god I do not feel awful... A little unlawful But A lot relieved” (Finn, 1986).

We can see his regret for even marrying his wife “Packing up a crazy wife Packed a crazy son

Packing up a crazy life God... What have I Done?” (Finn, 1986).

Even after everything his Wife still wants him to stay. They discuss over breakfast their

plans for the future after everything that has happened. They sing overlapping expressing their

different hopes for the future. His Wife: “I can't believe We've Worked To end up This way”

Marvin: “You can't go on as if you're dying” (Finn, 1986). Marvin no longer loves his wife, if he

ever did, and she’s afraid that no one will ever love her again. Marvin knows that everything will

be better once they divorce; “This is much better for the both of us Now things are better for the

both of us” (Finn, 1986).

The Columbus symbolism continues. “How America Got Its Name” takes us back to the

play. We see Marvin, his Sweetheart, and Miss Goldberg during a read-through of the show. It
once again represents Marvin’s sexuality and his leaving his wife. While Marvin tries to explain

his story, he is constantly cut off by his Sweetheart and Miss Goldberg. He did believe he loved

his wife. He just didn’t know what love was. He didn’t want to hurt her. We get to see how

everyone feels now that they have officially lost Marvin. Marvin is happier than ever even going

as far as saying, “I'm feeling alive-er Than I've ever felt in my life before” (Finn, 1986). All the

other ladies feel alone. “I am so alone. In the middle of the night” (Finn, 1986). The show ends.

Marvin has left his wife for his new lover, Whizzer Brown. His Wife, Miss Goldberg, and his

High school Sweetheart all lost Marvin in some way.

The Aids Epidemic was a major point in American history. While The Marvin Trilogy

didn’t gain that much popularity at the time, it still put a light on the epidemic as a whole.

Former President Ronald Reagan stayed silent for a good amount of time during the

epidemic. Misinformation spread and he did nothing to stop it. The Aids Epidemic was played

off as a joke by the government. A Vox article depicts a conversation between Lester Kinsolving

and Larry Speakes: “Lester Kinsolving: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay

plague." [Press pool laughter.] No, it is. It's a pretty serious thing. One in every three people that

get this have died. And I wonder if the president was aware of this. Larry Speakes: I don't have

it. [Press pool laughter.] Do you? Lester Kinsolving: You don't have it? Well, I'm relieved to

hear that, Larry! [Press pool laughter.] Larry Speakes: Do you?” (Lopez, 2015)

While the Marvin Trilogy isn’t the most popular set of musicals, it started a trend for

LGBTQ+ visibility within musicals. The last act of the trilogy focuses heavily on the Aids

Epidemic. It was one of the first musicals to do so. Rent, another more popular musical about the

Aids Epidemic, was released in 1996. The Marvin Trilogy helped show the world the truth about

the crisis.
 References

Finn, W. (1986). In Trousers. S. French.

Lopez, G. (2015b, December 1). The Reagan administration’s unbelievable response to the
HIV/AIDS epidemic. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-
aids