This new cast recording of
FINIAN’S RAINBOW it’s the third rendition of the score that becomes part of my
CD library. Did I need another one? Probably not, but when a score is as
delightful as this one, there’s always time to listen to new interpretations of
these old songs.
This is probably the more
complete version of the score, including lots of dance music, which I believe
was previously unrecorded (“Dance of the Golden Crock” for example) and a
winning cast.
I confess I’m not crazy about
Kate Baldwin’s Sharon (I prefer Melissa Errico in the Irish Repertory Theatre
recording), who delivers her songs with gusto. I think her voice is sometimes
too strident for my taste, I prefer when she sings with a lower voice. At her
side, Cheyenne Jackson sounds perfect as Woody (he beautifully sings “Old Devil
Moon”) and Christopher Fitzgerald has a good time as Og. It’s him who sings my
all time favorite song of the score, “When I’m Not Near the Girl I
Love”.
But there’s more, Terri White
strongly leads the company with “Necessity” and Chuck Cooper with the help of
Bernard Dotson, James Stovall and Devin Richards, gives us an exciting “The
Begat”.
Of the three recordings of this
classic Burton Lane and Yip Harburg’s score, this is my favorite one and
there’s always time to know “How Are Things in Glocca Morra” and to have “That
Great ‘Come-and-Get-It’ Day”.
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