‘Finian’s Rainbow’ glows with a colorful score and story

Fantastical musical mixes social satire with Irish whimsicality

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BROADWAY REVIEW

Anyone with a taste for vintage musicals will want to savor the sparkling concoction known as "Finian's Rainbow," which returned to Broadway on Thursday in a charming production at the St. James Theatre.

This 1947 treasure from the Golden Age of Broadway musicals offers a whimsical story and an exceptionally lovely score by lyricist E.Y. (Yip) Harburg and composer Burton Lane that features such gorgeous standards as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", "Old Devil Moon" and "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love (I Love the Girl I'm Near)."

In spite of its abundant delights, the show is rarely staged and is known best to the masses in its 1968 film version with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. Oh, right, now you remember ... that yarn about a roguish Irish fellow burying a wee pot of gold in the mythical state of Missitucky and all of the minor miracles arising from it. A lovesick leprechaun and a blowhard Southern senator also pop up in the fantastical plot by Harburg and Fred Saidy.

As times changed since the original show's late-40s day, its satirical story thread involving the senator — a white bigot who magically is turned into a black man to get a taste of his own poison — somehow made this good-hearted musical appear to be a touchy one to do anymore. But Harburg and Saidy successfully provoke some pointed social commentary (and some big laughs) from this turnabout situation and the present production neatly directed by Warren Carlyle does it proud.

Other satiric elements wittily regard American buy-now-pay-later habits, but the musical essentially is a clever fantasy mixing Irish blarney with liberal-minded idealism. And, really, the rainbow glow from that incredibly tuneful score will linger for days.

This revival is based on last season's New York City Center Encores! concert version and most of its terrific performers return to make merry with the story and songs. Usually seen in dramatic roles (he won a Tony for "The Seafarer") a spry Jim Norton makes a slyly comical Finian. A ravishing singer, the blooming Kate Baldwin pertly portrays his daughter who falls in love with Cheyenne Jackson's easy-breezy community organizer. Christopher Fitzgerald larks about as the skirt-chasing leprechaun. Terri White rocks the rafters with her robust song about "Necessity." David Schramm and Chuck Cooper amusingly divvy up the transformative role of Senator Billboard Rawkins.

Customers demanding tons of fabulous scenery with their musicals will be disappointed by the modesty of this one-set affair. From the rich, ripe sound of it, the budget has been spent wisely upon the score, what with 24 musicians in the orchestra and a large chorus doing beautifully by the music. Crisp sound design keeps Harburg's droll lyrics at the fore. Featuring a bit of step dancing, Carlyle's choreography is nothing too fancy but pleasant enough to watch.

Old-fashioned in style and yet amazingly current in its wry viewpoint, the melodious "Finian's Rainbow" is an unusually beguiling time.

"Finian's Rainbow" continues an open-end run at the St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., New York, Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.FiniansOnBroadway.com.