Analysis Of Finian's Rainbow And Flahooley

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Finian’s Rainbow and Flahooley are two renowned musicals created by E.Y Harburg and Fred Saidy, and were played at the Harlem Repertory Theatre located at the 133th street Arts Center. This intimate theatre was founded by Keith Grant, a well known professor at City College of New York. This small center is greatly supported by the Yip Harburg Foundation. The interracial cast of both musicals is something that stood out to me and I appreciated the thought that Grant placed in this entire production. These two musicals have been ongoing and playing at the Harlem Repertory Theatre for nearly two years. Finian’s Rainbow (music by Burton Lane) has been revived many times but Flahooley (music by Sammy Fain) is hardly ever done. However, the songs from Flahooley have been kept alive because its original lead, Barbara Cook, has sung them in many of her cabaret shows.
The 1947 Broadway production For Finian’s Rainbow ran for 725 performances, eventually a film version was released in 1968 and several revivals have followed. It first opened on Broadway on January 10, 1947 at the 46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 725 performances. It was directed by Bretaigne Windust and choreographed by Michael Kidd, with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Don Walker. Finian's Rainbow was revived three times by New York City Center Light Opera Company on Broadway. The short 1955 production was directed by William Hammerstein and choreographed by Onna White. Hebert Ross directed and choreographed a cast as well in 1960. There was a third revival in 1967 staged by the company. Although revivals for the musical have been uncommon, in 2004, the Irish Repertory Theater staged a crowd-pleasing off-Broadway production starring Melissa, Jonathan, a...

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...ht bulbs on the side of the theater; these bulbs were focused on the cast members. Being that we were in an intimate session, the voices of the cast were able to project through the entire room. It was very easy to follow through to what was happening on stage because, Keith Grant, perfected each detail, and with the help of his amazing cast, executed it with great satisfaction to the audience.
Overall the production had a positive effect on me because it made me look at life in a whole different approach. I learned morals and life lessons that I believed I had already lost. In Finian’s rainbow, I took out that love can emerge from all sorts of places and race. In Flahooley, I took out that even the most self centered man can be changed if the right woman is placed in his life. After my amazing experience, I will most certainly recommend this musical to others.

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