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Theatre in Review: Finian's Rainbow (Irish Repertory Theatre)

Ken Jennings, Melissa Errico. Photo Carol Rosegg

There are two excellent reasons to check out Charlotte Moore's second revival of Finian's Rainbow. First and foremost is that heavenly score. Burton Lane's music mixes a touch of Irish balladry with Southern blues and all-around 1940s jive, with intoxicating results. E. Y. Harburg, the most eccentric of musical theatre lyricists, deploys his brazenly original wordplay in the service of humor that is both whimsical and wickedly satirical. No other Broadway score sounds like this one and there's not a dud in the bunch. "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" is one of the greatest ballads of its era, striking a note of longing that will linger with you long after the show is over. "Old Devil Moon" is an act of musical voodoo, casting an irresistible spell. "If This Isn't Love" is infectiously upbeat and filled with impudent jokes. ("If this isn't love/Then winter is summer/If this isn't love/My heart needs a plumber.") "Necessity" features a maddeningly catchy blues hook, as a bunch of sharecroppers lament their lack of cash. ("What throws a monkey wrench in/A fella's good intention/That nasty old invention/Necessity.") And I haven't gotten to "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love." ("When I'm not near the face that I fancy/I fancy the face I face.") Each time the band strikes up at the Irish Rep, you can be sure something delightful is in store.

The second reason to see Finian's Rainbow is the cast Moore has assembled, one of the most vocally gifted in town, led by Melissa Errico, who also starred in the Irish Rep's 2004 revival. Errico's silvery voice caresses the ballads, her slight touch of vibrato adding to their emotional pull, and her superb diction guarantees that every one of Harburg's puns and jokes is heard. Errico has recently written about the vicissitudes of a career that causes her, at 46, to be once again in an ingénue role, but the actress who convincingly played a middle-aged spinster last spring in Do I Hear a Waltz? At Encores! at City Center effortlessly sheds the years to portray a character approximately half her age. As Sharon, the daughter of an Irish rogue who has stolen a pot of gold from a Leprechaun and who, later, is accused of being a witch, she gets caught up in some notably squirrely plot complications, but the actress' sensible, no-nonsense demeanor and dry wit make it all seem plausible.

Ryan Silverman, Errico's costar in the 2013 Classic Stage Company revival of Passion, is on hand as Woody, the political organizer who catches Sharon's eye. His good looks and affable presence are real assets, and he partners gorgeously with his leading lady on their duets. Angela Grovey provides plenty of sass, along with some tasty scat singing, leading the company in "Necessity." Lyrica Woodruff dances with joy as the silent Susan, who communicates with her feet.

Ah, but the book, written by Harburg and Fred Saidy: It's a bizarre sandwich of blarney and social satire, mixing leprechauns, pots of gold, racial prejudice, collective farming, the tobacco market, a trio of mischief-making wishes, credit-based capitalism, and God only knows what else. (At one point, the villain, a racist Southern senator, is turned black and subsequently joins a traveling troupe of gospel singers.) Even in the late 1940s, when Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe were making the American musical stand up straight and act responsibly, Finian's Rainbow was a bizarre throwback to the looser-limbed, anything-for-a-laugh shows of the '20s and '30s. It was good enough for 725 performances, one of the decade's longer runs, but ever since, people have been fussing over the book, trying to smooth out its racial satire. Peter Stone wrote a new version for a Broadway-bound production that died out of town in the late '90s. An Encores! at City Center production, featuring a somewhat abridged version, garnered plenty of good attention, but a Broadway transfer proved ill-advised, lasting only 92 performances.

I'm not sure what it was like at Irish Rep in 2004, but for this production, Moore, who is also credited with the adaptation, has cut the book to the bone, guaranteeing that there will be no more than three or four minutes between songs. It's a dangerous, if audience-pleasing, approach; a show that originally barely made sense now borders on the incoherent.. If you've never seen Finian's Rainbow before, you may find yourself bewildered by the bizarre, often confusing, goings-on.

As the title character, who believes that if he buries his stolen pot of gold near Fort Knox, it will be fruitful and multiply, Ken Jennings carries the bulk of the plot on his sturdy shoulders. Mark Evans, making his New York debut as Og, the leprechaun, who wants his pot of gold back but who can't resist any lass he meets, does his best with some notoriously twee material. One of his numbers, "Something Short of Grandish," a duet with Errico, suffers from being overstaged by the choreographer, Barry McNabb, who does fine work elsewhere; however, he hits the bull's-eye with his charming rendition of "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love." Dewey Caddell has some amusing moments as that bigoted senator, but much of his role has been cut, including one of the show's signature scenes, in which a college-educated black man, hired to be one of the senator's servants, is tutored in the art of shucking and jiving on the job.

The production is pleasing to the eye, thanks to James Morgan's set, which places the action on a plantation terrace, the pillars covered with honeysuckle and magnolia, surrounded by blue skies on which have been imprinted pages of musical staff paper. Mary Jo Dondlinger's lighting adds an extra patina of attractiveness. David Toser's costumes are perfectly solid. There is no sound design, so nothing comes between us and the voices in the Irish Rep's small space. Geraldine Anello conducts a small, but lovely, musical ensemble of four, including herself.

Fans of Finian's Rainbow and Errico's admirers won't want to miss this, and if you've never heard the score, it may be worth a visit. Still, Moore hasn't really solved the problem of what to do with this infectious, often delightful, sometimes maddening show. To quote Harburg, this production is "the maximum thing that a minimum thing can be." But those songs are, now and forever, something sort of grandish. -- David Barbour


(7 November 2016)

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