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Juan Toro as the pool boy Giancarlo simultaneously caresses Sara Grant as Mrs. Falwell and Seth Trucks as Jerry Falwell Jr. in Ronnie Larsen’s new play Fall Well (Photo by Dennis Dean)
By Jan Sjostrom
Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, take a tumble in Ronnie Larsen’s new play Fall Well at The Foundry in Wilton Manors. But before their downfall they revel in frolicking with their toothsome, much younger Cuban boy toy Giancarlo.
Fun is what audiences can expect in Larsen’s latest creation through July 19, which he also produced and directed. That is, if you’re older than 18, as the show is off-limits for minors.
The show tracks the rise and fall of the years-long alleged affair between Becki Falwell and Giancarlo Granda, a Miami pool attendant. Her husband allegedly got his kicks by masturbating while watching Giancarlo enjoy Falwell’s wife. Jerry Jr. is the son of the late Moral Majority televangelist Jerry Falwell, who also founded Christian fundamentalist Liberty University before passing the baton to his son.
Packed into a single 90-minute act the laughs come readily as the Falwells expose the gulf between their professed Christian beliefs and their morality-busting behavior – a conflict that doesn’t dawn on either of them. They see nothing wrong with their kinky sexual exploits or treating the university’s finances as their personal piggy bank. Comic queries about the characters’ sexual preferences and boasts about their prowess add to the show’s frisson of naughtiness.
It’s almost enough that the show is so funny and that it allows audience members to participate in proxy revenge against the privileged abusers of trust and power who often seem beyond reach.
But the play isn’t as satisfying as it could be with a dash more depth and more dimensional characters. Fuller context would help audience members less acquainted with the 2020 sex scandal appreciate the play. Granted, the play is still in its infancy and veteran playwright Larsen is likely to refine it as it ripens.
The threesome is played by Seth Trucks as Jerry, Sara Grant as Becki and Juan Toro as Giancarlo.
The action unfolds on Jeff Walters’ palatial white and gold living room set adorned with tokens of religious piety, including a massive painting of a beckoning Jesus on the back wall. Preston Bircher’s lighting design punctuates key scenes with sharp blackouts and dips into dark emotions with fiery reds.
The characters are dressed in white – a reference to the “purity” they lack – Giancarlo in scanty briefs, Jerry in silk pajamas and Becki in a loose-fitting negligee.
Trucks excels at portraying Jerry’s sulky voyeurism and his thirst for the verbal abuse Giancarlo obligingly dishes out. He also lands the infrequent lines that hint at possible reasons for Jerry’s twisted sexuality, such as his conviction that he doesn’t measure up to his celebrated Dad.
The play doesn’t give him much chance to demonstrate whatever assets enabled Jerry to retain his university job for as long as he did. Trucks’ compelling delivery of Jerry’s desperate 11th hour prayer for a bailout rises to a level of authenticity the show needs more of.
Grant plays up Becki’s neediness, willfulness and blind self-righteousness. She’s effusively domineering when Becki forces the men to pretend that their threesome is a love match and an intransigent virago when the character spews hatred for anyone who opposes her anti-abortion views. Becki’s rare, almost unconscious, admissions of emptiness and sadness slip by nearly unnoticed.
Toro’s Giancarlo spends most of his time as an impassive observer who notes what’s required of him to keep the game going and does whatever it takes. It’s difficult to guess what goes on in Giancarlo’s head from the little that Toro gives away.
How you feel about Fall Well will depend on what you’re looking for in a show. If it’s laughs, it fits the bill. If it’s insightful use of fruitful source material that goes beyond well-aimed satire you might end up wanting more.
Fall Well, a production of Ronnie Larsen Presents in association with Plays of Wilton at The Foundry, runs through July 19 at The Foundry, 2306 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. The 90-minute, one-act performances will be held at 8 p.m. July 1, July 2, July 3, July 8, July 11, July 15 and July 18 and 3 p.m. on July 5, July 12 and July 19. Tickets cost $37.50 for main seating and $53.50 for premium seating. For information call 954-826-8790 or visit ronnielarsen.com.
