FINIANS RAINBOW REVIEWS — Page 4

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.

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

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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!

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

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

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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.

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!

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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.

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.

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, 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..

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

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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.

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.

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...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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