One part of Falsettos that’s probably been talked about to death is how Marvin’s line “I was rich, he was horny” from Thrill of First Love seem to contradict the line “Brains, I’m not so rich, but hell I’m smart” from This Had Better Come to a Stop. While, yeah, they kinda contradict each other, there’s a part of my brain that thinks that every line in the musical is there for a reason and that both lines make sense together.
My interpretation is that the line “Brains, I’m not so rich, but hell I’m smart” is Marvin downplaying his wealth because he would rather be perceived as smart by others. In the musical we see how being smart is important to Marvin, how he wants to feel smarter than Whizzer, and how other characters thinks he makes dumb decisions, with Trina calling him “not a genius type”. I think that Marvin wants to be seen as smart in particular because he wants to be validated that the choices he’s making are right. He’d rather be lusted for his brains instead of his wealth because his intelligence is something Marvin’s needs to prove throughout the musical.
And also I don’t think that Marvin is lying about being rich because Whizzer states how he wants a man with money lol
