William Finn

William Finn
For the Irish Member of Parliament, see William Francis Finn.

William Alan Finn (b. February 28, 1952, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.

Contents

Biography

Finn, who is Jewish,[1] grew up in Natick, Massachusetts with his parents and siblings, Michael and Nancy. He majored in music at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. When he graduated, he received the Hutchinson Fellowship (a musical composition award).[2] He is also Adjunct Faculty Composer/Lyricist at New York University.[3]

Personal life

He lives with his life partner in New York City[4] and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he is a composer and writer.[3]

Work

Finn is a heavily autobiographical writer; he always writes his own lyrics. His topics have included the gay and Jewish experiences in contemporary America, and also family, belonging, sickness, healing, and loss. According to a 2006 article, "The Washington Post called him 'the composer laureate of loss.'"[4]

Finn is especially noted for his work on what was to become a trilogy of short musicals Off-Broadway. In Trousers, March of the Falsettos, and Falsettoland all chronicle the lives of the character Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his boyfriend, Whizzer, his psychiatrist, Mendel, and his son, Jason.[5] Falsettos, the combination of the latter two parts of his Marvin Trilogy (March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland), opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theater on April 29, 1992,[5] and ran for 486 performances. It won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book, the latter shared with James Lapine.

With Lapine, Finn penned a musical loosely based on his near-death experience following brain surgery, exploring the role of music in his life and recovery. The musical's main character is a man who has what may be terminal brain cancer. That musical, A New Brain, starred Malcolm Gets, Kristin Chenoweth and Chip Zien, and premiered Off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center Theater in 1998.[6] The musical won the 1999 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical. The UK premiere was at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

At the 2006 Elliot Norton Awards Ceremony, Finn brought his High School drama teacher, Gerry Dyer, onstage with him to present an award. Finn said of Dyer that he "imbued us with a ridiculous sense of our own self-worth."[7] Another student of Gerald Dyer, Alison Fraser, found fame on Broadway, collaborating with Finn in the original casts of In Trousers and March of the Falsettos.

Finn had another Broadway success with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which he wrote both music and lyrics. The show won two Tony Awards in 2005-one for Best Book of a Musical, and another for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. It ran Off-Broadway, then on Broadway in 2005[8] and toured the United States in 2006. The show was first workshopped and produced at Barrington Stage Company (BSC) in Pittsfield, MA, where Finn later created The Musical Theatre Lab (MTL) with BSC Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. The MTL is an annual summer lab where emerging musical theatre artists are supported and new musical works are created, fine-tuned and produced under the curatorship of Finn and Boyd.[9]

Three musical revues or song suites of Finn's music have been produced:

  • Infinite Joy, in which the composer played the piano and sang along with an all-star cast, contained several songs from shows that were unfinished, and some that were cut from previous shows.
  • Elegies: A Song Cycle (2003) is a series of songs the composer wrote in memoriam of loved ones now gone, and in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.[10]
  • Make Me a Song, conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero, premiered at Hartford's Theaterworks in the summer of 2006, opened Off-Broadway in November 2007, and closed in December 2007 after 54 performances.[11] A live recording of Make Me a Song was released by Sh-K-Boom Records on April 29, 2008.

His long-in-development show, The Royal Family of Broadway, with a book by Richard Greenberg, was based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, which tells the story of a girl from a family of great Broadway actors who contemplates leaving show business and getting married. It has apparently been shelved, according to William Finn's personal notes for Make Me A Song, Playbill magazine and an article from 2006.[4][12]

His next project, the musical comedy Little Miss Sunshine, premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse, California, from February 15, 2011 through March 27, 2011. James Lapine wrote the book and is the director, set design by David Korins, staging by Lapine and Christopher Gattelli. The opening night cast featured Hunter Foster (Richard), Malcolm Gets (Frank), Dick Latessa (Grandpa), Taylor Trensch (Dwayne), Georgi James (Olive), and Jennifer Laura Thompson (Sheryl).[13][14] The ensemble, who Jay Irwin wrote "...took the small parts they were given and ran with them, almost right out of the theater as each of them brilliantly played the comedic relief to the family's "straight man"", starred Bradley Dean, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Eliseo Roman, Andrew Samonsky, Sally Wilfert, and Zakiya Young.

Finn's songs were featured exclusively on Lisa Howard's album Songs of Innocence and Experience, released on April 12, 2011.[15]

Finn's frequent collaborators include librettist James Lapine, director Graciela Daniele and singers/actors Stephen Bogardus, Carolee Carmello, Stephen DeRosa, Alison Fraser, Keith Byron Kirk, Norm Lewis, Michael Rupert, Mary Testa, and Chip Zien.

