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[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the conclusion of a two-part series featuring noted composer-lyricist William Finn, best known for Falsettos and Spelling Bee.

[0:28] Paul Lazarus: This program originally aired in 1981 and featured several rare recordings from groundbreaking shows like The Unproduced Jocks and In Trousers.

[0:38] Paul Lazarus: Why was Passion of Rhoda cut from the score of In Trousers, Bill?

[0:41] William Finn: Because it didn't belong. Michael, who was just coming in...

[0:47] Paul Lazarus: This is Michael Starobin.

[0:48] William Finn: Michael Starobin heard the day we recorded In Trousers when I was playing the piano, and he said, that song Passion of Rhoda is a great, great song. You got to keep that song. And I said, well, you just heard the last... We recorded it for historical benefit and nothing else. So it just didn't belong in the show. And I was even then trying to make it more cohesive, though not seriously cohesive or coherent. More cohesive, but it wasn't coherent. It was just didn't belong there, but it's fun. And it has a lyric I love, there are seven kinds of lovers, she told me you're the fifth kind and the worst, which still makes me chuckle.

[1:29] Paul Lazarus: Right. This is Bill Finn at the electric piano. Unfortunately, that's all we had on the day of this recording, singing his own song, The Passion of Rhoda.

[1:40] ♪ Musical number: "The Passion of Rhoda" — performed by William Finn ♪

[6:00] Paul Lazarus: Bill Finn at the piano performing his own song, The Passion of Rhoda, a song that was cut from his show, In Trousers, and that was recorded by David Rapkin, For Anything Goes, and I'm your host, Paul Lazarus, and my guest today in the studio is composer-lyricist William Finn.

[6:20] Paul Lazarus: Bill, we're coming down the time wire here and we have a lot to play for March of the Falsettos. I thought first we should definitely tell the audience about the move that the show is making from Playwrights Horizons to the West Side Arts Center.

[6:34] William Finn: It had played at Playwrights Horizons for six months, and pretty much every performance was sold out. It was gratifying and amazing and wonderful, and we're moving to a larger theater now on 43rd Street in the West Side Chelsea Arts Center, or the West Side Arts Center. There are three of the five. It's a much better show now, for whatever reason. The new cast members are Brent Barrett and Greg Phillips, and Jim Lapine, a master at directing, is working on it again, and it's good, that's all I can say.

[7:18] Paul Lazarus: It opens this Tuesday, yes.

[7:48] William Finn: On DRG records.

[7:50] Paul Lazarus: Right. And you did add some power to the orchestrations when you went into the recording studio.

[7:57] William Finn: It's not the seven instruments you hear.

[7:59] Paul Lazarus: In the theater, and actually the recording is...

[8:02] William Finn: Not too many more. It's respectable. Respectably close to what Michael Starobin had originally written.

[8:10] Paul Lazarus: Michael added the instruments himself as well, isn't that right?

[8:13] William Finn: Sure.

[8:14] Paul Lazarus: You wrote, when In Trousers was recorded by Bruce Yeko's company, Original Cast Records, you had written a note on the back about recording, and I just want to quote it to then ask you something.

[8:25] William Finn: I don't know that you should.

[8:27] Paul Lazarus: Well, hopefully not embarrassing, Bill. He said, what I never understood before this record, my first, was that shows and the recording of shows are as different as, say, wallpaper from Craceable Bond.

[8:37] William Finn: Oh, what a line. To die, to die for.

[8:39] Paul Lazarus: They ask, and not unreasonably, to be treated differently. I'm discovering I'm no ace at switching media. Have you discovered stuff since you did In Trousers that helped you with March of the Falsettos?

[8:51] William Finn: The more you do of recording, the easier it is. Machines make me crazy, and I think that I'm not as intimidated by recording machines as I was then.

[9:03] Paul Lazarus: Did you make any substantial changes for the record of March of the Falsettos?

[9:07] William Finn: Well, we cut a reprise from one song, and we tightened up some things that I had elongated some for performing purposes, some verses I'd add or something, but it's pretty much what I had written. It's about an hour long.

[9:24] Paul Lazarus: This may be a difficult question, but if you had to describe, since it is the second part of what may be a trilogy, what does In Trousers tell us about Marvin, and then what does March of the Falsettos tell us?

[9:35] William Finn: I think Marvin says goodbye to the ladies in In Trousers, and it's mostly about the ladies. In March of the Falsettos, Marvin leaves his wife for a man, and there's his son, and his wife, and his psychiatrist, and it's various combinations of that group.

[9:58] Paul Lazarus: Before we play what is about 15 minutes of the original cast recording of March of the Falsettos, this is towards the end of the show. Can you help the listener sort of get into the show before this section?

[10:08] William Finn: No, but I can tell them exactly what's going to happen. Now, Marvin and his lover are playing chess, and obviously when you don't have a book show, you have to choose.

[10:19] Paul Lazarus: Welcome to the original cast recording of "March of the Falsettos," with orchestrations by Michael Starobin and music and lyrics by my guest today on Anything Goes, William Finn.

[15:10] ♪ Musical number: "Making a Home" — performed by William Finn ♪

[18:28] ♪ Musical number: "The Games I Play" — performed by William Finn ♪

[20:39] ♪ Musical number: "The Games I Play" — performed by William Finn ♪

[23:31] ♪ Musical number: "I Never Wanted to Love You" — performed by William Finn ♪

[25:31] Paul Lazarus: The original cast recording of William Finn's "March of the Falsettos," and that featured Michael Rupert as Marvin, Alison Frazier as Trina, Marvin's wife, James Kushner as Jason, Marvin's son, Stephen Bogardus as Whizzer Brown, Marvin's lover, and Chip Zien as Mendel, his psychiatrist. And the orchestrations for the show and the recording were by Michael Starobin, and I want to thank DRG Records, and particularly the president of DRG, Hugh Forden, for allowing us to play that recording before it's really out commercially. Bill, "March of the Falsettos" reopens Tuesday, October 13th, at the Westside Arts Center on 43rd Street. You might not have gotten an indication. It's a real funny show.

[26:10] William Finn: It is. I've seen it. It's funny.

[26:12] Paul Lazarus: We played really the ending of the show. Well, near the ending, there was some stuff that's left to go, but it's basically a funny show, and it does get serious. Bill, I just want to thank you for coming in and sharing your music with us.

[26:29] William Finn: Well, thank you for having me, Paul.

[26:31] Paul Lazarus: We have a little time left today, so I'm able to play the concluding piece from "March of the Falsettos," entitled "Father to Son."

[26:36] ♪ Musical number: "Father to Son" — performed by William Finn ♪