Shows · Finian’s Rainbow
E. Y. Harburg got the idea for Finian’s Rainbow because he wanted to satirize an economic system that requires gold reserves to be buried at Fort Knox. He then began thinking of leprechauns and their legendary crock of gold that could grant three wishes. In the story that Harburg and Fred Saidy devised, Finian McLonergan (Albert Sharpe), an Irish immigrant, is in Rainbow Valley, Missitucky, to bury a crock of gold wh…
- Opened
- 1947
- Performances
- 725
- Type
- Musical
- Era
- Golden Age
Productions3 on Broadway
| 1947 | 46th Street Theatre Original. January 10, 1947 · Bretaigne Windust | 725 performances |
| 1960 | 46th Street Theatre Revival. May 23, 1960 · Herbert Ross | 12 performances |
| 2009 | St James Theatre Revival. October 29, 2009 · Warren Carlyle | 92 performances |
Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.
46 passages naming Finian’s Rainbow, found by keyword across 178 books. It's where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.
Windust, Bretaigne Finian’s Rainbow book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p387
E. Y. Harburg got the idea for Finian’s Rainbow because he wanted to satirize an economic system that requires gold reserves to be buried at Fort Knox. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-green-stanley-green-kay-5th-ed-rev-and-updated-by#p157
One leprechaun (in Finian’s Rainbow ) or one invisible rabbit (in Harvey ) were dandy, but too much fantasy made him nervous. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p9
Chapman said Rumple was “charming, tasteful, handsome and gently nutty . . . a warmly pleasant show” which was a combination of Topper and Finian’s Rainbow; further, the songs were likable and the production was handsome. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p668
Harburg’s greatest success was certainly Finian’s Rainbow (1/10/47; 725 performances), written in collaboration with Burton Lane. Harburg also contributed the libretto along with Fred Saidy. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p241
Composer Burton Lane did not have as many of his shows produced as his contemporaries, but his shows all contained superior scores. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p307
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