Finian’s Rainbow Encores
Opening Night: March 28, 2009
Closing: March 29, 2009
Theater: New York City Center
Finian’s Rainbow is the story of the Irishman Finian McLonergan, and his daughter Sharon who arrive in the small Southern town of Rainbow Valley in the mythical state of Missitucky, with plans to bury a stolen pot of gold
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March 28, 2009
"Finian McLonergan, the crafty Irishman in “Finian’s Rainbow” with a plan to grow money from a magic crock of gold, almost seems an inspirational figure today, suspicious as he is of the money men who would abscond with his wealth and spirit it away to do with it what they will."
READ THE REVIEWMarch 1, 2009
Encores brought its season to a triumphant close with a loving and downright grandish concert staging of Finian’s Rainbow. With irresistible melodies by Burton Lane, delicious word-bending lyrics by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, and a still-hilarious original libretto by Harburg & Fred Saidy, it amazes me that this hit-packed musical has almost fallen out of use. Its racial, political and financial satire are as up to date as ever, and I dare you to find any music of the last ten years with anywhere near the abundance of wit, heart and shining melody that fill this 1947 hit.
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March 27, 2009
There are no ills, musical-theater-wise, that can’t be cured by sending a cornucopia of bounteous melody mixed with irrepressible twinkle-eyed wit cascading across the footlights. That’s the message to be heard at City Center this weekend, and those who hasten to the Encores! revival of "Finian’s Rainbow" will be rewarded with a pot of golden tunes.
READ THE REVIEWMarch 25, 2009
Take note, musical theatre lovers: Spring has now sprung. You can’t tell from the weather or the temperature, but one trip to City Center, at least until Sunday, and you’ll see that green is indeed busting out all over – with a fare dose of red, orange, yellow, blue, purple and, perhaps most importantly, black and white. The reason for the hue and cry is the solid-gold presentation of Finian’s Rainbow as part of the City Center Encores! concert series.
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March 27, 2009
A striking paradox is at the core of director-choreographer Warren Carlyle’s simply wonderful concert revival of Finian’s Rainbow, which concludes this season’s City Center Encores! series and is Broadway-ready. On one hand, the musical — which deals with racial intolerance in a mythical Missitucky sharecropper’s valley — seems unusually dated now that the Barack Obama era rules. On the other hand, the show feels so up-to-the-minute prescient that lines of dialogue about questionable banking practices and misguided credit policies have the audience breaking into spontaneous applause.
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