And if no one is likely to approach the melancholy comic genius of Barbara Harris, the original star, Ms. She doesnвЂ™t disappoint here, either, especially in the big numbers. She was a big part of the reason the Irish Rep production of вЂњFinianвЂ™s Rainbow,вЂќ another Golden Age oddity, albeit one with an obvious Irish connection, was so delightful. If everything is flat-out, that doesnвЂ™t mean itвЂ™s unpleasurable. It has about as much layering as a school pageant about American presidents. Nor does the Irish RepвЂ™s version, staged and adapted by Charlotte Moore, make a bid for a charitable deep read.

ItвЂ™s truly about what it says itвЂ™s about. вЂњOn a Clear DayвЂќ doesnвЂ™t want your helpful interpretation. Alas, DaisyвЂ™s the one who falls in love with him. Compared to Daisy, Melinda is confident, unconventional and uninhibited naturally, Dr. Bruckner discovers her previous incarnation as Melinda, the highborn daughter of an antislavery crusader in Georgian England. It is while fishing around in her subconscious that Dr. She anticipates phone calls, intuits the location of missing objects and makes flowers burst from their pots вЂњas if the cops were after them.вЂќ Bruckner isnвЂ™t really interested in her smoking anyway heвЂ™s interested in her ESP and telekinetic powers. Which might make more sense if we ever learned what Daisy does.Д«ut Dr. She goes to see the hypnotherapist Mark Bruckner (Stephen Bogardus) not because her smoking threatens WarrenвЂ™s advancement at work (as in the original) but because it threatens her own. (The cast has been reduced to 11 from 47 and the orchestra to five from 31.) Songs, subplots and characters have been dumped, including DaisyвЂ™s boyfriend, Warren - presumably to enhance DaisyвЂ™s agency in the story. The Irish Rep production, led by Melissa Errico in the dual role of wacky Daisy Gamble and grand Melinda Wells, gives it a good go, on a very small scale. It was he who, obsessed with the New Age fads flitting around the era, devised a story - about a love triangle among a psychiatrist, his patient and her former incarnation - that became, over the years, BroadwayвЂ™s pity project: the Golden Age book most in need of rescuing. (In the musical, вЂњHurry, ItвЂ™s Lovely Up HereвЂќ is sung to a flowerpot.)ДЇor the strange ideas, Lerner has to take the blame. Songs like вЂњ Hurry, ItвЂ™s Lovely Up Here,вЂќ вЂњ What Did I Have That I DonвЂ™t Have?вЂќ and вЂњ Come Back to MeвЂќ are so catchy and well constructed that, stripped of context, youвЂ™d have no idea they were originally attached to such strange ideas. But few shows have as bewildering a topic as вЂњOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever,вЂќ the 1965 jaw-dropper about ESP, telekinesis and past-life regression thatвЂ™s a weird mix of laughably earnest woo-woo and chipper Broadway savvy.ДЇor the savvy, we have the score to thank: a treasure trunk of standards with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Bizarre subjects are no deal breaker for musicals think human meat pies and philosophical felines.

Song on a clear day