FINIANS RAINBOW REVIEWS- Page 4

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:27am

I saw the Tuesday night performance and RT was there for NY1 (as was Whoopi Goldberg in the audience).

I am not at all surprised at the raves for this show. Dated, schmated - it's incredible how relevant the book is to the current state of affairs of this country. And of course, the gorgeous score speaks for itself and Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson sing beautifully and do it justice.

I very much appreciated the alterations from the City Center production from the set improvements and other staging changes. Recasting Og with Christopher Fitzgerald is just brilliant.

I will definitely make another visit to the St. James.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:30am

And yes, Wickedrocks, this isn't another WICKED. But we already have one of those playing. Isn't it fun to see what shows were like before 2003?

It was an era when the songs were paramount. Composers aimed at getting hit records from their scores, and audiencs were content to relax and enjoy the songs and get back to the plot later.

What an ignorant comment on so many levels...
Updated On: 10/30/09 at 12:30 AM

[bythesword84]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 2:01am

I am so, so pleased with these reviews! Good job, Finian's!

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 2:48am

no WiCkEDrOcKS, your response to frontrowcentre2 and finian's rainbow's all out raves are *ignorant*.

i am so happy a golden age musical that doesn't resort to technical gimmickry and pyrotechnics and simply tells the story through book, song and the sheer talents of it's performers is getting the attention and accolades it deserves. may finian's enjoy a healthy, prosperous run.




Updated On: 10/30/09 at 02:48 AM

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 3:22am

And yes, Wickedrocks, this isn't another WICKED. But we already have one of those playing. Isn't it fun to see what shows were like before 2003?

Ouch!

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 8:40am

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/10/30/2009-10-30_look_to_finians_rainbow_to_brighten_broadway.html

4 out 5 stars from NY Daily News!!!!!

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 8:42am

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/sunny_rainbow_PYtqvI3yWoCNbaYpBNAm0J

3 out of 4 stars from the post. holy moly finians!!!

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 8:45am

So, the bottom line on these reviews is that, at least for this morning, the answer to the musical question "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" is: pretty effin' good.

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 8:58am

Yay! What a pleasure to wake up this morning and see that the critics saw the same show that I did.

Hooray for Kate Baldwin, who deserves all the acclaim she received.

If you've been on the fence about seeing this one, hop on down. It's absolutely sensational.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 9:17am

Any chance I can get tickets to the same show these reviwers saw? Any chance I can get a refund for the tired craptastic nonsense that was calling itself FINIAN'S RAINBOW the night I saw it?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 9:17am

I saw it for the second time last night, and I loved it even more than I did the first. Agreed; if you're not sure, go!

[GottaHaveAGimmick]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 9:18am

Hooray for everyone at the St. James! Let's hope the pots of gold continue coming their way. All the previous discussion points to just how tricky musical theater really is. There are so many elements to piece together in a coherent fashion. This is a highly entertaining show despite the age of the script because those "pieces" have been put together so well. Frontrowcenter put it quite nicely. No show will appeal to everyone, but there is much to adore about this production.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 10:02am

I am absolutely thrilled at these reviews. I loved the show at Encores! and loved it even more when I saw it earlier this week. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it again.

[wonkit]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 11:19am

These reviews sold me a ticket. I know the music of this show pretty well but found the book off-putting - but nothing succeeds like great performances. Congratulations to the cast and crew at the St. James, and I'll be seeing you in December -

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 11:26am

I'm one of the few who didn't like this production (especially the direction and choreography which I found uninspired) but I wish it well. If more people see the show and to discover that score from these reviews - more power to them. RAINBOW is a tough sell in modern times, so they really needed these. Good for them.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 11:46am

Is this the first show of this season to have unanimously positive reviews? I know they're not unanimously raves, but everything I've read so far is positive. Am really excited by Kate Baldwin's reviews -- makes me want to get her CD pronto. I would assume (and hope) that this sparks a recording of this production. Nice going for all of the cast!!!

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:05pm

WOW! This is wonderful. I'm so happy that the show is getting raves. It's very well deserved.

Still find it odd how some people think that parts of the show are "dated." How can bigotry be dated? It not only applies to the color of people's skin, it applies to their sexual orientation, as well.

