Another teacher of mine has passed, the great musical theater writer William Finn. The last time I saw Bill Finn was at the off-Broadway opening of A Strange Loop in 2019, at the after-party at the West Bank Cafe. Bill was my teacher in grad school in 2005-2006. Before starting at the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, I went to a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee cast recording signing at Barnes and Noble because I knew he was going to be my teacher soon and I wanted one experience with him just as a fan before that relationship changed. Bill Finn is my mom’s favorite musical theater writer, and she introduced me to his musical Falsettos at a young age. I loved that show, songs from Elegies, A New Brain, and at that point most recently The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
I think many who had him as a teacher had similar experiences, but I had a rocky time in his class. I think there was one day he said, “I guess young people don’t have anything to write about” in response to one of my lyrics. Each week, we had a lyric writing assignment, and we’d bring it into class, read it, and Bill would react. Then if he deemed it worthy of music, a composer would go to a practice room and set it. I didn’t have any lyrics set the entire first semester. Finally, at the beginning of the second semester, my lyric about my New Year’s Eve experience was set. But it still needed work, and Bill pushed me to figure out a better ending for the lyric. I originally had something about the theme of the song there, but Bill said it wasn’t right. I went home and thought about it. The lyric went through my experience that New Year’s evening, and a question came to me: okay, you got to this part in the evening–well then what happened next? The question was so obvious, and now I use that when writing so many of my lyrics. I came back to class with an updated lyric about how the evening had ended, and Bill said it was great. I really think he was surprised how much I had improved it, given my track record so far in the class. Because I only had two lyrics set the entire year, that song was picked to be in the final class presentations. It wasn’t done though, and after graduation I did another rewrite on it, making it even better, and now it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written. Even the great Sierra Boggess has performed it.
As it happens with some teachers, my relationship with them is better after I am in class with them. I loved seeing Bill in the hall the second year and when I would visit the building after graduation. One time I saw him on the street on the Upper West Side and I hugged him mid-crossing. I saw him occasionally at other cabaret shows, and then finally, at the off-Broadway opening of A Strange Loop. Others had closer relationships with him, but despite him thinking I had nothing much to say at the age of 23 (I can assure you, I did, though maybe not the means to say it yet) I am so grateful to have had him as a teacher. He made me a better lyricist. He made me ask, “well, what happened next?” I found my old class assignments, including the very first assignment Bill gave us to write three lyrics. It says, “Spend a lot of time on them please.”
And after much thought and listening, here are my top 10 William Finn songs. These are not in any order of importance, just the 10 that I love listening to the most.
1. “The Music Still Plays On” from A New Brain (all versions)
2. “And They’re Off” from A New Brain (partial to the version on Infinite Joy)
3. “When the Earth Stopped Turning” from Elegies (prefer the version on Infinite Joy)
4. “Anytime (I Am There)” from Elegies
5. “Father to Son” from March of the Falsettos/Falsettos
6. “What More Can I Say” from Falsettoland/Falsettos
7. “Unlikely Lovers” from Falsettoland/Falsttos
8. “The I Love You Song” from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
9. “Sailing” from A New Brain (partial to Liz Callaway’s version on Infinite Joy)
10. “Holding to the Ground” from Falsettoland/Falsettos
Runner Up: “Infinite Joy” from Elegies (partial to version on Infinite Joy)