Loading details…
Artist
William Finn
12+ albums
musicalshowtunesmusical theatercomposermusicals
about
William Alan Finn (February 28, 1952 - April 7, 2025) was an award-winning American composer and lyricist, especially of musicals. 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 lived with his life partner in New York City and Pittsfield, MA, where he was an independent composer and writer. He was also "Adjunct Faculty Composer/Lyricist" at NYU. Finn was 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 was 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
top songs
albums
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
A New Brain (2015 New York Cast Recording)
Falsettos (2016 Broadway Cast Recording)
Falsettoland - Composed By William Finn
A New Brain (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
March of the Falsettos (Original Off-Broadway Cast)
Elegies: A Song Cycle (2003 Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
Make Me A Song: The Music Of William Finn (Live Recording of Original Off-Broadway Cast)
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
▥
Infinite Joy
A New Brain
Falsettoland (Original Off-Broadway Cast)