With a pot of gold, a quirky leprechaun and talented performers, the current Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow delights the hearts of the audience with its first song. Finian's Rainbow is filled with wonderful, timeless Burton Lane- E.Y. Harburg musical numbers, including "Old Devil Moon," "Look to the Rainbow," "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "If This Isn't Love."
Kate Baldwin stars as Susan, a down-to-earth young Irishwoman, who follows her irascible father, Finian, to the U.S. The lovable Jim Norton plays Finian who has stolen a pot of gold from the leprechaun, Og (a delightful Christopher Fitzgerald.) Without his gold, Og suffers the agonies of turning mortal.
They travel to the fictional state of Missitucky where Sharon meets Woody (Cheyenne Jackson). It's love at first sight. I'd love to say sparks fly, but there's little chemistry between the two, despite all his smiling. However, the show doesn't care about the electricity between its main characters as long as they sound good together, and that they do. Baldwin is talented and gets to show off her skill, but Jackson is underutilized.
First performed in 1947, the show was problematic from the beginning. It dealt with race issues, namely an openly bigoted white state senator. Standing near the pot of gold that grants wishes, Sharon wishes the senator could turn black so he would see how prejudice feels.
In the original show, the white actor wore blackface. In this version, director-choreographer Warren Carlyle replaces the white actor (David Schramm) with a Black one (Chuck Cooper). The 1940's musical actually made its own political statement when the black and white dancers performed together.
It was obvious from the reaction of those around me that most people in the audience knew the show well. So, in a sense, for them, it was like meeting old friends. Yet Finian's Rainbow may not be creative enough for young modern audiences. It's not a next to normal or Spring Awakening. Even with the suspension of belief, the events in the story are just too simplistic.
Ignoring the social strides the world has made (sadly, with miles to go), the show is simplistic. Girl and boy meet and fall in love, and all obstacles disappear. Everything happens too easily, explained by magic. Everyone lives happily ever after, especially when the senator learns the evils of his ways. Ironically, the townspeople are elated when they discover "gold" rich tobacco bought by cigarette makers in another indication of a changed world since the inception of the show.
The older, somewhat jaded audience at the St. James Theater didn't care about the lack of realism. The music is still wonderful and the singers top-rate. However, my younger companion was unfamiliar with the score, and he wasn't enamored with the show. While I came in singing and left the same way, he just left. If you already love the music, then the revival of Finian's Rainbow will have you beaming, but young audiences may leave wondering what all the fuss is about. 
