Search - Burton Lane, E.Y. Harburg, Jeannie Carson :: Finian's Rainbow (1960 Broadway Revival Cast)

"Finian's Rainbow" might be dated, but its still pretty good

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 02/17/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As strange as it might seem "Finian's Rainbow" is exactly what it seems like, the odd fusion of two different non-musical ideas. E. Y. "Yip" Harburg, the immortal lyricist for "The Wizard of Oz," had two non-musical ideas. The first was about a leprechaun who has three wishes while the second was about a bigoted white Senator who is turned black and becomes victimized by his own racial prejudice. "Finian's Rainbow" is the result of this odd collision of diverse ideas. With a book by Harburg and Fred Saidy and music by Burton Lane, whose lesser known musical works include "Hold On to Your Hats" with Al Jolson and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." This original cast album features the 1960 revival production directed and choreographed by Herbert Ross and stars Jeannie Carson as Sharon McLonergan, Bobby Howes as her father Finian, Biff McGuire as Woody Mahoney, Howard Morris as Og the leprechaun and Sorrell Booke as Senator Billboard Rawkins. The setting for the show is Rainbow Valley in the state of Missitucky, where the farm of Woody Mahoney and his mute sister Susan is about to be auctioned off to the evil Senator Rawkins. Woody is short on the back taxes but the day is saved by Finian McLonergan and his daughter Sharon, who now become part owners of Rainbow Valley. Finian has stolen a crock o' gold from the leprechauns and wants to bury it near Fort Knox so it will grow. He also has plans for the three wishes that come with the crock. Woody and Sharon fall in love, but then Og the leprechaun shows up wanting his crock o' gold back. When the Senator learns there is gold in the Valley, he makes a blatant attempt to seize the land from the black sharecroppers. An outraged Sharon wishes the Senator would know what it was like to be black, and since she is standing over the buried crock o' gold, the wish comes true as everybody celebrates at the end of Act I. From there on it is just a question of working out all of the romantic entanglements and dealing with the Senator's pigmentational problem. As social satire "Finian's Rainbow" was certainly dated by the time the Francis Ford Coppola film version was released in 1968. But even if it is not a timeless musical, it is certainly above average. The chief redeeming value are the songs: "Old Devil Moon" and "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love" are first class Broadway standards. "How Are Things in Glocca Morra" and "Look to the Rainbow" are lovely songs sung by the leading lady (although my preference is always going to be for the Petula Clark versions from the film), while "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich," "That Great Come-and-Get-It Day" and "The Begat" are solid ensemble pieces. You can always just forget the plot and enjoy the music and the lyrics. There might be peers (Sondheim, Porter, your favorite's name here) but there simply is not a better lyricist in the history of the Broadway theater than "Yip" Harburg."

Revival superior to original cast recording

Lawrance M. Bernabo | 02/18/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have always preferred the performances on the 1960 revival album to the original cast recording. Although David Wayne won a Tony award for the creation of his Og, the Leprechaun, there is nothing vocally in his two songs to indicate anything special about the interpretation, while Howard Morris in the revival embellishes his vocal comedic acting with inventiveness and delight. Jeannie Carson is a superior vocalist to Ella Logan and Biff McGuire is less beefy than Donald Richards. The orchestrations are bright here and recorded in stereo, not the low fidelity of the 1947 original. In addition the non-dependence on 3.5 minute 78-rpm side limits allows the revival to give us extra material from the show - the LOOK TO THE RAINBOW dance, the reprise of SOMETHING SORT OF GRANDISH between Og and the children and the finale chorus of GLOCCA MORRA.When one looks at the structure of the show it does strike one oddly that the four ballads come first in the show - after the opening choral number - with only one of the comic songs interspersed before the fourth ballad. Then come four of the five satirical songs all in a row, followed by the second comic song. It's unusual to have a show's songs bunched like this by type rather than blended for variety.It's also an oddity that both an Irish and a Scottish fantasy should arrive on Broadway the same year (1947). While BRIGADOON has gone on to continued revivals and a healthy life, FINIAN'S RAINBOW due to its politically dated libretto, has faded from public view, rarely revived, and probably needing a program glossary for audiences to catch all the satire based on popular figures and movements of its day.What does go on is the score. The four ballads have entered the standard repertoire and are the main reasons for purchasing either cast album. The cleverness of the lyrics in the satirical numbers can't match the sheer beauty and feeling in OLD DEVIL MOON, IF THIS ISN'T LOVE, GLOCCA MORRA and LOOK TO THE RAINBOW.For my money the revival is a far superior purchase - consider all of the remastering involved in bringing the 1947 original back to the public, including use of three alternate takes - which hardly in my mind constitutes recreating the original cast recording as released to the public in 1947."

Excellent STEREO recording of Lane - Harburg triumph

Pope | Wisconsin, United States | 02/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1960 revival recording is an excellent addition to the Finian's Rainbow canon. This revival is fabulously cast and the performances are stellar, so I will not comment on them further. This recording takes advantage of the then new 2-channel stereo process in recorded music. And the LP format allowed for more music to be included than on the original cast album, for which songs had to be truncated and/or sped up to fit the limited playing time of 78 RPM sides.



While the 1947 original will always remain the definitive recorded version of the score, fans of the show will find this a welcomed addition as well. Performances are stellar, sound quality is perfect, what more can I say. And perhaps an even better recorded version is the 1968 Warner Bros. movie soundtrack, now out of print on LP, but available as a limited edition CD release from Rhino.



Whichever album you choose, FINIAN'S RAINBOW cannot disappoint."