FINIANS RAINBOW REVIEWS — Page 5

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

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.)

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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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?

Roxy.. why such a sourpuss.

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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

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

NY1 review

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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.

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!!!!!

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

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