sort of poetic way with words and a lovely, lovely, warm and tender sense of melody.” Bishop presented Finn when he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in November 2024. That was the last time he saw his old friend.“ He was such an individual talent. His voice was so clearly a unique one, an idiosyncratic one …. He was special in a field of a lot of very talented people.”
Mary Testa
Finn’ s musicals were not his only success stories; he took great pride in new talents he discovered and supported. Soon after graduating from Williams College, he met Mary Testa at a University of Rhode Island musical production of Antigone in the mid-1970s.“ He said,‘ I want that girl with the big voice and the big hair,’” recalls Testa. She moved to New York in 1979 and immediately started working with Finn, debuting as Miss Goldberg in his first Off Broadway musical, In Trousers, at Playwrights Horizons.
A New Brain at Lincoln Center, 1998 premiere, with Mary Testa as A Homeless Lady.( Joan Marcus) Opposite, In 2023 for Barrington Stage, Testa played Mimi Schwinn, the mother.( Daniel Rader)
“ In doing his first show, I just knew he had an individual voice and created the kind of work and the kind of music that I wanted to sing and wanted to be a part of,” says
Testa, a three-time Tony ® Award nominee.“ I think Bill just appreciated my talent, as I appreciated his. I know something to me is genius when it sort of hits me in my gut,
July 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 49