Writing credits

Notable Songs:

  • "Anytime (I Am There)"
  • "Baseball Game"
  • "Change"
  • "Hitchhiking Across America"
  • "I'm Breaking Down"
  • "Infinite Joy"
  • "Marriage Proposal"
  • "Mister, Make Me a Song"
  • "Republicans"

Awards

See also

  • List of notable brain tumor patients

References

  1. ^ Friedman, Jonathan C."Chapter Three" Rainbow Jews:Jewish and Gay Identity in the Performing Arts, Lexington Books, 2007, ISBN 0739114484, p.74
  2. ^ Ruhlmann, William."William Finn Biography new.music.yahoo.com, accessed August 22, 2011
  3. ^ a b "Programs and Faculty, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY" New York University, accessed February 15, 2011
  4. ^ a b c Guthmann, Edward."A playwright steeped in loss finds bliss in 'Spelling Bee'" sfgate.com, February 18, 2006
  5. ^ a b Henry, William A."The Quirky William Finn"Time Magazine, May 11, 1992
  6. ^ Brantley, Ben."Theater Review:A Romp Through the Valley of Death"The New York Times (requires registration), June 19, 1998
  7. ^ MacDonald, Sandy.Camp, Mays, Spamalot, et al. Win 2006 Elliot Norton Awards" theatermania.com, May 23, 2006
  8. ^ Isherwood, Charles."Six Misfits Test Wits on Bigger Platform"The New York Times, May 3, 2005
  9. ^ "Barrington Stage History, Commitment to New Work and the Musical Theatre Lab" Barrington Stage Company, accessed August 22, 2011
  10. ^ Holden, Stephen.Departed Friends Vibrantly Recalled in Song"The New York Times (requires registration), March 28, 2003
  11. ^ Midgette, Anne."A Songwriter’s Gamut, Personal and Poignant With Notes in Between" The New York Times, November 21, 2007
  12. ^ Jones, Kenneth."'Make Me a Song, Finn's Revue of "Heart and Music," Opens in NYC" playbill.com, November 12, 2007
  13. ^ Jones, Kenneth."Road Trip! Finn & Lapine's 'Little Miss Sunshine' Musical Begins World-Premiere Run in CA" playbill.com, February 15, 2011
  14. ^ Irwin, Jay."BWW Reviews: 'Little Miss Sunshine' at the La Jolla Playhouse" broadwayworld.com, March 26, 2010
  15. ^ Cerasaro, Pat."SOUND OFF Special Interview: Lisa Howard on William Finn Album, TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN, and More" broadwayworld.com, April 13, 2011

External links


v · d · eWilliam Finn musicals

In Trousers · March of the Falsettos · America Kicks Up Its Heels · Romance in Hard Times · Falsettoland · Falsettos · A New Brain · Infinite Joy · Elegies: A Song Cycle · The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee · Make Me a Song
v · d · eDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (1976–2000)

Edward Kleban (1976) · Martin Charnin (1977) · Carol Hall (1978) · Stephen Sondheim (1979) · Tim Rice (1980) · Stephen Sondheim (1982) · Howard Ashman (1983) · Stephen Sondheim (1984) · Roger Miller (1985) · Stephen Sondheim (1988) · David Zippel (1990) · William Finn (1991) · Susan Birkenhead (1992) · Denis Markell and Douglas Bernstein (1993) · Stephen Sondheim (1994) · Gerard Alessandrini (1997) · Lynn Ahrens (1998) · Stephen Sondheim (2000)
Complete list · (1969–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025)
v · d · eTony Award for Best Original Score (1976–2000)

A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban (1976) · Annie by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin (1977) · On the Twentieth Century by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (1978) · Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim (1979) · Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (1980) · Woman of the Year by John Kander and Fred Ebb (1981) · Nine by Maury Yeston (1982) · Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber and T. S. Eliot (1983) · La Cage aux Folles by Jerry Herman (1984) · Big River by Roger Miller (1985) · Drood by Rupert Holmes (1986) · Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer (1987) · Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim (1988) · City of Angels by Cy Coleman and David Zippel (1990) · The Will Rogers Follies by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (1991) · Falsettos by William Finn (1992) · Kiss of the Spider Woman by John Kander and Fred Ebb / The Who's Tommy by Pete Townshend (1993) · Passion by Stephen Sondheim (1994) · Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton (1995) · Rent by Jonathan Larson (1996) · Titanic by Maury Yeston (1997) · Ragtime by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (1998) · Parade by Jason Robert Brown (1999) · Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice (2000)
Complete list · (1947–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025)

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