2002 - Finian's Rainbow

Music by Burton Lane
Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg
Book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy

Synopsis

Everyone in the world knows that all Americans are millionaires. (Everyone, that is, except Americans.) But only Finian McLonergan, of Glocca Morra, Ireland, knows why.

By a process of mathematics, logic and moonbeams he has found the answer: it is the soil of Fort Knox that makes this so. There's something magical about that soil. It gives to gold phenomenal qualities hitherto unsuspected even by the gold itself. Thus equipped with powers verging on the atomic, the gold in Fort Knox performs a wondrous work. It radiates a powerful influence throughout America, fertilizing the oranges in Florida, activating the assembly lines in Detroit and producing a bumper crop of millionaires.

If this reasoning is false, then why did we rush to dig gold out of the ground in California in 1849, only to bury it in the ground of Fort Knox a century later?

This is the McLonergan theory, and the exciting corollary is all too plain: any man can bury a bit of gold in the ground, near Fort Knox, and become a millionaire.

Finian knows his economics, but he also knows his lovely and spirited daughter, Sharon. He'll never get her to America to try out his theory if he tells her the truth. So he invents a mythical case of arthritis for himself, and fills her full of pity with a story that the only climate to cure it is found in Rainbow Valley, in the State of Missitucky, U.S.A. near Fort Knox.

Getting the gold to launch his project is, for Finian, less a problem. Some of his best acquaintances are gnomes and elves, and the leprechauns whose crock of gold provides the power to make wishes for the mortals of Ireland. So he lies in ambush one night when the moon is high and the cup is flowing, waylays a leprechaun who is busy laying down a blanket of dew, and "borrows" the little fellow's crock.

This is what starts the fun. Finian gets to Rainbow Valley with Sharon and plants the crock. The leprechaun comes in pursuit, uttering dire warnings of misery and destruction. Wishes are made on the crock (it's good for only three wishes in the hands of a mortal) and history veers crazily from its path. The news gets out that gold has been discovered on McLonergan's property. Credit and calico gowns and tractors pour in upon the Valley. Finian's theory comes true. Sharon is about to get that rainbow her father has always promised her, a boy for her heart and pennies for her purse, when the leprechaun's doleful predictions materialize. Not for good, of course, but long enough to give a fillip of what's next to this combination of American, fantasy and folklore 'cross the sea.

And if you don't believe in leprechauns well, considering the state of the world, it must just be that leprechauns find it hard to believe in people.

Songs

• This Time of 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 
  
• When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich 
  
• The Begat 
  
• When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love 
  
• Finale 
  

Cast

Principals
Finian McLonergan: Josh Feder
Sharon McLonergan: Sarah Smith
Woody Mahoney: Dan Campolieta
Og, the leprechaun: Jeff Drew
Susan the Silent: Erin Twohig

Supporting Roles
Buzz Collins: Dan Roper 
Sen. Billboard Rawkins: Tim Allard 
Norma Jean (formerly Howard): Karly Komoroske 
Sheriff: Ken Reeves

Necessity Girls
Lindsey Boudreau
Alexis Derr
Alyssa Eberly
Annie Gianakos
Stefanie Mazel
Amanda McDonald
Christine Swayne

Gospeleers  
Chris Eberly
Eric Rehm
Greg Thibadea

Ensemble
David Addis
Caroline Almy
Clayton Anderson
Jessica Beder  
Becky Butler
Sarah Folsom  
Emily Giannotta  
Caitlin Griffin  
Becky Griswold  
Brenton Lloyd Hard  
Kevin Harrington  
Peter Hoople  
Amanda Kennedy  
Chelsea Margolis  
Devin Murphy
Andy Perron  
Annie Petitti  
Karen Pomerantz  
Lyndsay Root  
Jesse Schofield  
Christen Sottolano  
Ian Strongwater 
Teddy Tablante  
Zach Zalinger

Dance Corps
Lindsay Boroush  
Lindsay Boudreau  
Stacey Burdick  
Karolina Hassan  
Brittany Johnston  
Samantha Leone  
Dawn Loveland  
Stefanie Mazel  
Katie Mills  
Alexandra Muller  
Sarah Perlotto  
Cindy Sopelak  
Sarah Sopelak  
Jessica Thomas  
Danielle Weingarden

Backstage and Production Crew
Lauren Asensio  
Anne Belfiore  
Rob Brownell  
Bill Chin  
Liz Chin  
Brian Daly  
Alexandra Davidson  
Dan DiMenna  
Andrew Feierabend  
Andrea Gordon  
Carleen Graham  
Andrea Gross  
Albert Guillermo  
R. Wesley Hannah  
Sarah Keefe  
Rob Lautensack  
Jenna Magdziasz  
Trista McGetrick  
Catherine Orzel  
Jess Piazza  
Cleo Rahmy  
Jen Rosenbush  
Hailey Schofield  
Drew Shamyer  
Michael Sikora  
Rachel Slotnick  
Heather Starr  
Briel Steinberg  
Caren Strong  
Savannah Summers  
Kate Verone  
Catherine Volle  
Nicholas Winters

Orchestra
Melanie Angel  
David Baron  
Christina Cellucci  
Kate Cook  
Andrew Dalton  
Kevin Daly  
Charles Feierabend  
Elaine Gunn  
Allison Heermance  
Max Jack  
Mike Katz  
Jennifer Keefe  
Devon McGetrick  
Ellen Porter  
Sarah Reiff  
Emily Richardson  
Rob Saunders  
Mimi Schreiber  
Robyn Smith  
Rebecca Steinberg  
Steve Thomas  
Owen Westbrook  
Jeff Yanik  
Jonathan Yanik

Photos

Memories