FINIANS RAINBOW REVIEWS- Page 5

[bjh2114]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 12:55pm

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.

Because OBVIOUSLY dancing mute girls and unbelievable instant romances were TOTALLY common in real life in the 1940s. The stuff that people are complaining that doesn't make sense today didn't make sense then either. I don't think that people truly understand the difference between dated and fantastical/unrealistic. In the Lion King, the animals talk AND dance. OMG. That's almost as unbelievable as a mute girl dancing and a leprechaun performing magic tricks. OMG Lion King is SOOOO dated.

Updated On: 10/30/09 at 12:55 PM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:02pm

I attended opening night last night and thought it was excellent. It was my fourth time seeing the show, and I plan on going back again in the near future. Warren Carlyle's direction and choreography are outstanding. Chris Fitzgerald is brilliant as Og and Terri White's "Necessity" brought the house down last night. She is a gem of the earth and should always be working on Broadway.

Congrats to all on the rave reviews!!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:03pm

I'm afraid my comment which was written late at night and intended in a light-hearted manner, didn't read that way. I wasn't attacking you, just trying to establish that your comments(along with you screen name) lead readers to think they know where your head is at in terms of appreciations of musicals.

I know you love WICKED - we discussed this after your series of "polls" a few years ago.

I am not at all surprised that those who are obsessed with WICKED tend to find other shows - particularly older musicals - wanting. You're right. It is just an opinion and I always say opinions are never wrong. But they can be misinformed.

I don't believe that the subject matter/themes of FINIAN'S are at all dated. What is dated are the techniques use to present this particular story. They are very much of a 1930-s styled musical I don't say 40's because no matter what tweaks are done, this show is not a cohesive piece like CAROUSEL or SOUTH PACIFIC. (As I recall you didn't like SOUTH PACIFIC either, right?)

Even if the writing shows the age of the show, if it is staged with the right light-hearted touch -as apparently it is here - it makes it easier for audiences and critics to overlook that "creakiness." (The 1971 NO NO NANETTE is another example, although in that case the 1920's script - while played straight - came across as camp.)

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:04pm

I'm not saying anything about the alleged realism of the piece. My point is that what might have worked as amusing whimsy in FINIAN'S RAINBOW's original day comes off as rather silly and cliched now without a production that manages to make it anything other than silly and cliched. I bought the device of the talking animals in LION KING and the talking puppets in AVENUE Q and the humans-into-meat-pies in SWEENEY TODD more readily than the dancing girl who brings the show to a halt to show off some second rate choreography.

And by the way, the dancing girl in FINIAN'S RAINBOW isn't deaf. She just doesn't speak.

Updated On: 10/30/09 at 01:04 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:17pm

Yah Roscoe, I meant to write mute, but somehow deaf came out of my fingers. I will go back and fix it. See, I think that something can be silly and not considered dated. In my mind, there is a big difference between dated and old-fashioned. Is Finian's old fashioned? Absolutely. But I don't think for a minute that the show can be considered dated. Dated means that the message of the show doesn't make sense to current audiences. I think that everyone leaving the St. James understands the message, even if they know that the show would never be written that way today.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:18pm

No worries, frontrowcentre. Understandable.

The Broadway.com homepage is all FINIAN-ed out.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 1:30pm

I do agree with Roscoe in the sense that I was bothered that the directors solution to the problems with the book and structure was to push the characterizations and humour to the forced level of cartoon. I felt so much of the direction of 'big' was meant to mask book issues. Some people (obviously) really found this charming - I thought the production would have been a lot more compelling if there had been the investment in character at a more realistic level.

And I guess I'm going to just have to accept that nobody seems to demand brilliance from choreographers anymore. People like Michael Kidd, Agnes DeMille and Jerome Robbins (actually pretty much all the great choregoraphers from the 40s-60s) came from the world of ballet and they knew how to build character, and story through dance. Choreographers today are coming from a jazz background (with too much emphasis on Bob Fosse) and for my money aren't finding ways of parlaying that training into the kind of choreography that (here as example) could have really made this show extraordinary.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 2:02pm

I'm not complaining about the show's treatment of the "serious" racial and financial content. That's all done with some good solid fun. It is the more pedestrian and "old-fashioned" elements that annoy, like the noted hero/heroine "love at first sight" relationship, and the dancing mute girl, all old-fashioned trappings that could have been charming if they hadn't been presented in such a clunky way.

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 4:51pm

I hear what you're saying, Roscoe, Michael and bjh.

I disagree wholeheartedly about your opinions on Warner, and his choreography.

