How was final FINIANS performance?

I'm so sad I missed it. It was beautiful both times I witnessed this charming production. Not sure I could handle a closing night, seriously.

I acknowledge its "dated" feel but that's what made it so damn wonderful. Best of luck to all involved. I hope, one day, FINIANS will have more success as a revival.

So for those who attended, how was it??? Please share your final thoughts. I'd love to hear. Thank you. xoxo

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I am so glad I saw this when I was in New York in November. I found it an absolute delight, and the audience the night I saw it was relishing every minute. It FELT like a hit.

With these shows closing and eying the success of limited runs of star-driven plays (STEADY RAIN, HAMLET) perhaps future revivals should be offered initially as limited engagements with the possibility of extensions if needed, or as a launch for tours. It seems that people only buy tickets if there is a deadline.

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The final performance of "Finian's Rainbow," was, as stated above, perfect. Really bittersweet; the entire company was giving it their all and there were many tears by the time curtain came down, especially at the bows. This show deserved a longer run, it was such a delight, and a whole lot of talented people participated in the production; my hat is off to them. IMHO, the advertising never clicked, and with a better campaign this show could have run for a couple of years and launched a national tour. I am grateful to have seen it quite a few times, and will treasure the cast album and my memories of this wonderful show.

I think most people just don't appreciate a charmingly old-fashioned 'feel good' musical. They're too into themselves or too jaded or *whatever*.

Well, the people who DID see it enjoyed it. Both times I saw the show the love from the audience was almost palpable. People were singing the songs as they were leaving the show. So I don't think it was a question of people not enjoying the show. It was more about people not knowing enough about the show to give it a chance. It's a proven fact that tourists prefer known entities such as a "name" performer or a well known show. Theatre enthusiasts are familiar with Finian's but outside of that not so much. Yes, it has a film by an award winning director but I wonder if that film does more damage than good. I don't consider the film to be a classic by any stretch and I think part of the issue was the fact that it was made by a non-musical director and in a time when movie musicals seemed to be dying out (196. Had it been made ten years earlier and with a director who understood the importance of capturing the magic of the original production it may have been a "classic". A film that even people who don't follow musicals might know.

I can't comment too much on the advertising campaign living in NJ but I can say that I never once saw a poster at any of the stations along the Northeast Corridor on NJ Transit. So maybe their teams just wasn't doing enough to get their name out there. And maybe they did open at bad time.

There are so many factors at work here. I can't say for sure what the exact reason but it wasn't because people weren't enjoying it.

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I'm inclined to agree with Smaxie, that there just wasn't a recognizable name to advertise. In a season with people like Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, John Stamos, Gina Gershon and Catherine Zeta-Jones starring in shows, it's very difficult to get by not having a big name star.

I'm also under the impression that advertising doesn't just happen in one go, right? It took a little while for the show to release a commercial (which I only saw once or twice before a closing announcement was made), and I wonder if they just hadn't gotten to more expansive advertising.

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South Pacific has the brand recognition and started off with a subscription base.

It's definitely a shame, because I loved this production. Finian's Rainbow has always been one of my favorite scores, but now I would honestly rate it as one of my favorite shows.

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Regarding South Pacific and Finian's Rainbow... South Pacific definitely opened and became a "must-see" hit. It's all I remember people talking about in spring of 2008. It also has an absolutely exemplary production, whereas Finian is not exactly the best looking show I've seen. South Pacific also benefited from the "star is born" press afforded to Paulo Szot. (He was not exactly an unknown in the opera world, but Broadway was discovering him for the first time). South Pacific was a bigger hit in its day than Finian. And while both the movies of South Pacific and Finian are terrible, South Pacific's was a hit and is generally less terrible than Finian, made about 20 years too late.

So despite the virtues of Finian as a show, South Pacific is a hit, I feel, because it's a truly first-rate revival of a better and more marketable title.

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I'm not over 50 nor is my cousin who loved the show.

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Sometimes menopause hits earlier than 50....

They're too into themselves or too jaded or *whatever*.

I'm majorly blown away by the depth of that insight.

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ill ask on this board too...does anybody have one of the picture programs that theyre willing to sell to me? i have things i can trade as well pm me if youre interested!

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I wonder if perhaps you were expecting a different show? How familiar were you (and your friends) with the material before seeing the show?

I went in having knowing the script and score inside out. Taken as a production of the show as written I found the material
exceptionally well presented. The book was sensibly trimmed to remove much of the repetitiveness that pervades many of the shows of that era, bringing the running time down to a the 110 minutes. The performances just elevated the material.

Now, the friend who went with me doesn't generally enjoy older musical comedies and knew nothing about this show. He absolutely loved it: the social satire, the clever lyrics, the tuneful score, and especially the cast.

This is why I like reading the BWW forums, to get a divergence of opinion. What I don't like are the sock puppets who waste time and space with stupid comments. Which brings me to....

"RoslynReynolds" - This thread is about FINIAN'S RAINBOW, not RAGTIME. I have told you privately, and now I am telling you publicly.

GET LOST!

We don't need your idiotic comments about shows you haven't even seen. Go back to ATC where your brand of "humor" is appreciated.

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Stunt or "big name" casting doesn't necessarily always work on Broadway, as evidenced by the abysmal revival of BYE BYE, BIRDIE. Perhaps with plays, yes, but with musicals? I'd say it's a bigger risk to put in non-Broadway folk on musicals in NYC. For instance, SWEET CHARITY didn't fare well with Christina Applegate a few seasons ago, and even big names couldn't salvage the disaster that was YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. I've yet to see A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC but that was going to be a box office hit as soon as the names Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury were attached to the project. Whether it succeeds on the merits, I don't know.

Generally speaking, I feel that today's theatregoers just don't appreciate older works especially if their initial experiences with musical theatre were through the likes of LES MIZ, MISS SAIGON, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, WICKED, LION KING (and all those Disney shows), LEGALLY BLONDE and a whole host of other spectacles from the last two decades. FINIAN'S doesn't fit that mold, and I think a lot of younger people found the show inaccessible. Perhaps it's a generational gap: I saw the City Center version twice and the St. James production twice. And all those times, the median age of the audience was of "a certain age" by my estimation, and based on what I overheard leaving the theatre, the "kids" were blase about the show while older audience members were thrilled. I'm not a "kid" nor am I middle aged (yet), but I love the old shows, and I just fell in love with Burton Lane's score immediately.

I dunno. Maybe FINIAN'S simply doesn't fit today's tastes of most modern theatregoers who prefer either more bombastic fare or shows grounded in realism like next to normal. Just my guess...