Funny Girl’s planned Broadway revivals have been derailed twice recently – once with Lauren Ambrose in the lead role when supporters withdrew, worried about its profitability and a series of expensive classical music repairs that failed to perform; again when Ryan Murphy halted early talks to produce the show with Lea Michelle after she unofficially auditioned for him on Glee. Fanny Bryce’s 1964 biomusical has finally returned almost 60 years after its first premiere, with the cheerful and attractive Beanie Feldstein at the helm. However, we can not escape the indelible imprint of the original star Barbra Streisand.
With a melody but uneven score by Jules Stein, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and an unsatisfactory book by Isobel Lennart, the show had a troubled story on the way to Broadway; luminaries such as Stephen Sondheim, David Merrick, Bob Foss and Jerome Robbins withdrew from the production at various points in its development. The latter eventually returned and took out a supervisory loan, prompting outraged director Garson Kanin to leave.
However, this bumpy road was forgotten when the show opened for triumphant reviews and three years, crowning a sensational new Broadway star in Streisand. Her undeniable ownership of the role was further strengthened four years later in William Wyler’s first-rate film version, which further adapted the show as a stellar vehicle by cutting out many of the weaker numbers and sewing into additional Streisand showtops. This legacy is a lot that must be endured for every artist.
Feldstein is emerging as an irresistible screen presence in films such as Booksmart and Lady Bird, and she was a delight in the supporting role of Mini Faye in the blockbuster of 2017, the revival of Broadway Hello, Dolly! with Beth Middler. But she has a beautiful, light singing voice in a part that often requires the strength of the big belt, and she reads girly, never selling the completely engulfing hunger that drove Fanny to the star in Ziegfeld’s nonsense from the early 1920s. Feldstein relies on the comedy with great charm, but she struggles to uncover Fanny’s gross vulnerability in later years as her marriage to sworn gambler Nick Arnstein (Ramin Karimlu) falls apart.
The shortcomings of the revival are by no means entirely on Feldstein’s shoulders. Neither director Michael Meyer nor screenwriting doctor Harvey Fierstein have solved the problems of the squeaky book, which can’t build Fanny’s longing for a romantic off-stage romance to match her professional success – and eventual resilience to show business survival. strong line. The show feels uneven and sporadic and needs a knockout that lifts the roof guide to paper over the cracks.
There is also the question of his sexual policy from time to time, with Nick’s bite caused by a series of failed endeavors as Fanny jumps from success to success, winning her husband over and nurturing his humiliation. Karimlu is a gifted performer with rich tenor vocals; he cuts an elegant figure, even if he is not a natural dancer. But too much of the decline of the central connection is marked by inappropriate songs that feel like unnecessary fillers. And after nearly three hours, this slow production needs no lining, even if it improves on the more skeletal staging that Meyer and Fierstein rehearsed in London, with Sheridan Smith roaring at the helm.
Production designer David Zinn and costume designer Susan Hilferty have fun with Siegfeld’s interludes, although Mayer borrows from another Follies – the far more enduring musical of Sondheim and James Goldman from 1971 – making ghosts of Fanny’s past lurk. different moments. But production numbers like “His Love Makes Me Beautiful,” a ridiculous American bridal contest from which Fanny makes a comic mockery, show the best of Feldstein.
Jane Lynch is as funny as Fanny’s mother, who sees everything in Brooklyn, the salon guard towering over Feldstein and a kibbutz with her gossiping friends from Henry Street Poker, Mrs. Strakosch (Tony DiBuono) and Mrs. Meeker ( Debra Cardona). There are some subtle messages about the positivity of the body in support of Mrs. Bryce for her daughter, when her friends insist that only ordinary beauties can come on stage in “If a Girl is Not Beautiful.” Feldstein is beautiful, but she plays the strange effect to a pleasant effect that works for the character and her physical comedy skills are undeniable.
Meyer and Fierstein make up for the weaknesses in the second act by changing “Who taught her everything she knows?” Nick. The song is performed by longtime choreographer and friend of Mrs. Bryce and Fanny, Eddie Ryan (Jared Grimes); the latter is one of the leading step dancers on the New York scene, but his energetic performances feel like extras with shoes, inorganic.
Basically, the hurdle with Funny Girl is that there are only two great songs, the popular ballad “People” – the lyrics of which make no sense; why “people who need people are the happiest people?” – and the exciting “Don’t Rain on My Parade”. Well, maybe three songs with “The Music That Makes Me Dance” when Streisand makes a heartbreaking confession of Fanny’s endless devotion to Nick. The film, which is remarkably well-behaved, added a title track to Fanny, a mystique given to Nick here; and ended on an emotional high note with Streisand pouring his soul into the standard of the 1920s, “My Man”, which is not used here.
Feldstein performed a lively, extremely enjoyable performance, and its freshness evoked screams of gratitude from what seemed like a large contingent of many vocal young fans on a recent press night. But it never makes the material rise, and it is an unstable vehicle that needs a supernova to put gas in its tank.
Venue: August Wilson Theater, New York Starring: Beanie Feldstein, Ramin Karimlu, Jared Grimes, Jane Lynch, Peter Francis James, Effie Ardema, Debra Cardona, Tony DiBuono, Martin Moran, Amber Colelin Bredolino, Dahl , John Michael Fumara, Leslie Donna Flesner, Afra Hines, Masumi Iwai, Alia James, Daniel Kelsey, Stephen Mark Lucas, Alicia Lundgren, John Manzari, Katie Mitchell, Justin Prescott, Mariah Reeves, Leslie Baker Wojciech: L. Book: Isobel Lennart, revised by Harvey Firstein Set Designer: David Zine Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams Sound Designer: Brian Ronan Music Director and Supervisor: Michael Rafter Orchestrations: Christer Scotter Scottions, Scotted Land, Scotted Land
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