I have to say I’m pretty excited about this news. I like William Finn, I like James Lapine, and I like Little Miss Sunshine a lot — plus Finn as a composer is creative and weird in a way that seems like it will suit the offbeat tone of the movie. It seems like a score I would remember if I heard it.
On the topic of William Finn, who is one of those composers theater critics love to love, I will say the one thing I have a hard time figuring out about him in general is his lyrics, just because they are often very . . . contrived? for lack of a better word. I don’t mean in the sense of “rhymes ‘degree’ with ‘vertigris,'” I mean “why did you decide to use the phrase ‘his shaking will not pass?'” It’s very deliberately crafted in a way that people don’t actually speak, and I can only assume Finn does it for a reason but I don’t know what that reason is.
This actually worked pretty well (in my opinion) in his show The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (wiki), just because when you’re writing about socially awkward district spelling bee contestants you can imagine them using words like “animosity,” “exuberance” and “fecund” as Finn does. On the other hand, it throws me out of the moment to be listening to Falsettoland (wiki) and hear the characters sing “We’re watching Jewish boys who cannot play baseball play baseball.”
But bottom line it doesn’t distract too much from my enjoyment of his musicals, and I am looking forward to seeing what he will do with Little Miss Sunshine.
Unhummable 