Musical Theatre Works wrapped up its "Intimate Conversations" series when composer-lyricist William Finn ("Falsettos," "A New Brain") was interviewed by MTW Artistic Director Lonny Price. In his opening introduction, Price related that he once quit a paying job in order to appear in a reading of an early musical of Finn's, "Four Jews in a Room Bitching," which later metamorphosed into "March of the Falsettos."
A self-effacing and quietly sardonic Finn then spoke of his Massachusetts childhood--and how his interest in musical theatre was sparked by Mary Martin TV musicals and excerpts from Broadway hits on the old "Ed Sullivan Show." He reminisced about how, in the winter, the family patio would be flooded and turned into a makeshift ice rink on which he and others would create routines to the tunes from the "Bye Bye Birdie" cast album. (He admits he was angry at first that his parents didn't purchase the soundtrack version with Ann-Margret singing the title tune written especially for the film.)
Exposure to the musicals of Stephen Sondheim was revelatory for Finn. "Once I saw 'Company,' I thought, 'That's not a bad way to spend a life." When it came time to choose a college, Finn selected Williams, in part because he'd read in the "Company" playbill that Sondheim was a Williams alum. While in college, Finn wrote three musicals.
Soon he was in New York, calling himself a writer, but working as a script reader for the Public Theatre and scripting history plays "for ninth graders reading on a third-grade level." He began staging musical plays in his apartment, utilizing the talents of people like Mary Testa and Craig Lucas. Ira Weitzman and Andre Bishop were among audience members who saw his early work, and Finn was soon asked to participate in the inaugural season of the musical theatre lab at Playwrights Horizons.
Asked about his writing habits, Finn said, "When it's easy, it's very easy." Mostly, though, it isn't. "I can sit at the piano for months and pretend that I'm writing. And I'm just sitting there." Speaking of the "Marvin Trilogy" ("In Trousers," "March of the Falsettos," and "Falsettoland"), Finn admitted he's returned to this largely personal (though not necessarily autobiographical) territory in part because of a peculiar sort of writer's block. "I knew very early that I don't have a lot of ideas, that I had to milk them." His collaborations with James Lapine have been rich, he said, because Lapine is, comparatively, a wellspring of ideas.
"March of the Falsettos" and "Falsettoland" were merged into "Falsettos," for which Finn won two Tony Awards in 1992. Finn claimed there have been discussions about doing a fourth installment of the Marvin saga, but there's nothing written in stone yet.
When he picked up his Tonys for "Falsettos," Finn made a wobbly trip to the podium. "From the rear, I look like I'm walking on a sailboat," he said of the TV footage of the ceremony. The truth was, Finn was ill--with a condition initially misdiagnosed as an inoperable brain tumor. The ensuing ordeal was intense. "It was the only time in my life where I'd say, 'More drugs, please,' and they'd say, 'Fine.' " Finn used the story of his illness and recovery as the basis for the 1998 musical, "A New Brain," which was staged at Lincoln Center with Malcolm Gets in the lead.
In the last part of the evening, Price opened up the program for audience questions. Finn was asked about his musical influences (they include pop composers such as Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, and Laura Nyro, along with Sondheim); he admitted that the work he's done writing for animated cartoons on television is welcome ("It's fun; they have very low expectations"); and he spoke glowingly of his work relationship with orchestrator Michael Starobin ("People think he does too much with the orchestration, but my songs need all the help they can get.")
Clearly, Finn has a strong self-critical streak. "I'm not satisfied with anything, and I think it's all horrible," he said. He admitted, for instance, that he doesn't care at all for "What More Can I Say?," one of the key songs from "Falsettos." "It's a lyric-y lyric--and it just embarrasses me." Still, he's a believer in not looking back with regret.
One project Finn currently has in the works is a song cycle called "Eulogies," which may or may not jell into something for public consumption. "I don't know whether I'm writing songs or remembrances of people. And it's hard."
Also on the roster is a long-awaited adaptation of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's "The Royal Family," called "The Royal Family of Broadway." But he admitted that work has stalled on that project. "It's just sitting--waiting to pounce and stun."
Meanwhile, Finn continues to teach musical theatre at New York University and is heartened by the talent he encounters there. He said he honestly believes he could fill the slates for three seasons of a production series simply by utilizing work he's seen from students at NYU.
Musical Theatre Works' series of "Intimate Conversations" will resume this fall from Oct. 28-Nov. 22, Mon.-Thurs. at 7 pm, at MTW's Linhart Theatre at 440 Lafayette Street, NYC. Bebe Neuwirth, Baz Luhrmann, and Chita Rivera will be among those participating.