I saw it a few weeks ago and LOVED it! It was very, very moving at the end when the father said goodbye.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:08pm

I didn't find the sections on "bigotry" to be dated. I found other aspects of the show to be dated, like the way the hero and heroine fall madly in love after knowing each other for about ten minutes. The whole thing of the mute girl who dances her feelings while the cute little boy says, "Wait, everyone, she's trying to tell us something!" felt like something out of a Laugh In sketch.

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:14pm

Roscoe, I can see your point on that. But, this is musical comedy. Didn't Millie fall in love with Trevor Grayden in a few seconds, too? Ha, ha..

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:18pm

Yeah, ha ha, she did, hee hee. But MILLIE seemed like it was gently tweaking these creaky conventions while still making them work, while FINIAN seemed to be presenting them outright and expecting me to swallow them as is. Now stuff like this can work, I can suspend my disbelief as well as anyone, but there was nothing in this production of FINIAN that made me do anything other than roll my eyes at how dusty this show is and how very far we've come in the decades since it was produced.

Updated On: 10/30/09 at 12:18 PM

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:25pm

Get this cast to the recording studio - pronto!!!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:28pm

Again, a lot of people are confusing the idea of the book being dated in terms of its ideas and dated in its structure. FINNIAN'S RAINBOW is dated from a musical theatre structure point of view = the score isn't fully integrated, the book jumps from one liner to one liner - it reflects the idea of entertainment and the new idea of a 'book musical' as people understood it in 1945. As such the show is really creaky.

The themes of the musical itself are of course not dated.

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:33pm

Oh, absolutely! Shows have changed dramatically since "Finian's" first came out. Look at "Drowsy," as well. An "old fashioned" musical, but updated in terms of the man in the chair narrating it and making jabs about current Broadway shows. One of my favorite lines is when David Schramm says, "We've had nothing but problems with these immigrants ever since my family came to this country."

Looks like "Finian's" will be a bit hit - employing actors, crew and musicians for a long time and that's a very good thing. And, entertaining thousands and thousands of theatre goers.

The Tonys next year will have a lot of musicals in the revival category:

Finian's Rainbow
Ragtime
Promises, Promises
La Cage
A Little Night Music
Bye, Bye Birdie

And, all the Neil Simon revival plays, too.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:34pm

Isn't it funny how brave people get when they're hiding behind a computer?

I was calling the comment ignorant because it was a personal-reaction that was totally unfair in every way (everyone on this board knows that I appreciate shows other than WICKED which I had admitted repeatedly is irredeemably flawed but I still enjoy). My comments were my opinions, of which I am entitled. The comment I responded to was unfair and ridiculous. I appreciate shows that were written "before 2003" and everyone on this board knows that. You're just calling me out based on my username, which is ignorant.

Disagreeing about a show is one thing but getting personal about it and calling someone out on ridiculous "claims" is ignorant. Just because I didn't enjoy this production of FINIAN'S as much as I would have liked to doesn't mean I only like shows written in the last 6 years. I don't understand how I'm ignorant for having an opinion about the show being dated. I'm not the only person who feels this way. I didn't like it too much. You did. Good for you. I'm seriously glad you enjoyed it. I wish I did more. You're entitled to your opinions about it not being dated and I'm entitled to mine about it being dated. Period.
Updated On: 10/30/09 at 12:34 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:54pm

At any rate, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-:

"Originating on Broadway in 1947, Finian's Rainbow is an odd, farcical musical that, while by no means offensive, inspires this kind of response: 'Huh? Really?' Mostly because of the oddity of the story, which focuses on Finian, an aging Irishman (Jim Norton), and Sharon, his adult daughter (Thoroughly Modern Millie's Kate Baldwin ), who travel from their homeland to the fictional American state of Missitucky. The old man carries a pot of gold — stolen from a leprechaun named Og (Christopher Fitzgerald), who follows them — that he intends to multiply by burying near Fort Knox. All this takes place in the still-divided Deep South, so themes concerning social class, race, and economics crop up — and a bigoted white senator is magically turned black. The show walks a bizarre line between fantasy and reality, which makes the pairing of such heavy themes with a fantastical atmosphere come off as madcap.

...

...the real showstopper comes just before intermission, when Terri White's Dottie, leading the show's sharecropper chorus, belts out a soul-heavy version of the hard-driving 'Necessity.' With performances like White's, it becomes rather easy to forget about Finian's narrative silliness."
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