How was final FINIANS performance? — Page 2

even big names couldn't salvage the disaster that was YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

I don't know how you can list Young Frankenstein as an example of how stunt casting doesn't work. There were four Tony winners in the cast but none of them are too widely known outside theatre circles. They were big names to us but other than Sutton they weren't that well known by tourists. It's been a long time since Roger's stint on Desperate Housewives.

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There were four Tony winners in the cast but none of them are too widely known outside theatre circles. They were big names to us but other than Sutton they weren't that well known by tourists. It's been a long time since Roger's stint on Desperate Housewives.

Umm...I guarantee you more tourists know who Megan Mullally is than Sutton Foster. In addition to having a nationally syndicated talk show, Mullally played a memorable character on a hit sitcom for about 6 years, winning two Emmys along the way. She's a MUCH bigger name than Sutton Foster.

Updated On: 1/18/10 at 10:50 PM

"In addition to having a nationally syndicated talk show right now..."

Your time machine is broke.

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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.

Excellent point. RENT was instrumental in getting a younger audience interested in both musical theatre and cast recordings. The downside is a distressing number who expect every musical to follow in the same mould.

And yet, with FINIAN'S RAINBOW I didn't hear any complaints that the score was old-fashioned. It was the book - more specifically the techniques of the book - that I think caused some to be bored or in some way disappointed. Their expectations were defeated.

SOUTH PACIFIC got some of the same complaints too, but in this case they were offset because the show is so well-known thanks to the movie version and frequent stage revivals in local theatres.

FINIAN'S is rarely done any more, and the film was not a big success so it remains a fringe show. I hope the new cast album and the Broadway presence will inspire more community productions of this still viable old chestnut.

RAGTIME (as I mentioned in another thread) has become a regular attraction for community and regional theatres for the past few years and will continue to be done. Yes, it has its flaws but the strengths of the piece easily outweigh the weaknesses. I say the same about LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (getting its Toronto premiere next month), GREY GARDENS and host of other recent shows that despite being financially unsuccessful on Broadway are strong enough to have a life beyond the great white way.

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Dagobert and Snoozefest (God, I feel like I'm addressing Smerfs) I wonder, do you actually understand what "Finian's Rainbow" is about? Because it's one of the most content-filled shows ever presented on Broadway. The problem is, you have to understand the history of the United States, the South and the Confederacy to actually "get" it the way it was intended. It was in its day, the equivalent of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" mounted on stage. If you don't understand all the lyrics of songs like "The Begat", if you don't know who the Misbegotten GOP and the DAR were, if you don't understand the Sharecroppers' Compact and the Dixiecrats and the disdain for "Educated Coloreds" and especially The Potato Famine and its impact on immigration, then you are just watching half the show.

That may be why the show seems flat to some audiences.

On the other hand, "South Pacific" when it opened was a colossal blockbuster. The book "Tales of the South Pacific" was a very thin, simple, quick read which sold millions of copies, won the Pulitzer Prize and made the author, James A. Mitchner, an overnight rock star in a time when EVERYONE still read voraciously. The show at one point was so successful (and remember, for a few weeks, Rodgers and Hammerstein had THREE shows running simultaneously on Broadway) that thieves would buy tickets to the show and send them to wealthy couples and then loot their houses while they were attending the performance.

Newlyweds showed up every day at the box office hoping to score tickets after the House Manager made the mistake of taking pity on one young pair and slipping them a pair of ducats.

Comparing the two shows is difficult because "South Pacific" was totally presold and "Finian" was totally unheard of - and still had a nice long run for the period.

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I guess the Wheels of a Dream don't lead
to Finian's rainbow...or vice-versa

allofmylife-
I did not see Finian's - I only reported what others said about it who had seen it and did not share the generally favorable feelings expressed in this thread...and those people I know who did see it were mature, well informed people, familiar with the show (having even been involved with a regional production of it I think at one time) and they found this production flat.