Finian's Rainbow- Page 2

[Flahooley]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 3:54pm

Jazzysuite82, It is nice to know that I'm not the only person here who is not a European-American.

I put FINAIAN'S RAINBOW up there with one of the most important musicals ever written. I too have never found it offensive that the bigotted Senator magically turns African-American to experience the persecution he has inflicted on others for years.

I've always intrepreted his joining the gospel group as the Senator's experience discovering that African-Americans are not inferior to Eurpean-Americans. This is also the point in the story when he is forced to recognize that African-American Culture has valuable contributions to make to American Culture as a whole.

I don't see where this is dated... I see it as advanced and VERY relevant today.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 4:28pm

Did anyone here see the Irish Rep's staging of Finian's Rainbow after Kevin Kern had started playing Woody? I've been looking for reviews with him in the cast, but since he hadn't been with the show very long before it closed, there's nothing. And I'd really like to know what people thought of him. :)

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 1/12/06 at 7:07pm

It's dated the same way How to Succeed is dated. Good shows for their time period but dated none the less. I don't think the racist subject is dated. I think that the way it's handled is dated. We're talking late 40's here. It was back when there weren't many blacks with starring roles in film,radio, theatre, or opera. These were white audiences. Many of whom were old enough to go see Al Jolson do blackface and like it. Now mind you I didn't say it wasn't an important show at the time (even though I think both Showboat and Porgy were more important), it's just now things have changed. Even with white audiences. It's not just about political correctness. Now days the general feeling is that blackface is degrading and appalling. Now days the only way we accept a character in black face is if he is a villian (or a black man making a political comment on the blackface era. Burrs in LaChiusa's Wild Party can wear blackface and get away with it because generally the audience finds him repulsive. That blackface reinforces that. But at the end of Finian, we're supposed to feel good about the Senator "learning his lesson". That doesn't work for me. I'm sorry but a white man in the woods turns black, sings a couple of songs (from the shufflin' negro cannon), gets discriminated against, and then suddenly knows the "black man's pain" just rubs me the wrong way today. Like I said, it was very edgy when it premiered but you have to ask yourself why? Because the only people who generally saw it were the white middle class Americans.