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By today's standards, "Finian's Rainbow" is crudely constructed. There's a lot happening that doesn't make much sense. Motivation is lacking and there's that sticky issue of racism.

On the other hand, it has a very big heart with some gorgeous songs and if you think of this 62-year-old show as a musical theater artifact, impeccably reproduced, then you just might find yourself having a grand time indeed.

That lovely score by Burton Lane and Yip Harburg is beautifully served by a superb cast of Broadway veterans. Each of them delivering little gems in this dated work, and that much talent can make anything sing.

The show's book by Harburg and Fred Saidy tells the fanciful story of father and daughter Finian and Sharon McLonergan from Glocca Mora, Ireland who arrive in the American town of Rainbow Valley, Missitucky.

Finian, it turns out, has stolen a pot of gold from a leprechaun and plans to bury it there on the belief that the gold will turn them all into millionaires. Some local bigots led by a nasty senator want to buy up the land. But property owner Woody Mahoney refuses to sell his tobacco farm and he's joined by the happily integrated sharecroppers in fighting off the racists.

There's obligatory romance, the leprechaun returns with tricks up his sleeve and the mean old senator is turned into a black man.

It's awfully hokey, but the work has a social consciousness masked in humor that makes it utterly delightful. And there are enough surprises along the way to cast a spell on even the most cynical in the audience.

Terri White and Chuck Cooper bring the house down with the show's most rousing numbers. The triple threat Christopher Fitzgerald is an ideal, wonderfully human leprechaun. Jim Norton, known for far more serious dramatic fare, is a total charmer, and Broadway hunk Cheyenne Jackson, perhaps a tad too contemporary in the part, is still a joy to hear and watch.

Yet the true gold in this show is Kate Baldwin who delivers on all fronts. An engaging actress with a bent for comedy and a glorious set of pipes, she is divine.

Let's hear it for the decision to splurge on the orchestra - 24 musicians strong led by musical supervisor Rob Berman. This is not an easy show to pull off, but director Warren Carlyle and company get the colors just right in this splendid "Rainbow".