Customer Reviews

Finian's Rainbow: New Broadway Cast Recording/CD

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was one of the lucky ones who saw this great production on Broadway and this cast album really captures the magic and vitality of that special night - everyone sounds terrific, from the orchestra to the principals, down to the chorus. It's great to hear all the restored pieces, and this important recording will certainly be regarded as the definitive version - get a copy and pray that this production comes to your town in a tour!

This new recording of the revival of Finian's Rainbow is one of the those rare recordings that take you away. This score hasn't had a top rate recording is almost sixty years. The cast that was brought together for this revival is amazing. Their voices are pure gold. I saw the show at the St.James and it was Magical. And now I have the CD to remind me what a fantastic night in the theater it was. They don't write them like this anymore. Congratulations to all that were involved in bringing this treasure back to Broadway. It certainly left Broadway way to soon. Maybe someday it shall come back to Broadway after it wins some Tony Awards in June. We can keep wishing on that rainbow.

Wow! This is a gorgeous recording of a wonderful show! Every song is amazing and the voices are beyond beautiful. I don't know when I've heard a more heartfelt song than "GloccaMora" or a more rousing ensemble number than "Come and Get it Day"! Thank you, thank you for giving us this perfect recording of a fabulous show ... we were lucky enough to get to see the show itself in NYC and this is a very faithful memory of a special hit Broadway show!

Truly, this is one of the finest Broadway scores ever, rendered here with a meticulous attention to detail and excitement that is rare. It is classic in the finest sense of the word, with performances and warmth the likes of which I haven't heard on a cast album CD in YEARS. Buy this only if you love fantastic singing of gorgeous songs. This cast album brings this joyous musical straight to 2010, and indeed, beyond, for this CD is one for the AGES! If you saw it live, (I did!) you'll smile and remember how lovely it was, if you didn't, you'll kick yourself, but it's almost as good as being there!

The new recording of "Finian's Rainbow" is a gem--but it's a diamond in the rough. For the first time ever, the miraculous score is presented in its entirely, and it sung and played spectacularly. The performances are the diamond; the rough, however, diminishes the experience severely. Difficult though it may be to believe, Columbia's 1947 original cast recording of "Finian's Rainbow" is sonically superior to the brand-new Broadway revival recording. This revival cast recording in pure digital clarity has the ambiance of Decca's 1940's recordings of "Oklahamo!" and "Carousel," which is to say that this "Finian's Rainbow" sounds like it was recorded in a linen closet. The sound is at once clear and dead. It conjures visions of the singers standing shoulder to shoulder with the instrumentalists as they duck falling pillow cases. In contrast, Columbia's original cast version has the full sound of a show performed in a theatre. If the technicians who recorded this spectacular performance last December had an iota of respect for theatre and cast recordings in general and a love of "Finian's Rainbow" in particular, this could have been one of the finest cast recordings of all time. Performances: 100%, Recording: zero.

I just listened to the cast recording straight through, and then again a second time, and was completely transformed to another place and time. When I saw the recent Broadway production (which definitely lived up to its rave reviews), I frankly knew little about the show or the score, perhaps because the show has not been revived in decades. But the tunes were familiar, they were brilliantly, lavishly, tenderly and enthusiastically performed by an outstanding cast, and I felt that were it possible, Yip Harburg and Burton Lane (the lyricist and composer) would have sent down a rainbow to show their approval. I'm so grateful that the musical director preserved the integrity of the original score and didn't attempt to update it with a more contemporary finish, and that Harburg's and Lane's spirit was so marvelously and magically captured. Classics should be respected as such, and this cast album has preserved for generations to come some of the most brilliant gems of American musical theater.

