"Finian's Rainbow" Movie vs. Stage Show?

[PeteGonBway]

"Finian's Rainbow" Movie vs. Stage Show?#1

Posted: 5/23/10 at 10:49pm

How faithful is the film version of "Finian's Rainbow" to the stage show??

[givesmevoice]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#2

Posted: 5/23/10 at 10:50pm

Not very. watch it anyway, because it is hysterical and trippy and awful.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

[Mildred Plotka]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#2

Posted: 5/23/10 at 10:53pm

It must be watched at least once.

"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"

[frontrowcentre2]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#3

Posted: 5/23/10 at 11:02pm

Actually, the movie is very faithful - and that is part of its problem. It has some good moments. The recent revival carefully trimmed a few lines here and there so the show could make its plot points and zip along to the next number. If the movie had taken this approach it would have been a sparkling 2 hours instead of a plodding 2.5 hours.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

Updated On: 5/24/10 at 11:02 PM

[musicaltheater1]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#4

Posted: 5/23/10 at 11:02pm

The recent staged revival, definitely. Quite different from the original film version.

"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley

[mallardo]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#5

Posted: 5/24/10 at 7:15am

I haven't seen the movie in a while but I remember it as being quite fun - Francis Ford Coppola makes a musical!

Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

[Unknown User]

'Finian's Rainbow' Movie vs. Stage Show?#6

Posted: 5/24/10 at 10:53am

It is not at all faithful- there is a huge added subplot about developing mentholated tobacco and the police trying to burn everyone alive. It is not a alight-hearted romp like the stage show.