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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>Mercury Theater finds gold at the end of
‘Finian’s Rainbow’</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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style="COLOR: "></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>“Finian’s Rainbow,” currently being performed
by the Mercury Theatre Company, was well ahead of its time when it hit Broadway
in 1947.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN><FONT color=#252525>A morality play cleverly
</FONT>camouflaged as a merry musical, </SPAN><SPAN><FONT color=#252525>E.Y.
Harburg, Fred Saidy and Burton Lane’s opus offers commentary on racism and
capitalism through </FONT>whimsical lyrics, a deceptively conventional musical
theater score, and a standard romantic comedy storyline set in a utopian
locale.</SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"></SPAN></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>But the show’s satire hit awfully close to home
for the precarious 1940s.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>By the time the film version of “Finian’s
Rainbow” was released in 1968, the musical was hopelessly behind the times.
</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN
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color=#252525>For a nation divided by social, political and economic unrest,
steeped in </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#1d2129>racially-charged violence, and involved in a war overseas and a
drug war at home</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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color=#252525>, “Finian’s Rainbow’s” beguiling characters and melodic music were
as woefully out of step as its teachings about hope and acceptance.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>Today, newspaper headlines are all too similar
to those from the 1960s and our moral compass seems to be pointing back the
1940s.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And yet “Finian’s Rainbow” –
at least Mercury’s absolutely charming treatment of it under Pierre-Jacques
Brault’s direction – is a welcome reprieve from what ails us.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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color=#252525 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">For
more of this review, go to </SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I><I
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