William Alan Finn (b. February 28 1952, Boston, Massachusetts) is an award-winning American composer and lyricist, especially of musicals.
Contents |
Life
William Finn grew up in Natick, Massachusetts with his parents and siblings, Michael and Nancy. He majored in music at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He lives with his life partner in New York City, where he is an independent composer and writer. He is also "Adjunct Faculty Composer/Lyricist" at NYU.
Work
Finn is a heavily autobiographical textwriter (he always writes his own lyrics); his topics are the gay and Jewish experiences in contemporary America, and very often conflict, loyalty, family, belonging, sickness, healing, and loss. Finn is especially well noted for his work on what was to become a trilogy of short musical shows 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. 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. The show, A New Brain, starred Malcolm Gets, Kristin Chenoweth and Chip Zien, and premiered at Lincoln Center. The UK premiere was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005. 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, 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. More recently, Finn scored 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, and toured the United States in 2006. Two musical revues of Finn's music have been produced in the last decade. 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 is a series of songs the composer wrote in memoriam of loved ones now gone, and in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. A third musical revue, Make Me a Song, which was conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero, premiered at Hartford's Theaterworks in the summer of 2006, and opens off-Broadway in November 2007. 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 and Playbill magazine. [1]. Finn's most frequent collaborators include librettist James Lapine, director Graciela Daniele and singers Stephen Bogardus, Carolee Carmello, Stephen deRosa, Alison Fraser, Keith Byron Kirk, Norm Lewis, Michael Rupert, Mary Testa, and Chip Zien.
References
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/print.asp?id=112641 Make Me a Song, Finn's Revue of "Heart and Music," Opens in NYC ]. Playbill Online. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
Works
Works denoted with a double asterisk (**) were produced on Broadway.
- Music and lyrics for In Trousers (1979)
- Revised music and lyrics for In Trousers (1987)
- Music and lyrics for March of the Falsettos (1981)
- Music and lyrics for America Kicks Up Its Heels (1983)
- Lyrics for Dangerous Games (1989) **
- Music and lyrics for Romance in Hard Times (1989)
- Music and lyrics for Falsettoland (1990)
- Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics
- Music and lyrics (as well as book co-written with James Lapine) for Falsettos (1992, including March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland) **
- Music and lyrics for the song "Scarlet Pimpernel" featured in the play The Sisters Rosensweig **
- Music and lyrics (as well as book co-written with James Lapine) for A New Brain (1998)
- Drama Desk Nominations for Outstanding Music, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Book of a Musical
- Music and lyrics for the song "Painting" for Love's Fire (1998)
- Music and lyrics for Elegies (song cycle, 2003)
- Music and lyrics for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2004) **
- Tony Nominations for Best Original Score, Drama Desk Nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics
Other songs include "Mister, Make Me a Song", "Republicans", and "Hitchhiking Across America".
