You have to mine for them, but Lerner and Lowe’s Gold Rush musical — now lovingly revived at Encores! — is rife with shiny nuggets.
Even with Keith Carradine leading the charge, it’s easy to see why “Paint Your Wagon” hasn’t had a major New York production since it opened in 1951.
Written after “Brigadoon,” but before “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot,” the show has gorgeous songs (“I Talk to the Trees,” “They Call the Wind Maria,” “Wand’rin’ Star”) but a disjointed book and an anticlimactic Act 2. The 1969 movie — starring those legendary singers, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood — hardly made a case for bringing it back.
But Encores! did, beautifully. Directed by Marc Bruni (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”), this production has a judiciously edited book by Marc Acito and a large onstage orchestra that, under the expert hands of Rob Berman, burnishes the gold that is Lerner and Lowe’s score.
Set in 1853, the show concerns widowed prospector Ben Rumson (Carradine) and his 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer (Alexandra Socha), whose blossoming presence is a distraction in their all-male mining town. Even so, Ben resists sending her off to school back East, saying she’s still a child.
“I’m feeling more adulterous all the time!” she protests, in one of the show’s weaker gags.
The arrival of a Mormon (William Youmans) with two wives sends the men into a tizzy. They demand that he auction one of them off, with Ben snaring the reluctant Elizabeth (Jenni Barber). Jennifer, meanwhile, falls for a lonely Mexican prospector, Julio (Justin Guarini).
The silly story line is definitely secondary to the terrific score, wonderfully sung by the ensemble. Carradine, shaggy and bearded, uses his nasally tenor to excellent effect, while the tomboyish Socha (late of “Fun Home”) delivers a rambunctious number, “What’s Goin’ On Here?” Also fine are the strapping Nathaniel Hackmann, who does a stirring “Maria,” and former “American Idol” contestant Guarini, who has a wonderful duet with Socha in “I Talk to the Trees.”
Choreographer Denis Jones does a terrific job with the elaborate dance numbers. Granted, he’s following in the footsteps of the legendary Agnes de Mille, but he gives us a rousing cancan performed by the troupe of comely women who arrive in town after the men strike gold.
All told, though, this version’s still too faithful to the un-PC original to find its way back to Broadway. But Jon Marans (“Old Wicked Songs”) is currently rewriting the book for Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. Perhaps then, “Paint Your Wagon” will finally hit the mother lode.