Mendel

## Description

Mendel Weisenbachfeld is Marvin's psychiatrist. He does not quite enjoy his job, performing very poorly at it. He also begins to see Trina to help her, and falls in love with her, much to Marvin's disapproval. The two later get married.

## March of the Falsettos

Mendel is Marvin's psychiatrist. He later acquires Trina as a patient, and she tells him her problems, mostly centering around her and Marvin's divorce and Jason. During their first session, he falls in love with her, stating that "in just 5 session on my couch, she'll be like new!" He tells her to return again next Friday.

He and Marvin have three therapy sessions together. During the first session, Marvin talks to him about his relationship with Whizzer and how it makes him feel. During the second session, Mendel discusses his infatuation with Trina, telling Marvin that she may have been holding back love from him. He begins asking very inappropriate question about Trina, which confuses and irritates Marvin. The session ends with Mendel asking Marvin how he's ben doing, to which Marvin responds with, "Oh so *now* you're interested in me?" During the third session, Marvin tells Mendel about his relationship with Jason, and asks how he can possibly improve it.

Trina and Marvin ask Jason to see Mendel, as there is something wrong with Jason. He eventually agrees after Whizzer says he should, but only if Mendel comes to their house for the therapy. Mendel agrees to come to Trina's house for Jason's therapy, more focused on the fact that he is coming over to Trina's house, rather than the actually therapy he's supposed to be doing.

Jason tells Mendel he dislikes his father, and is worried that he will grow up to be like Marvin. Mendel tells Jason to relax, and to feel alright for the rest of his life. Jason then asks about Mendel's intentions for Trina, and he panics, wondering how he's supposed to propose to Trina. Jason tells him to feel alright for the rest of his life, and agrees to help him come up with a marriage proposal. Armed with Jason's advice, Mendel proposes to Trina, albeit very strangely. Marvin is upset by the proposal, seeing it as a threat to his "tight-knit family." Trina eventually accepts, and the two get married on May 27th. Trina, Mendel, and Jason decorate their new home, where they get a visit from Marvin. Marvin accuses Mendel of trying to make him look bad and ruin his sleep. Mendel tells Marvin he feels ashamed, and is shocked when Marvin slaps Trina.

## Falsettoland

Mendel and Trina are still married in 1981. Trina and Marvin are planning Jason's Bar Mitzvah, but Mendel believes it's a load of crap, stating that religion is a trap. Marvin and Trina are undeterred by Mendel's ideas, so Mendel tells Jason that he'll bring women from the wrong side of the tracks to his Bar Mitzvah.

Later, during Jason's baseball game, he tells Jason that anyone can be good at baseball, listing off two famous Jewish baseball players to encourage him.

Mendel laments about his job and patients. He has a therapy session with a woman named Caroline, but he forgets her name and calls her Diane. When she asks Mendel if she can stop sleeping with her boss, Mendel tells them their session is over. The only thing he looks forward to is going home and seeing Trina. Trina is upset by Whizzer and Marvin getting back together, and Mendel asks her why, telling her to give it up, and asking her if him loving her and wanting her every night isn't enough, to which she responds with, "every night?" Mendel does not want her every night, or every other nights, not even every three nights. She tells Mendel everything will be alright once they're finally done with planning Jason's Bar Mitzvah, however she and Marvin are so stressed out about planning the Bar Mitzvah that Jason tells them he doesn't want a Bar Mitzvah.

Marvin and Trina freak out, which stresses Jason out. Mendel tries to help him, telling him that it's alright, because everyone hates his parents. In time, Jason will grow up, hate his parents less, have children, and then those children will hate him. Jason agrees.

Mendel and Trina visit Whizzer in the hospital after he contracts AIDs. In an attempt to make Whizzer, and himself, feel better, Mendel tells him that he will have a therapy session with him to cure his AIDs and make him better. Jason is upset due to Whizzer's being sick, and refuses to have his Bar Mitzvah until Whizzer gets better. Mendel and Trina know that Whizzer will never get better, and try to convince Jason to have it anyways, but he still refuses. Mendel and Trina tell him they'll cancel the Bar Mitzvah, which Jason also refuses, as he decides he needs to have Whizzer there. Mendel wants to tell Jason that life is unfair, that bad things happen to good people, and Whizzer will probably never get better, but convinces himself and Trina that it will work out in the end.

In the end, it does work out, as Jason decides to have his Bar Mitzvah in Whizzer's hospital room. Mendel tells Trina to make Jason smile more, for Whizzer's sake. Mendel reads out the prayers for the Bar Mitzvah. After Whizzer dies, Mendel speaks at his funeral.

## List of Songs

### March of the Falsettos

Four Jews in a Room Bitching

A Tight-Knit Family/**Love is Blind**

Marvin at the Psychiatrist - A Three-Part Mini Opera

This Had Better Come to a Stop

Please Come To Our House/Jason's Therapy

A Marriage Proposal/Tight-Knit Family - Reprise

Trina's Song/**March of the Falsettos**/Trina's Song - Reprise

Making a Home

Marvin Hits Trina

I Never Wanted to Love You

### Falsettoland

Falsettoland/About Time

Year of the Child

The Baseball Game

A Day in Falsettoland

Everyone Hates His Parents

Days Like This

Canceling the Bar Mitzvah

Jason's Bar Mitzvah

Falsettoland - Reprise

## Trivia

Mendel is one of two characters to have a last name, the other being Whizzer. However, Mendel's last name, Weisenbachfeld, is not official, as it doesn't appear in the script. Brandon Uranowitz gave him the last name in Please Come To Our House.

Mendel is the first person to ever refer to Trina by her name.