The run closed October 2, 1948
- Opened
- January 10, 1947
- Closed
- October 2, 1948
- Performances
- 725
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Richard Rodgers Theatre
Of the 890 productions we hold that opened in the 1940s and record a performance count, this is the 27th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Other stagings of Finian’s Rainbow 2 more that season
| 1960 | 46th Street Theatre Revival · Herbert Ross | 12 perf. |
| 2009 | St James Theatre Revival · Warren Carlyle | 92 perf. |
Who was in it85 named
Lucas Aco
Arlene Anderson
Bette Anderson
Robert Billheimer
Eddie Bruce
Robert Eric Carlson
Ralph Waldo Cummings
Royal Dano
Harry Day
Charles Dayton
Nathaniel Dickerson
Jane Earle
Michael Ellis
Cyprionne Gabel
Alan Gilbert
William Greaves
Eleanore Gregory
Erona Harris
Theodore Hines
Ann Hutchinson
Mimi Kelly
Jerry Laws
Lyn Murray Singers
Eve Lynn
Norma Jane Marlowe
Dolores Martin
Tom Mcelhany
Vera Mcnichols
Ann Mitten
Roger Orhadieno
Elayne Richards
James Flash Riley
Louis Sharp
Maude Simmons
Roland Skinner
Augustus Smith Jr
Kathleen Stanford
Helen Stanton
Arthur Tell
Sonny Terry
Dorothy Tucker
Margaret Tynes
Edythe Udane
Gene Wilson
Diane Woods
Dorothy Claire
Charles J Davis
Mary Dawson
James Grimes
Regina Jouvin
Kitty Kallen
P J Kelly
Brayton Lewis
Ian Martin
William Mcdaniel
Peggy Murray
Jack Nagle
Betty Nichols
James O Neill
Albert Popwell
Morty Rappe
Thomas Reider
William Scully
Gene Tobin
Harry Townes
Parker Wilson
Nan Wynn
Louis Yetter
Joe Yule
16 of these 85 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 69 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- Bretaigne Windust
- Choreographer
- Michael Kidd
- Producer
- Lee Sabinson & William Katzell
- Orchestrations
- Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Around this production
- Windust, Bretaigne Finian’s Rainbow Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 387
- 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. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 157
- One leprechaun (in Finian’s Rainbow ) or one invisible rabbit (in Harvey ) were dandy, but too much fantasy made him nervous. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 9
- 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. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 668
- 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. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 241
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Finian’s Rainbow at all.
- No show page for Finian’s Rainbow. The work is here as a title and a year, and nothing more has been gathered about it.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.