Tony-Winning Composer of ‘Falsettos’ Was 73

William Finn, a Tony Award–winning composer and lyricist known for musicals like Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, has died at age 73.

Multiple outlets reported Finn’s death on Tuesday, April 8, citing his literary agent Ron Gwiazda. The artist died Monday, April 7, after a lengthy illness, Deadline reported, though an official cause of death has not been released.

Finn, who was born in 1952 in Boston, is credited with writing the lyrics or book (or both) for four Broadway musicals, including Dangerous Games, Falsettos, The Sisters Rosensweig (he wrote one song) and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. 

In 1992, he won two Tonys for the score and book of Falsettos, and he received a nomination for best original score at the 2005 Tonys for Spelling Bee.

Finn’s musical Falsettos premiered on Broadway in 1992. The show revolves around life in the LGBTQ+ community during the beginning of the AIDS crisis and was borne out of a trilogy of one-act musicals Finn wrote beginning in the 1970s, according to Deadline and Playbill.

The musical originated as the one-act Off Broadway show In Trousers. In the early 1980s, Finn wrote a sequel titled March of the Falsettos that featured In Trousers‘ lead character Marvin and expanded on his life. In 1990, Finn wrote another sequel titled Falsettoland; he later combined the latter two storylines to form Falsettos, which received seven Tony nominations in 1992.

The show’s original Broadway run lasted 486 performances and closed in June 1993. A revival that starred Andrew Rannells and Christian Borle ran between October 2016 and January 2017 and received five nominations at the Tonys.

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Finn also wrote a 1998 musical titled A New Brain that premiered Off Broadway. It was based on his near-death experience with arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which he had corrected via a 1992 surgery. 

“The littlest things used to bother me. I’d stand at the elevator and curse it,” he told The New York Times of his life pre-surgery and post-surgery back in 1998. “I would curse the conversation at the elevator. Now I thought: ‘Everything’s wonderful. The elevator’s taking its own time, and don’t rush it.’ Nothing irritated me. I was dancing around the city.”

Finn and Falsettos director James Lapine reunited in 2005 for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which won a Tony for best book. Actor Dan Fogler also won for best featured actor in a musical. 

The composer also worked sparingly as a composer for television and movies. He is credited a a composer on the 2002 animated movie The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina and the 2018 special The Emperor’s Newest Clothes.

Finn is survived by his partner Arthur Salvadore, according to Playbill and Deadline.