ing of a Finn musical in the Berkshires.
Barrington Stage’ s 2025 summer season is dedicated to Finn, and the public is invited to a“ Celebration of William Finn” on Tuesday, August 19, which will include many of the writers he mentored in Barrington Stage ' s Musical Theatre Lab, as well as Broadway artists performing his work. On September 4 and 5 at Mr. Finn’ s Cabaret, Broadway star Alysha Umphress will return for So Far, an evening of song and stories, highlighting her countless summers at Barrington and paying tribute to her longtime mentor.
“ Bill truly gave a lot of young artists their first professional opportunities,” says Grammy ®-nominated Nathan Tysen, lyricist for the Broadway stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald ' s The Great Gatsby, among many other musicals.“ There’ s a whole group of us that have careers because of Bill Finn.”
Mickey and Judy Putting on a Show … Stoned
Finn grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, in a conservative Jewish household. He wrote his first musical, Sizzle, while still a student at Williams College. It was produced in 1971. The piece was a coming-of-age story about college students, with Finn writing the music and lyrics and his friend Charlie Rubin writing the libretto. While at Williams, Finn wrote two other musicals and studied the work of Stephen Sondheim, who
July 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 45