Finian's Rainbow

Yes, it’s old fashioned and it’s - gasp - a unit set on Broadway that - double gasp - doesn’t move, fly or crash down on the stage. But so what? The show doesn’t need them. In the “old days” it was the material - book, score, performers - that held the audience’s attention, not the set or volume of the sound. Sadly, the Broadway machine no longer produces the kind of shows that work without the extraneous bells and whistles that modern audiences demand. But that’s a rant for another post.

I cannot argue that much of the book’s humor is dated and the story quaintly contrived, but holy sh*t, that score is stunning. God forbid a modern composer write for a soprano ingénue. Then again, there aren’t many modern composers who have the equivalent of “Look to the Rainbow,” “…Glocca Morra” or “Old Devil Moon” in their catalog, let alone in a single show. Luckily, we have Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson crooning these classics. Baldwin’s perfect as the Irish immigrant girl and her voice is clean and effortless. Cheyenne, as always, is dreamy to look at but is starting to display a distracting - and ugly - nasal quality in his singing. Looks like it’s time to see the ole’ vocal coach. Fortunately, his eyes and thighs keep you distracted.

Christopher Fitzgerald’s Og is obviously working the squat thrusts at the gym. He gives Cheyenne a run for his money in the gam department, sporting some freakishly developed calves and thighs for a leprechaun. But he’s thoroughly charming and at his best in the physical humor the character requires.

The ensemble sounds incredible. I admit, I nearly cried when the back-up vocals to “…Rainbow” began, it was so gorgeous. Trish, of course, would argue that I cry at everything. And the dancing, though not very innovative or overly inspiring, was efficient and clean. I also have to give a shout out to the costume designer for those incredible colored t-straps on the women’s character shoes.

Hey, I’m all for new and creative stagings of the classics, but sometimes we need a solid traditional take of a classic to remind us of what is missing on modern Broadway. And the recent Bye, Bye Birdie does not fall into that category, by the way.