For over 100 years now Harlem has been associated with rafter raising musical performances. From the Cotton Club speakeasies of the Prohibition era to the unprecedented explosion of literature, music and painting that was Harlem in the jazz age, it has always been one of the most artistically vital neighborhoods in Manhattan. And it still is. Throughout August and September you can catch a new stable of rising stars, deftly assembled by Harlem Repertory Theatre director Keith Lee Grant in his wildly entertaining new production of "Finian's Rainbow." The musical's plot is famously convoluted. When mad-eyed Finian McLonergan bails out of Ireland with his only daughter Sharon and a stolen pot of leprechaun gold stowed away in his bag, we know that drama and retribution are sure to follow. Sure enough they arrive in the shape of Og, a particularly lecherous, loose-limbed Irish leprechaun dressed in bright green figure hugging spandex (as played by the prodigiously gifted actor/dancer Greer Samuels). But that's not all. Complicating matters even further is the wonderfully named good old boy, southern Senator Billboard Rawkins (played by John Wiethorn, clearly relishing the part), who makes no effort to conceal his racism or his attempts to enrich himself by buying up the land that the local community depends upon. Unfortunately for him he reveals his risible opinions to Finian's young daughter Sharon, who accidentally turns the old bigot into a black man when she curses him near a pot of magic gold. If you can swallow all that and this musical knows that you can then settle down for two hours and 20 minutes of the kind of thrilling Broadway score that genuinely underlines America's greatness as a nation. On stage the jig steps and lullaby's of Ireland merge so seamlessly with the tap dancing and jazz solos of Harlem that you'll think they have always existed together. Indeed the whole score is like a whirlwind tour of the musical styles that makes the idea of a melting pot a vivid reality. For director Keith Lee Grant, working on the show has been a labor of love. He first fell under its spell when he saw it as a boy, but he never dreamed he would one day direct it on the stage. "I was in a production of it in high school, where it first got my attention. Walking in other people shoes has always fascinated me," says Lee Grant. "I don't know of another musical where a white guy turns black, and that challenge really interested me. Also, the politics of the musical interested me - they're very suited to this neighborhood. In Harlem there are very wealthy people and a lot who are not. I felt it spoke to the community." Lee Grant trained as an actor at the Yale School of Drama, and so he brings considerable experience and artistic flair to the new production. Throughout the production the cavernous theater at City College is used to its full capacity. "When you're working on a musical of this size, with a company of 30 actors, it can be hard to get it moving in the right direction at first. That's why it's important to pick the right actors. I have that core of performers who arrive on time and know what they're doing," he says. As with too many American theater companies these days, the Harlem Repertory Theatre works without pay. Nonetheless they still give their free time to large-scale shows, demonstrating the depth of their commitment to company and their craft. "Our ticket prices are one dollar and up. We have a seven-piece band that are paid by the show," says Lee Grant. "We have a sound guy who has to be paid. It's expensive to do and the box office doesn't pay for it. We do have a grant from Dubois-Hayward Foundation and we're certainly seeking other funding to offset the costs." Faced with those stark financial realities, the Harlem Repertory Theatre's achievements shine all the brighter. "It's daunting but I have to say it's encouraging too. This is a theater, first and foremost for the Harlem community. I mean no one used to come up here from downtown to see a show. But that's changing now. Now we're getting more and more interest from all over the city, and from foundations who can help us to grow. "I don't think this musical has ever had a black director before. But it speaks to me deeply. I have walked in these black shoes and I don't know the different side I've never been white - but my approach to acting has always been to try to find those characters within you somehow. I try to get to that other person. So to have a character who finds himself becoming another person fascinates me as an actor and a political person." One casting choice made by Grant Lee gives extra dimension to an already thematically interesting drama. The character of Woody Mahoney, the romantic lead usually played by a white actor is in this production played by Jean-Pierre Barthelemy (an immensely accomplished actor, singer and dancer) who is African American. "Jean-Pierre plays that role, his sister is played by a young Latina actress, and his love interest is played by a white actress," says Lee Grant. "The two Irish characters in this show are so interesting to me because they have made me think about the historical relationship between the Irish and African Americans. The Irish when they came over first found themselves marginalized by this society too. We lived together in the Lower East Side initially. "The cross-pollination that happened between the two communities also happens in this musical. In 'Finian's Rainbow' the Irish family live with the African American sharecroppers, they dance and sing with them (and in this production, they marry them too)." Against this backdrop the moral of the show seems as timely today as the day it was written. "Finian's Rainbow" is all about what happens to you when you say no to life and then keep saying it because sooner or later life is going to say it right back to you. As Senator Billboard Rawkins discovers during the course of this gloriously escapist musical, the same rule applies to bigotry. Decide that you don't like black people guess who you will find yourself living next door to? It's an immutable law of the universe, thank God. And after all, this is the theater, where anything can happen. Thunder rumbles, a wish is made, and the white bigot wakes up one morning to find he has turned black. On Broadway, if nowhere else, justice still holds sway. Because the show has proved so popular, the company is extending the musical's run through September. It's rare to witness a group of actors work together this well - and visitors to the Harlem Repertory Theatre's new show will find their efforts richly rewarded. There's real gold at the end of this rainbow. For tickets call 917-608-3586 or visit harlemrepertorytheatre.org.