In Trousers
Encyclopedia
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, first produced in 1979, with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn
William Finn
William Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.-Biography:...
.
The one-acter centers on Marvin, who has an unnamed wife and a son, Jason. He recalls the past relationships he shared with, among others, his high school sweetheart and Miss Goldberg, his English teacher who let him play Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
in the school play, and then reveals he prefers to be with men. Torn between his natural inclination and his desire not to upset his family life as he knows it, Marvin ultimately makes the decision he feels is best for him.
In Trousers, directed by Finn, was mounted twice in 1979 at off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
's Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, opening on February 21 for 24 performances and again on December 8 for 8. The cast -- Chip Zien
Chip Zien
Chip Zien is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim...
, Alison Fraser
Alison Fraser
Alison Fraser is an American actress and singer who has appeared in concert at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Tisch Center for the Arts, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe's Pub and Symphony space.Fraser is a two...
, Joanna Green, and Mary Testa
Mary Testa
Mary Testa is an American stage actress. She is a two-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town and 42nd Street ....
-- was the same for both productions. The original cast album is available on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
on the Original Cast Records
Original Cast (record label)
Original Cast Records is a record label based in Georgetown, Connecticut, that specialises in obscure theatre recordings, primarily cast albums from little-known Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway and other stage productions, but also theatre-related film scores, cabaret, concert and solo...
label.
In 1985, a significantly rewritten version, with additional songs, a more cohesive storyline, and better defined characters (with Marvin's wife christened Trina), opened on March 26 at the Promenade Theatre, where it ran for 16 performances. Directed by Matt Casella, it starred Stephen Bogardus
Stephen Bogardus
-Biography:Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Bogardus graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1972 and Princeton University in 1976, where he was a member of the Princeton Nassoons and the Princeton Triangle Club.-Career:...
, Catherine Cox
Catherine Cox
Catherine Cox is an Australian netball player. Cox has played regularly for the Australian national team since her first appearance in 1997 and is a member of the ANZ Championship team West Coast Fever....
, Sherry Hursey
Sherry Hursey
Sherry Hursey is an American actress. She best known for her recurring role as Ilene Markham on the sitcom Home Improvement and her 1998–1989 stint as Paula Carson on the soap opera Days of our Lives....
, and Kathy Garrick.
Finn eventually collaborated with James Lapine
James Lapine
James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...
on two additional one-acters, March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
and Falsettoland
Falsettoland
Falsettoland is a musical with a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by William Finn.Following In Trousers and March of the Falsettos, it is the third in a trio of one-act musicals centering on Marvin, his wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay lover Whizzer Brown...
, which further explored the lives of Marvin and his family and friends. These two later were combined for a two-act Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production entitled Falsettos
Falsettos
Falsettos is a musical with a book by James Lapine and William Finn and music and lyrics by Finn, comprising March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, the last two in a trio of one-act off-Broadway plays focusing on Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay...
.
Cast
- Marvin - Chip Zien
- His Wife - Alison Fraser
- His Sweetheart - Joanna Green
- Miss Goldberg - Mary Testa
Song list
1979- Marvin's Giddy Seizures
- How the Body Falls Apart
- Your Lips and Me
- My High School Sweetheart
- Set Those Sails
- My Chance to Survive the Night
- I Am Wearing a Hat
- How Marvin Eats His Breakfast
- A Breakfast Over Sugar
- Whizzer Going Down
- High School Ladies at Five O'Clock
- The Rape of Miss Goldberg
- The Nausea Before the Game
- Love Me for What I Am
- How America Got Its Name
- Marvin Takes a Victory Shower
- Another Sleepless Night
- In Trousers (The Dream)
1985
- In Trousers
- I Can't Sleep
- A Helluva Day
- I Have a Family
- How Marvin Eats His Breakfast
- Marvin's Giddy Seizures
- My High School Sweetheart
- Set Those Sails
- I Swear I Won't Ever Again (Part 1)
- High School Ladies at Five O'Clock
- I Swear I Won't Ever Again (Part 2)
- The Rape of Miss Goldberg
- I Swear I Won't Ever Again (Part 3)
- Love Me for What I Am
- I Am wearing a Hat
- Wedding Song
- 3 Seconds
- Wedding Song (Part 2)
- How the Body Falls Apart
- I Feel Him Slipping Away
- Whizzer Going Down
- Marvin's Giddy Seizures (Part 2)
- I'm Breaking Down
- Packin Up
- Breakfast Over Sugar
- How America Got Its Name
- Another Sleepless Night
- Good Night (No Hard Feelings)