Tony Award-winning composer William Finn passed away April 7 following a long illness. He was 73. In honor of his passing, 半岛体育 is republishing this article from 2016 where, on the eve of the revival of his musical Falsettos, Finn recalled the inspiration behind the seminal work.
Falsettos begins with four Jews in a room bitching. In fact, that鈥檚 the name of the opening number, and it was also once a possible title for March of the Falsettos, the 1981 one-act musical that now occupies the first half of Falsettos.
The second half is the 1990 Off-Broadway musical Falsettoland. When the twain met on Broadway two years later for Falsettos, the result made a two-time Tony winner of composer-lyricist William Finn, and that is what is rating a 2016 reprise at the Walter Kerr Theatre, opening October 27.
The quintessential Finn song, 鈥淔our Jews in a Room Bitching鈥� is delivered by a quirky quartet of contemporary males, kvetching, baring angst and bouncing off the walls of a psychiatrist鈥檚 office. First and foremost, in the room where it happens, is Marvin, the neurotic everynerd invented for In Trousers, the first of Finn鈥檚 Marvin Trilogy. Spinning dizzily around Marvin here are his ten-year-old son, his two-faced psychiatrist and the man for whom he left his wife. All four join hands for a hymn on the varieties of masculinity, with the adults affecting falsettos to match the boy鈥檚 voice.
Finn can still recall the moment that 鈥淲ho is man enough to march to 鈥楳arch of the Falsettos鈥�?鈥� came to him.
鈥淚 was walking through Central Park to a voice lesson, and it popped into my head,鈥� says Finn. 鈥淎s soon as I got there, I sat down at the piano and got it.鈥�
An earlier jaunt through Central Park to visit an East Side pal ushered the curtain-raiser into his brain: 鈥淔irst I thought of 鈥榝our Jews in a room bitching,鈥� then the melody came to that. I just kept on repeating it over and over until I got it on paper.鈥�
Finn admits that his music is word-led, but only up to a certain point. 鈥淚 have to write the first line first. Then, I write the music and dummy in the words鈥攂ut my dummies are good, so, when I go back and write the whole thing, it鈥檚 not hard. But, without that opening line, I cannot write the song.鈥�
Falsettoland and March of the Falsettos were co-written almost a decade apart by Finn and his director, James Lapine, and coupling them on a single bill doubled their strength.
The two shows span only three years鈥攆rom 1979 to 1981鈥攂ut they鈥檙e as different as day and night, as comedy and tragedy. In between came the AIDS crisis, which devastated and disfigured the gay landscape of Marvin鈥檚 world so, with Falsettos, you enter laughing and exit crying. As Frank Rich said in the New York Times of this inspired fusion, Falsettos 鈥済ains exponentially in power by being seen only 15 minutes, instead of nine years, [apart].鈥�
鈥淛ames is a remarkable person,鈥� says Finn, 鈥渟o much fun, so focused, so fertile. He has so many ideas. When I get stuck鈥攁nd I often get stuck鈥攈e goes, 鈥榃hat about this?鈥� 鈥榃hat about this?鈥� 鈥榃hat about this?鈥� 鈥榃hat about this?鈥� I鈥檓 in awe of him!"
Unless you count A New Brain, which got an Encores! restaging last summer, this is Finn鈥檚 first major revival, and it is outfitted mostly with old Finn friends. Christian Borle鈥攃oming directly from portraying William Shakespeare to play the needy, nebbish Marvin鈥攇ot his first big part in New York from Finn (the song cycle Elegies), as did Betsy Wolfe who started on the road in his 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Andrew Rannells, cast here as the home-wrecker Whizzer, was working on Finn鈥檚 Little Miss Sunshine when he suddenly heeded a higher calling (The Book of Mormon). Completing the cast are Stephanie J. Block, Brandon Uranowitz, Tracie Thoms and Anthony Rosenthal.
A frequent and easy worrier, Finn frets about how Falsettos will play in 2016. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a different world we live in now, so I wonder how it鈥檚 going to be received. I don鈥檛 even know if the show evinces the horribleness of the times because it鈥檚 talking about family and a lot of other things鈥攊n a world that is being devoured by AIDS.鈥�
Aside from rubbing up against those tragic times, he says Falsettos is the least autobiographical of all his works. 鈥淭here are aspects, of course, but the events of the show aren鈥檛 the events of my own life. At the time, I couldn鈥檛 write about anything else. I couldn鈥檛 not write about it. It was so much a part of all of our lives.鈥�
Of course, Finn filters these turbulent years through his own idiosyncratic sensibility, leaning more often than not on the ethnic, especially during the story鈥檚 lighter moments. As the song 鈥淲atching Jason (Play Baseball)鈥� proclaims: We鈥檙e watching Jewish boys, Who cannot play baseball. For Finn, 鈥淯nfortunately, I did [play baseball]. I was in the very Little League鈥攁 sad little baseball player. When we did the show in L.A., I asked Sandy Koufax to the opening, and he was offended鈥攏ot at all pleased.鈥�
Then there is the fallout from Marvin鈥檚 self-centeredness and sexual straddling. With the left-behind wife lamenting 鈥淚鈥檓 Breaking Down鈥� and an offspring belting 鈥淢y Father鈥檚 a Homo,鈥� it鈥檚 easy to trace a line straight to Fun Home, which, it鈥檚 rumored, Finn was asked to write. 鈥淭he right people wrote it,鈥� he is quick to say, 鈥渁nd the show is wonderful. I just felt that I鈥檇 already written it with Falsettos.鈥�
