An elderly Irishman, Finian McLonergan, moves to the southern United States with his daughter Sharon, to bury a stolen pot of gold near Fort Knox, in the mistaken belief that it will make him prosperous, as he imagines that the gold which he thinks has been buried at Fort Knox has made America prosperous.
The play opens in Rainbow Valley, Missitucky (a fictitious blend of Mississippi and Kentucky), near Fort Knox, home of a mixture of Black and White tobacco sharecroppers.
The sheriff begins the auction, but the sharecroppers refuse to listen and drag him and Collins off to meet Woody ("This Time of Year").
He concludes it is the soil in and around Fort Knox that makes the US rich, and reveals that he has a crock of gold stolen from a leprechaun, which he intends to bury.
Og enlists the local children to help find his gold, promising to get them anything from a magical catalogue ("Something Sort of Grandish [Reprise]").
Senator Rawkins arrives informing Finian and the sharecroppers that, by living with black people, they are breaking the law and must leave.
Woody brings news to Rainbow Valley that there is gold on their land, and the Shears-Robust shipping company has offered them all a free charge account.
In his new persona, Rawkins falls in with a group of black gospel singers looking for a fourth man ("The Begat"); by chance, they are all going to sing at Woody and Sharon's wedding.
It was directed by Bretaigne Windust, choreographed by Michael Kidd, with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Don Walker.
The cast included Ella Logan as Sharon, Donald Richards as Woody, Albert Sharpe as Finian, with the Lyn Murray Singers.
In 1960, Herbert Ross directed and choreographed a cast that included Jeannie Carson, Bobby Howes, Howard Morris, Sorrell Booke, and Robert Guillaume.
However, in 2004 the Irish Repertory Theatre staged a well-received off-Broadway production starring Melissa Errico, Jonathan Freeman, and Malcolm Gets.
The era's McCarthyism caused financing to be withdrawn due to Hubley and Harburg's refusal to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Examples of the art and designs were published in the March/April 1993 issue of Print to illustrate an article by animation historian John Canemaker about the backstory of the project.
[3] A 1968 film version with Fred Astaire, Tommy Steele, Petula Clark and Don Francks was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it starred Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin as Finian and Sharon, with Cheyenne Jackson as Woody, Grammy nominated Blues artist Guy Davis as the blind harmonica-playing share cropper, and Jeremy Bobb as Og, the leprechaun.
"[9] The producers closed the show on January 17, 2010, stating that the "economic realities of Broadway today" did not allow them to play for as long as they had hoped.
[11][12] Garth Drabinsky offered to try to rescue the revival and secure Canadian tour commitments, but the producers rejected his proposal.
[14] This production was directed by Phil Willmott and musically directed by Richard Baker, with choreography by Thomas Michael Voss, and starred James Horne as Finian, Christina Bennington as Sharon, Joseph Peters as Woody, Raymond Walsh as Og and Anne Odeke as Sister Anne and Rawkin's maid.
[15] A fully staged revival, adapted and directed by Charlotte Moore, ran at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City from October 26, 2016, until January 29, 2017.
[16] The cast included Ken Jennings as Finian, Melissa Errico as Sharon, Ryan Silverman as Woody, Mark Evans as Og, Lyrica Woodruff as Susan and Dewey Caddell as Senator Rawkins.
[19] A recording of the original cast of the 1960 Broadway production, starring Jeannie Carson, Howard Morris, Biff McGuire, Carol Brice, Sorrell Booke and Bobby Howes was released on RCA Victor LSO-1057.
In 1968 bandleader Stan Kenton released Finian's Rainbow featuring big band interpretations of tunes from the show.