Cheyenne Jackson (Cusick to the Civic to "All Shook Up" to "Xanadu" to commercials with Nathan Lane) will star as Woody in "Finian's Rainbow," opening on Broadway for previews on Oct. 8.
The 1947 Burton Lane-Yip [not "Skip"] Harburg musical (about an Irishman who steals a leprechaun's gold, travels to the U.S. with his girlfriend and plants the gold in the soil near Fort Knox in order to increase the amount of gold) was made into a 1968 movie with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark.
[ photo: N.Y. Times ]
Very cool! It's a great score - kind of a goofy story, but well-intended. Cheyenne will sound amazing doing that music, though, no doubt!
ReplyDeleteI think it was "Yip" Harburg, same lyricist for MGM's Wizard of Oz.
I can't believe I wrote "Skip." (I knew it was Yip, really.) So here is Bobo's penance:
ReplyDeleteEdgar Yipsel Harburg (I didn't know what the "E.Y." stood for). 1896-1981. And I didn't know that he was born Isadore Hochberg. Though I don't quite see how, if your name is Isadore Hochberg, that changing it to Edgar "Young People's Socialist League" Harburg is such an obvious improvement. Yes, he wrote "Oz" and "Finian's" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime"?
G&S brought him together with Ira Gershwin -- so there's a link to the Civic's Sept. production. And he waited out WWI by going to Uruquay. I just love details like that.
Ah, those lovely evenings we spent sipping absinthe on the veranda in Montevideo -- I remember them well.
I've thought this show was due for a revival! Good for Cheyenne!
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