At the performance I attended, "If This Isn't Love" stopped the show. Literally. The audience was applauding so wildly that they had to stop the show before they could continue.

And it was because of Warner's choreography. The song is middling, albeit with a terrific lyric. But his choreography was sensational. It made sense. It was attractive. And it stopped the show.

The show is what it is. But I think this production is simply the best "Finnian's Rainbow" imaginable.

Go see it.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 4:55pm

"The show is what it is. But I think this production is simply the best "Finnian's Rainbow" imaginable."

I can imagine a much better production.

"Go see it."

No, thank you. Once was quite enough.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 5:14pm

Cartoon reminded me.

Around 1954 there were plans to make an animated film based on FINIAN'S RAINBOW. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (among others) recorded the music tracks before money ran out and the project was abandoned. Would have been interesting to see what they made of it.

[DAME]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 5:42pm

I can't wait to see this show and here this wonderful score live.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 5:48pm

ZIggy I have seen Michael Kidd's choreography, so I can definitely imagine a production better than this one...

Frontrow - that's fascinating. Have those vocal tracks ever turned up?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 6:28pm

I was blown away by the reviews

A nice show but not one deserving raves. We will see how much it will help as right now the show is on TDF. Superior Donuts reviews have not stopped it from being on TDF for almost every date thru November. I doubt it will make it past January.

Finians will last maybe 6 to 9 months IMO.

[DAME]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 6:37pm

Roxy.. why such a sourpuss.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 6:48pm

No I was just surprised

Like every show, I wish it a long run but I am being realistic. People crapped all over Memphis (which we loved) but it got very good reviews .

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 6:57pm

that's fascinating. Have those vocal tracks ever turned up?

Some have. Collectors have circulated bootleg copies (though none has ever come my way) but several tracks are in the box set below.

Amazon doesn't list the tracks, but the songs from FINIAN'S RAINBOW included in this set are:

1. Necessity
2. Ad Lib Blues
3. That Great Come-And-Get-It Day
4. Necessity ("Scat" Version)
5. If This Isn't Love
6. Old Devil Moon
7. Old Devil Moon (Reprise)
8. Necessity (Duet Version)
9. Finale: How Are Things In Glocca Morra?

I believe there was more of the score recorded and although I don't have this set (I am not THAT big a Sinatra fan) I suspect it includes only tracks in which he participated.


Sinatra in Hollywood

[Oldschool]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 7:15pm

Roxy, for those of us not in NY, what is the connection between TDF (and what is it?) and the financial state of a production?

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 7:20pm

http://ny1.com/9-staten-island-news-content/ny1_living/theater_reviews

NY1 review

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 8:07pm

Kind of late on this but I am so so happy that they got great reviews, especially the rave from the Times. I also really hope Kate Baldwin is remembered come awards time.

[A Director]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 9:40pm

Yip Harburg was blacklisted, this might be the reason the cartoon version of Finian's Rainbow was never made or why it took until the late 1960s for the movie version to be filmed. The movie isn't awful.

[mgcproductions]

Posted: 10/30/09 at 11:43pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwvXRMBb-tE
reviews!!!
what a great show!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 10/31/09 at 12:46am

And while we're at it, I'd like to throw a big congrats to Larry Moore, who posts on this site for his sterling work on Finian's Rainbow. It's a hit!!!!!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/31/09 at 2:27am

More info on the unmade FINAIAN"S cartoon film from IMDB....

One early attempt to film the musical was as an animated feature to be directed by John Hubley. It was during development of this unfinished project that Hubley first collaborated with future wife Faith Hubley (then Faith Elliot). The soundtrack for the animated film was already completed and the entire film had been storyboarded. The voice talents included Frank Sinatra (as Woody), Barry Fitzgerald (Finian), Jim Backus (Senator Rawkins), Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and from the original Broadway cast Ella Logan (Sharon) and David Wayne (Og). The project died when Hubley refused to "name names" when he testified before The House Un-American Activities Committee. Hubley was blacklisted and Chemical Bank, which was providing the financing, withdrew funding for the proposed film. Artwork done for the movie appears in the PBS documentary "Independent Spirits - The Faith and John Hubley Story" and the Sinatra prerecordings are available on the CD Box-set "Sinatra in Hollywood 1940-1964."

I seem to recall reading somewhere about a tape or acetate of the complete score being in limited circulation among collectors but can't find anything more. Mainly trying t find the complete song list.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/31/09 at 9:00am

frontrowcentre2---That's awesome! I love the cast of that animated movie.

Updated On: 10/31/09 at 09:00 AM