Finian's Rainbow review
This musical possesses a list of awards. In 1947 – two Tony wins; 1948 – 1 Tony win; 1956 – 1 Tony nomination; 2010 – 3 Tony nominations, 7 Drama Desk wins & 1 nomination; 4 Outer Critics Circle nominations.
The same man who wrote the lyrics for The Wizard of Oz in 1939, E. Y. Harburg, bothered this time also on a new fabulous setting where there was a weaving magic, story of gold, leprechauns, said wishes immediately coming true, magic and love. The latter, however, many people do not apply to the magical sphere, while their opponents claim that there is nothing more magical than love exists.
If you think about it well, this musical would have to be rewritten. It requires complete elimination of all racist moments from it (when the greedy and stubborn Senator turns into black, it is a cruel punishment for him, and then he turns back white with visible relief), as well as all the socialist things coming from the USSR’s heritage, which are an eyesore for every sane person. For example, Senator might be converted into a toad or some animal-like monster, such as in The Beauty & The Beast. And then it would versatile in time. But now it belongs to the era of the 20th century, no step away. For this reason, its film adaptation was postponed from 1950, when America was in hysterics over communism and expectations of a nuclear strike, until 1968, when Broadway shed with rain of great demand for its musicals, many of which were then filmed, like this one. Despite such a big name as Francis Ford Coppola, directing it, motion picture came out pretty artsy and dully made, as if some final joinery work is plained with hatchet, not polished with a soft cloth. It was the first independent work of Mr. Coppola and, despite it paid off, formally opening the way for his further work, the critics did not like it at all. Coppola was often accused of impermissible political views, which were especially visible in his Apocalypse Now (1979), but thanks to his phenomenally successful films as The Godfather, The Great Gatsby, The Cotton Club, Bram Stocker's Dracula, as well as a giant influence on the film industry as a whole, he has huge forgiving.
The plot is made whether for teenagers who still believe in naive stories, or whether for quite ironically-minded adults who want to abandon the boredom of this world for a couple of hours and to plunge into the ridiculous story in which fairy-tale characters surprisingly organically mixed with personalities from the real universe. Leprechaun and gold, which an enterprising person steals and buries near the Fort Knox, in the hope that the aura of this place will allow gold to grow up becoming bigger. Conversion to other people with back reconversion. The presentation in a strange 'contemporary' style, which conceals the careless style of narration (Disney never abandons this style). It all becomes something like little evil social ironic story, amid confrontation of farmers with bad territorial government, represented by the greedy Senator. Mixed feelings are left after watching. On the one hand, you are plunged into a fairy tale, but on the other – you are completely captured by the attributes of this mortal world, like stealing, bright social inequality and racism.
Last Update:April, 06th 2016
Finian's Rainbow Lyrics
- Act 1
- Overture
- This Time Of The Year
- How Are Things In Glocca Morra?
- Look To The Rainbow
- Old Devil Moon
- Something Sort Of Grandish
- If This Isn't Love
- Something Sort Of Grandish (Reprise)
- Necessity
- That Great Come-And-Get-It Day
- Act 2
- When The Idle Poor Become The Idle Rich
- The Begat
- When I'm Not Near The Girl I Love
- Finale: That Great Come-And-Get-It Day