The production of the musical Finian’s Rainbow with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and music by Burton Lane. The original 1947 production ran for 725 performances performance. Francis Ford Coppola did a film version in 1968.

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 local sheriff and the front man for local senator demand the locals pay their taxes or else have their land auctioned off.

The sharecroppers want to wait for Woody Mahoney, their union leader. The Sheriff begins the auction, but the sharecroppers refuse to listen and drag him and Collins off to meet. As they leave, an elderly Irishman called Finian McLonergan arrives with his daughter Sharon. They have come looking for Rainbow Valley, but Sharon misses their home in Ireland.

Finian explains to Sharon that American millionaires convert their wealth into gold and bury it near Fort Knox. He concludes it is the soil in Fort Knox that makes the USA rich and reveals that he has a crock of gold stolen from a leprechaun named Og, which he intends to bury. Woody and the sharecroppers reenter, and when Woody doesn’t have enough money to pay the interest on the taxes, Finian pays the rest. Finian and Sharon are welcomed by the sharecroppers.

That night, Finian buries the gold and marks the spot, only to be met by Og. Without his gold, Og is slowly becoming mortal, and needs it back. Sharon and Woody come looking for Finian, but are soon distracted by the moonlight and each other. Woody sings “Old Devil Moon” to Sharon.