Paint Your Wagon is one of those shows that, despite the fine craft of its lyricist and composer, proved difficult to revive thanks to a less than compelling book. A morality play set in gold-rush California, grizzly Ben Rumson and his daughter Jennifer strike gold and found Rumson Town attracting a horde of roughnecks. Jennifer falls for Mexican Julio Valvera so is packed off east for schooling, but not before Dad purchases a Mormon’s spare wife. Jennifer returns but the gold has run out so she and Julio settle down to farm the ravaged land. 

The show opened in 1951 but ran for a disappointing 289 performances, doing better in the 1953 West End run with 477. I Talk To The Trees and They Call The Wind Maria became popular hits. Years later Hollywood took a sledgehammer to the book, dropped several fine songs with replacements penned by André Previn and let loose Josh Logan who, despite his Broadway origins, had a knack for spoiling fine shows on celluloid. The result was an overwrought mess at a somnolent 158 minutes with Lee Marvin’s Ben Rumson a drunken buffoon mugging for the camera and growling out Wand’rin Star. 

A radical ‘revisal’ opened this year in Seattle with the original dabbling in race relations ramped up to the max for 21st-century audiences’ multiculti sensibilities. Thankfully the wonderful folks at New York City Center Encores trusted the original material enough to mount an authentic production in 2015 using the recently rediscovered handwritten orchestrations. 

Keith Carradine is the perfect choice to restore dignity and humanity to Ben Rumson, his easy-going vocal persona recalling his Will Rogers portrayal two decades on. Alexandra Socha is a knockout as Jennifer; an ideal Broadway voice with natural inflexions and impeccable diction – a performer to keep your eye on. She makes a highlight of the trifle How Can I Wait – funny, sassy yet sincere. Justin Guarini’s Julio is an alluring Latin lover without overdoing the accent; I Talk To The Trees suddenly makes sense when heard in context with a bolero rhythm, while Another Autumn is revealed as a haunting, evocative mood piece. 

The original orchestrations sound surprisingly modern with motor rhythms suggesting the miners’ frantic search for wealth and prosperity. Music Director Rob Berman whips up a toe-tapping storm with a superb chorus and a crack band. The dance music is so energised one can really visualise Agnes de Mille’s leaping miners and strutting whores. A mandatory acquisition for Broadway aficionados, although I wished the production had been filmed.