Finnian's Rainbow

[Ready 2 Defy Gravity]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 12:29pm

Our High School is doing a production of it, and I was wondering is this a fun show or is it boring? All I know is that I have to learn the song Old Devil Moon, I dunno which charachter that is for.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 12:31pm

I suggest you familiarize yourself with it then!

It's one of my favorite shows - it's funny, touching, and has a gorgeous and fun score. "Old Devil Moon" is a wonderful song.

I am surprised to hear that a high school is doing this. Lots of school and community groups avoid this show because of the racial matters. I hope they don't dumb it down.

Enjoy your experience, it's a wonderful show.

[BillFinn]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 1:18pm

It's a funny, old-school musical. You won't be bored if your director does it right. They most recently did it at the Irish Repertory Theater with Kerry O'Malley, Kevin Kern, Chad Kimball, Max Von Essen, Malcom Gets, and Melissa Errico.

One of the best lines is at the end of Act I, when the cast is belting out "Come and Get It Day". They hault, the Narrator goes "WELL.... That's the end of Act I!" and then they continue with the song. It's just stupidly obvious like that.

"Old Devil Moon" is an enchanting love song! Get your head voice ready.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 1:19pm

Head voice?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 1:24pm

Yeah, I don't get the head voice comment either. It's a baritone role, and it's the romantic lead if you're singing "Old Devil Moon." Unless they're changing the keys from the original score.

[AugustBurns2]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 1:26pm

I saw a concert version of the show peformed by San Francisco's own 42nd Street Moon Theatre - it's such a great show. So funny and smart!!!

Great score!!! Plus, there could be some great dance moments if you like to dance in shows!

Go audition for it!!!

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 2:38pm

It is one of my all time favorite shows. There are many subversive political thoughts that run through it. But it is done in such an enchanting manner you could easily forget that what is being dished out. Brilliant!!!

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 3:42pm

It's one of the best shows, ever! Congratulations to your school, for doing it. It is far too ignored. Wonderful story and score. Get the film version, which is very close to the original show. And, I got many roles singing "Old Devil Moon" (it was my audition song, when I was doing theater), including Woody in a production of FINIAN'S RAINBOW.
Updated On: 10/5/06 at 03:42 PM

[Ready 2 Defy Gravity]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 3:59pm

Well if I need a head voice that's no promblem I can hit a high a without a promblem. And my school is mixed with blacks and whites prob a equal number of both.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 6:43pm

The movie has Fred Astaire & Petula Clark & was directed by Francis Ford Coppola of all people

I have it on DVD from cable & have yet to watch it.I hear it is good. the cast is great so it is halfway home. As a matter of fact I have so many DVD's I have not watched. I think it is time to order some more

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 6:53pm

I agree with everyone that this is a great show. I saw the production in Westport, and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were some funny moments, and it has a gorgeous score. I think it's one that holds up wonderfully over time. (It would be my choice for the next World AIDS Day Concert, but that's another story).

The movie is decent. Like most, certainly not as good as the show, but a good introduction to famliarize yourself with the show. Plus it was Fred Astaire's last role before his death.

Enjoy performing the show!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 6:58pm

"Plus it was Fred Astaire's last role before his death."

Actually, Ghost Story, more than a decade or so later, was his last movie role.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 7:07pm

I don't think much of the movie myself, but I do enjoy the soundtrack.

Pet Clark singing LOOK TO THE RAINBOW is heaven.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 7:15pm

Well, it was Astaire's last musical.

My only real problem witht he movie is that the setting was updated to the late 1960's. The story only really makes sense in the original period - the late 1940's or early '50's - BEFORE the civil rights movement took hold in the South.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 7:19pm

This was Fred's last musical movie, not Fred's last film ever. (I think that's the confusion.)

He is charming in it, and so is Petula Clark (in fine voice).

They did update the setting without affecting the story too much. Rainbow Valley (I THINK that's the name of the town) looked a bit like a "hippie village" in the South. Barefoot "love children" running around. But they really didn't change the plot that much at all. The cast in the film is wonderful, but I can only handle Tommy Steele in small doses. He gets on my nerves very quickly as a performer. Fortunately, it's okay for Og the Leprechaun to do that, so it works.

The best part is the music (and the songs). Ken Darby did some great vocal arrangements (particularly in the opening), Petula sings the title song and "Glocca Morra" (especially) beautifully! And I like Hermes Pan's choreography too. I believe this was his last musical effort as well.

They did give "Old Devil Moon" a modern (1960s-Bossa-Nova-sounding) arrangement. Nothing to crazy, but it's different than it sounds in the show.

And it was the first film Francis Ford Coppola directed!

[Ready 2 Defy Gravity]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 7:35am

So it's not like some cheesy thing.

[Ready 2 Defy Gravity]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 11:39am

Great come and get it day, on the cd I have it sounds like a baaritone woman singing the solo.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 12:18pm

I personally hate this show. I find the score pretty good but the book is awful and dated to me. I can acknowledge what it meant in 1948 and how it was groundbreaking, but now I find it a little bit lame. I personally think South Pacific deals with the race issue better and in a little bit more of a timeless way.

[wickedobsessed]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 1:06pm

My voice teacher just gave me Old Devil Moon and I really love that song. Now its stuck in my head!

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 1:21pm

Jazzysuite82 --- Finnian's Rainbow is a light, frothy entertainment. It's a musical fantasy with gorgeous music. It's not designed to deal in a hard-hitting or in-depth way with race or any very serious "adult" themes, the way South Pacific is.

It handles a minor racial subplot of bigotry with a turn-the-tables-on-the-villain comedy "gag." It's mean to provoke a little (barely), but mostly meant to ENTERTAIN. It has no more to do with "race in society" than Mary Poppins is designed to deal with the class struggles of a chimney sweep.

[Ready 2 Defy Gravity]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:56am

We just had our first read through and I thought it was hilarious.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:48pm

The central social issue of Mary Poppins is parental neglect. Mr. and Mrs. Banks are self-absorbed idiots who show little interest in their children until Mary whips them into shape.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:24pm

Oops. Sorry for the confusion re: Astaire, guys.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:41pm

I respectfully disagree with you, best12bars, the guts of FINIAN'S RAINBOW has to do with with issues of race and capitalism in the USA. The miracle of FINIAN'S RAINBOW is that is makes its subversive and radical sentiments with a most engaging, entertaining and lyrical voice. Nonetheless, the sentiments are there.

If you read Yip Harburgs comments on the show he says as much.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:47pm

I couldn't care less what it's meant to deal with; but it was the first show I was ever in, as one of the kids in the chorus, in an Equity production in Cape May New Jersey, way back when I was 10! I loved being in it, and I still love it.