“The living was the prize / The ending’s not the story / Just saying my goodbyes” — William Finn, from “Elegies: A Song Cycle.”

The theater community lost a treasured artist and mentor when William Finn passed away on April 7 from pulmonary fibrosis. The 73-year-old composer-lyricist, a two-time Tony Award winner for “Falsettos,” was renowned for his intricate melodies and witty, psychological lyrics, treating heavy topics with hope and joy. Finn was also an adjunct assistant professor at the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program within the Tisch School of the Arts for 20 years. 

In his 1992 musical “Falsettos,” Finn explored the dynamics of a non-traditional Jewish family in the midst of the AIDS crisis in the ’80s, drawing from his own experience as a gay man raised in conservative Judaism. While the musical begins as a comedy about a neurotic family, it shifts into a tragedy in its second act, with Finn deftly balancing the joys and sorrows of life. His tender portrait of the relationship between two men, one who ultimately loses his life to the disease, speaks to the horrific experiences of a marginalized community. He was one of the first to depict the AIDS crisis on stage, placing a spotlight on a part of LGBTQ+ history that must not be forgotten. 

At NYU, Finn nurtured emerging artists, such as librettist and now-Tisch professor Rachel Sheinkin, with whom he collaborated for his musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” 

“Bill had a huge impact on our community,” Sheinkin told WSN. “He taught two decades of students at the [Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program] to look to the personal and particular, to transform our own experiences and truths into song. He changed musical theater, and he changed many lives, mine among them.”

“Spelling Bee” was Finn’s second Broadway success; his score interrogates the psyche of the adolescent mind within a comedy about a youth spelling bee. Finn’s music remarkably flows in and out of Sheinkin’s Tony Award-winning book, adding emotional depth to the eccentric characters. He continued to find light in the bleakest of places, such as his witty lyric, “Blame it on your Daddily and Mammily / ‘Cause depression runs in our family,” which is a moment of levity in a heartbreaking song about familial neglect. 

In February, the NYU Steinhardt Vocal Performance program produced “Spelling Bee,” approaching Finn’s work with a focus on both his intricate music and rich characterization. First-year doctoral candidate Sydney Hoel, who played contestant Olive Ostrovsky, said that it was “not a score you want to mess around with,” but that the music allowed her “not just to play a role, but to be these people.” 

“He’s a composer I listen to when I want to remember why it is that I do what I do,” Hoel said. “Because he does what musical theater is meant to do, which is bring human stories to life.” 

In 2006, Finn created the Musical Theatre Lab at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to help support young musical theater writers. Tisch and Steinhardt professor Benji Goldsmith, a former student of Finn, spoke to WSN about his impact.

“More than any other mentor I’ve had, Bill was by far the most serious about providing actual opportunities to his students,” Goldsmith said. “He had his students come up [to Pittsfield] every summer and would produce cabarets, workshops and even full productions of his students’ shows. In this industry, it truly takes a village, and he encouraged us to make that village for ourselves.”

Finn’s other works include “A New Brain,” a musical loosely inspired by a near-death experience, and “Elegies,” a song cycle that pays tribute to dead family and friends. Grief is a running theme throughout Finn’s works, which feel even more poignant now following his passing. His music lives on, illuminating even the darkest moments with humor and hope.  

“His show that has had the largest impact this week for me has been ‘Elegies,’” Goldsmith said.  “Through that piece, Bill’s own words have really helped me process his death.”

Contact Ethan Li and Ella Sabrina Malabanan at [email protected].