On February 21, 1979, William Finn’s first musical, In Trousers, premiered off-Broadway. It is a one act sung-through musical that follows the character Marvin through different stages in his life, from childhood to adulthood, as he grapples with his sexuality, past relationships, and marriage. The show originally ran for 24 performances before closing on March 18, 1979. The original cast was composed of Chip Zien, Alison Fraser, Joanna Green, and Mary Testa. The show is eclectic and idiosyncratic in it’s story telling, employing convoluted metaphors told through quirky melodies and rhythms paired with witty lyrics in a style that is often considered to be reminiscent of Sondheim.
However, the premiere received poor reviews from the New York Times. American critic Richard Eder called the musical “a bare germ of an idea”. He criticized the writing of Marvin as brash and unlikable. Finn states in a later interview that “if the critic for the Times at that time had been more responsible, it would have been a considerable debut”. The review of the premiere was so harsh that Finn considered leaving theater and enrolling in medical school. Instead he decided to continue fleshing out Marvin’s story.
His next musical, March of the Falsettos, featured Marvin once more, with the same style of quirky melodies and rhythms, but this time with a far more cohesive plot. It follows Marvin’s struggles to reconcile the strained relations with his male lover, ex-wife, and 14-year old son. March of the Falsettos received considerably better reviews and soon after, Finn had written Falsettoland which concludes the story of Marvin. March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland were then combined into one full length musical, now referred to as Falsettos. Falsettos went on to be nominated for 7 Tony Awards, winning 2 of them in 1992.
Despite the initial feedback that harshly panned In Trousers, its musical successors went on to find great success. William Finn continued to write other successful musicals such as A New Brain and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In Trousers serves as an interesting reminder that a premiere being received poorly is not necessarily indicative of a lack of talent or skill. Even if it was discouraging enough to make William Finn briefly consider a career in medicine, the play set the foundations upon which he could begin crafting other musicals.
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