William Finn, the Broadway composer and lyricist who created the musicals Falsettos, A New Brain and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, has passed away at the age of 77.
Finn was born in Boston in 1952 and raised in a conservative Judaism household. He went on to study music at a local college. His began writing music based on his own personal experiences and in the late 1970s and early 1980s authored a series of short autobiographical musicals that ran Off-Broadway.
In Trousers, March of the Falesttos and Falsettoland told the story of Jewish man Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, he boyfriend Whizzer, alongside the characters psychiatrist and his son. The first two were later combined to create the musical Falsettos which opened on Broadway in 1992. The show went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical Score, and Best Book of Musical, which Finn shared with James Lapine.
Collaborating again with Lapine, Finn created the 1998 musical A New Brain which was inspired by his own experience of having brain surgery. The show opened Off-Broadway and included Kristin Chenoweth among its leading cast.
Finn’s best-known work came in 2005 with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which he wrote both the music and lyrics. The show has an unusual element of audience participation that not usually seen in Broadway musicals.
The first international production of the musical was the 2006 Melbourne production that featured Marina Prior, Bert La Bonté, Magda Szubanski, David Campbell and Natalie Mendoza.
In 2011 Finn created the musical adaptation of the film Little Miss Sunshine. The musical played in San Diego, had an off-Broadway season and was also stage din London.
Finn lived with long term partner Arthur Salvadore in New York City. He died after a long illness, his passing announced by the Barrington Stage Company.
