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Is Finian's worth the money?

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#1

Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 5:24pm

I hear great things about the actors, but how is the show in itself?


Opinions please :)
Whoever says money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to shop. - Bo Derek
#2

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 5:27pm

100% worth it.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-
#4

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 7:38pm

Absolutely worth it! It's a classic musical that doesn't need to rely on big, flashy sets to enhance the story. Go see it. Heck, I got my mom tickets for Christmas.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
#6

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 8:23pm

Eris, that's what I was wondering, how the show looked. I know the score is fabulous, as well as Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson singing it, but I was wondering if that was enough to make the show beautiful. Because according to some people on this message board, Ragtime's set is bad and ruins the show, even though it has one of the best scores I've ever heard. Same goes with A Little Night Music. Was just wondering if this applied to Finian's.
Whoever says money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to shop. - Bo Derek
#7

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 8:51pm

It's beautiful and lush without being overwhelming. There are people on here who have stated they didn't like the set but I found it to be perfect. It fits the feel of the show.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
#8

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 9:22pm

A rare example of how classic musical theatre can be done to perfection. Easily the best production of the season thus far. Do not miss it.
#9

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 10:01pm

Personally, I am of the mindset that a show does not need big flashy sets to be good. I think that with a lot of those around, people tend to forget that so long as a musical has a great book, or a play is well written, then the sets are secondary, as they should be.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#10

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/16/09 at 10:06pm

Totally worth it. Top-to-bottom flawless cast performing a charming score to perfection.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#11

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 1:57am

A really great, magical production of an already suberb classic. This show definitely benefits from having a tremendous cast (Jackson, Baldwin, Fitzgerald, and White are all worth the price of admission alone), but there is so much more to see at the St. James.
#12

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 2:07am

I'm more curious about the Ragtime sets..I mean it is more 'scaled down' from the original production, apparently, but I thought it was no where near the 'scaling' of the Night Music 'set' (i.e. it is still quite a large set, that covers the stage and is multiple levels etc.)
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
#13

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 4:34am

^I very much liked the sets for Ragtime -- although I cant compare it to the original. Personally, I prefer simple sets as compared to spectacle. I want the actors and the story to be what dazzles me...and the set to complement that and help it along.

I always feel that when I have lots to say about a set, the other factors haven't done their job well.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#14

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 5:31am

I JUST watched the 1968 movie version for the very first time. I loved it, I'm hoping to catch this production. I just hope it doesn't close before I can get there...
#15

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 8:12am

Add me to the list of those who loved this revival. Worth every penny.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson
#16

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/17/09 at 10:24am

I have to admit this was not one of my favorites. I thought that the production and actors were great, but i just could not get into the show. Every time there could have been a great number it just didn't come through. The first act seemed so slow and did not keep my attention. I had heard such great reviews i really wanted to like it, but it just did not do it for me.
#18

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/18/09 at 12:41pm

I'm also going to add myself to the list of who loved it. The storyline can be a bit silly, but that made it even more fun for me. The cast is great and so is the score and dancing.
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005 "You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy. Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates
#19

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/18/09 at 4:28pm

Loved the performances but would hardly call the production "lush." Serviceable maybe but not lush. "Oh, look at that tree made out of cardboard and cheesecloth! How lush!"
#20

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/18/09 at 10:23pm

Beautiful production, beautiful music, and great acting...yes, worth the money and there are discounted tickets out there right now.
"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
#21

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/18/09 at 10:31pm

Weren't people complaining about the book before the revival happened? I'm glad to hear that it is now perfect. :)
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#22

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/18/09 at 11:41pm

Saw the show tonight and it was a total delight. I was charmed by it from start to finish. Terrific score performed by great singers all around - but esp. the winning Kate Baldwin. Fitzgerald was a definite upgrade from Encores and the book was tweaked even a bit more. Very highly recommend this old-fashioned treat.
Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward. Carol Channing
#23

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/19/09 at 12:33am

The score is great, the book not so great, the production is so-so and looks cheap.
#24

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:42am

Count me amongst the show's enthusiastic supporters.

The construction is more 1930's style where the dialogue cues the songs, but the songs don't really advance the action tending to be laundry lists illustrations of what has just been discussed. But Harburg's lyrics are clever and witty, with wordplay that Sondheim would relish and the Burton Lane tunes are endlessly refreshing.

The book is a mix of social satire and Irish whimsicality. Being a fantasy piece, you are not expected to take it too seriously. It merely provides the framework for the songs.

The cast of this revival could hardly be bettered. Jackson is one of the the few contemporary Broadway singers who knows how to sing traditional Broadway melodies without any modern stylization. Kate Baldwin, Chris Fitzgerald and especially Terri White all have moments to shine. White's "Necessity" alone is worth the price of a ticket.

The show is performed on a unit set (which is what the script requires since most of the scenes take place in the Rainbow Valley Meeting Place) so those who demand every scene have its own unique set will be disappointed. For me scenery is there to serve the story and this set does that just fine. Great production values...simple magic effects that still delight.

In fact delightful is the perfect summation for this production.

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

#25

re: Is Finian's worth the money?

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:56am

Not even remotely worth it. Dated beyond belief, it never finds a way to make it live onstage as anything but a reminder of how very very very very far the world has come since it first opened. Life's too short to waste time on trifling crap like this. See the off-Broadway revival of OUR TOWN, one of the great theatrical experiences in recent history.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

Updated On: 12/19/09 at 09:56 AM

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