.....And I am insane-ish about this cast record-ish. "Finian's Rainbow" is one of those rare shows where every number was a hit and if not a hit, well-known. Music by Burton Lane and witty, smart lyrics by E.Y. Harburg makes this recording a joy and a pleasure to listen to. Newcomer Kate Baldwin as Finians daughter Sharon and Cheyenne Jackson as Woody the sharecropper are fine, and shine on their duet "Old Devil Moon" and impish Christopher Fitzgerald more impish than ever, but after all he is a leprechaun and is absolutely delightful singing his 11 O'clock number "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love(I Love the Girl I'm Near)" and he also shares the funny number "Something Sort Of Grandish" with Sharon, the first girl he loves but the fickle-hearted elf soon loses his heart to Susan, the mute sister of Woody who expresses her thoughts through dance.

If I have to quibble it would be track 16 "Dance of the Gold Crock" which is just annoying and jarringly out of place in a score with an over-abundance of wonderful songs, and I must admit there may be some out there who enjoy improvised harmonica tootling but for my taste it sounds more like a backyard hillbilly hoedown. I have since programmed my CD player to skip that track and just be transported to the mythical state of Missitucky where the citizens sing "The Begat", "Come and Get it Day" "When the Idle Poor Become The Idle Rich" "Look To The Rainbow" "If This Isn't Love" "Necessity" and of course the biggest hit of the show, "How Are Things In Glocca Morra" and the answer is, things are fine in Glocca Morra and on Broadway and I can't wait to see the show even if I have to dip into Ogs pot of gold to pay for a ticket.


Update: It appears I will not be needing Ogs gold to buy a ticket. The show closed. Why? I guess old-fashioned shows with melodic music and witty lyrics have become passe. A shame.

Somewhere between the mists of "Brigadoon" and the haunting melodies of "South Pacific" you'll find the 1947 Broadway musical "Finian's Rainbow". Lyricist Yip Harburg wrote the words for the 20th Century's greatest American popular song with "Over the Rainbow" for the 1939 film of "The Wizard of Oz" and he also wrote the lyrics for one of the greatest American Broadway song scores of the 20th Century with "Finian's Rainbow". This 2009 revival cast recording is a terrific companion disc to the spirited 1960 revival cast album.Finian's Rainbow (1960 Broadway Revival Cast) Several added tracks like the Entr'acte and the beautiful "Look the Rainbow" Reprise in the second act are blissful inclusions on this album and the vocals and performances are all first rate. For those who like or only know the infusion of rock that gradually invaded Broadway following the Rodgers & Hammerstein era of the 1940's and 1950's, "Finian's Rainbow" may appear to be an odd little duck. And Harburg's message of sensible social tolerance may find itself out of favor. But this 2009 recording will help ensure that "Finian's Rainbow" will continue to find an audience for those who appreciate tuneful brilliance and sparkling lyrical humor at its best. The gorgeous songs of Burton Lane laced with Harburg's peerless gift for whimsy will outlive all fads and fashions as a timeless song score classic.

As owner of the original Finian's with Ella Logan, who someone who has many of the songs sloshing around in his head, I couldn't wait to see the revival, especially after the scintillating reviews. And the show really did live up to billings, somehow freshened and modern even while maintaining the original arrangements, orchestrations and tempos. A shame it didn't find an audience.

And so I was particularly eager to get my hands on the recording. It manages to be both rewarding and disappointing. It well-captures the wonderful melodies and lyrics and the singing is almost uniformly fine. And yet. And yet. On CD, it feels...old. The performances feel a little stiff and 'pushed', especially the spoken portions. And the orchestra, which felt a little thin live, feels very thin here. More like a few-piece band than an orchestra. This may have been a function of cheaping-out to save money in the on-stage orchestra, transferred "faithfully" to the recording. It brings the whole recording down a notch with it. And on a few numbers, I find myself wishing the tempos were picked up just a bit; they seem to drag.

Overall, it's great to have a modern recording of wonderful songs well sung. I just yearn for what might have been.

While the CD version of the original 1947 cast album has its rewards, this newer recording is far superior.
For one thing, it includes much more of the music and song reprises. The voices are exceptional, and the charm of the Broadway production comes through loud and clear on this new recording. Additionally, and of course, the songs are offered in the correct order of how they appear in the show; in the old recording, the order is jumbled.
If you want to own one version of Finian's Rainbow, this is the one.