Finian's Rainbow Celebrates Opening Night

Finian's Rainbow plays its opening night performance at Broadway's St. James Theatre.

Featuring music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Yip Harburg and a book by Harburg and Fred Saidy, Finian’s Rainbow is the story of Irishman Finian McLonergan (played by Tony Award winner Jim Norton) and his daughter Sharon (Kate Baldwin), who travels to a small town in the mythical state of Missitucky with plans to bury a stolen pot of gold in the shadows of Fort Knox in the mistaken belief it will grow and multiply. They have been followed from Ireland by the owner of the gold, a leprechaun named Og (Christopher Fitzgerald), who shows up determined to recover his treasure. Meanwhile, Sharon falls in love with a handsome Missitucky landowner named Woody (Jackson). Also figuring into the plot is a blowhard Senator named Billboard (Chuck Cooper).

The Finian’s Rainbow score includes such familiar songs as “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love (I Love the Girl I’m Near),” “That Old Devil Moon” and “If This Isn’t Love.” The show originally opened at the 46th Street Theatre on January 10, 1949, and played a total of 725 performances.