R.I.P. William Finn

[Mister Tee]

The composer of Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

When PBS broadcast Falsettos in 2017, BJ described it as over-familiar material. By that point, it no doubt was. But when the first part of it (March of the Falsettos) appeared off-Broadway, in 1981, its subject matter -- a married man leaving his wife and children to come out gay -- was pretty much unheard of in mainstream theatre. (In Trousers, earlier treatment of part of the subject, had actually preceded March, but never got the attention. And then all of it was paired with Falsettoland -- the first musical to touch upon the AIDS crisis -- to create what we now know as Falsettos.)

For me, Finn's talent was blaringly obvious from the opening number of March of the Falsettos -- "Four Jews in a Room Bitching", which featured the indelible line, "We are manipulative people and we need to see our worst sides aren't ignored." Finn was an early disciple of Sondheim, richly talented in his own right.

The Putnam County Spelling Bee is more trivial, but a genuinely hilarious show. It apparently made Finn financially comfortable the rest of his life -- something we should wish for all talented artists.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/thea ... -dead.html