Lauren Ambrose will star as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL, in the first Broadway production of the musical since it originally opened in 1964. FUNNY GIRL, which features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart, will be directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher.
FUNNY GIRL will play at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from January 15 through February 26, 2012 prior to opening in spring 2012 on Broadway.
FUNNY GIRL is the road-to-stardom story of legendary entertainer Fanny Brice, from her start in a Brooklyn music hall to her meteoric rise as a headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies. While her career soars, she falls in love with charming gambler Nick Arnstein, just as his own lucky streak is running out. FUNNY GIRL is an irresistible backstage drama, a heartbreaking romance and a classic musical comedy filled with unforgettable songs by the team of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill including “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” and the iconic hit “People.”
The show rests and falls on Feldstein, who must posses as Brice both a grand confidence - 'I'm the greatest star' - and an insecurity ('You mean it?'). Brice is a beacon for all the misfits, a stand-in for the unconventional - 'a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls' - and Feldstein nails it. Plus, she can deliver a 'fakachta' with authenticity. Highlights include a hysterically seductive and hungry 'You Are Woman, I Am Man;' a crowded celebration of married life in 'Sadie, Sadie;' the touching duet 'Who Taught Her Everything She Knows'; and the showstopper-in-the-show 'Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat' with 12 dancers mimicking soldiers. Look for a moment when Karimloo shuffles playing cards theatrically and Lynch does the same not long after.
In bringing back Funny Girl, Beanie Feldstein and director Michael Mayer seem admirably determined to make us forget both Barbra Streisand and the 1968 film of her 1964 Broadway hit. (Streisand turns 80 today on opening night, as it happens, which may not be the surest way to put her out of mind.) Granted, Feldstein is a less than stellar singer. She's a careful singer, which is to say, a dutifully trained one who's straining not to flub, hoping we'll tolerate the lack of brio needed to sell the likes of 'People' and 'The Music That Makes Me Dance.' Well, Fanny Brice, the now-largely-forgotten subject of this musical bio, was no belter either. When she took on a ballad she got by with sincerity, and when Feldstein taps into the emotion of Jule Styne's melodies and Bob Merrill's lyrics, she does just fine.
1964 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1966 | West End |
London Production West End |
1986 | Off-Off-Broadway |
Equity Library Theatre Revival Off-Off-Broadway |
2001 | Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
Paper Mill Production Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
2002 | Broadway |
Actors' Fund Concert Broadway |
2012 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2015 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory West End Revival Production West End |
2016 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory West End Transfer West End |
2022 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
2023 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
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