FUNNY GIRL
- By KEN WERTHER
For the uninitiated (or more likely, those that are too young to know) Funny Girl is a musical comedy about the life and career of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice. The action takes place shortly before and after World War I in various theatres, onstage and backstage, on New York’s lower East Side, in Baltimore, and on Long Island. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, book by Isobel Lennart, directed by Garson Kanin, and starring a then little know Barbra Streisand, the original Broadway production opened on March 26, 1964 at the Winter Garden Theatre, subsequently moving to the Majestic Theatre and finally the Broadway Theatre for a total run of 1,348 performances. The show was nominated for eight Tony Awards but didn’t win any (not even for Streisand — Carol Channing won for Hello, Dolly! that year). The Funny Girl company also featured Sydney Chaplin, Kay Medford, Jean Stapleton, and Lainie Kazan, who stood by for Streisand. Beginning on December 27, 1965, Mimi Hines took over the role of Fanny for the remainder of the run. Streisand reprised the role in the London production in 1966.
The first ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl opened 55 years later(!) on April 24, 2022, starring Beanie Feldstein as Fanny and featuring Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes, and Jane Lynch (followed by Lea Michele and Tovah Feldshuh). With a revised book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein, the show was directed by Michael Mayer (Thoroughly Modern Millie, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Beautiful Noise–The Neil Diamond Musical) and choreographed by Ellenore Scott.
Now, the First National Tour of this first ever Broadway revival arrives at the Ahmanson Theatre on April 2 for a four-week run through April 28. Starring newcomer Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny and Grammy Award-winner Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice, the cast also features Stephen Mark Lukas, Izaiah Montaque Harris, Walter Coppage, Leah Platt, Cindy Chang, Eileen T’Kaye, David Foley Jr., Vinny Andaloro, Lamont Brown, Kate E. Cook, Julia Grondin, Jackson Grove, Alex Hartman, Dot Kelly, Ryan Lambert, Kathy Liu, Meghan Manning, Bryan Charles Moore, Sami Murphy, Emily Anne Nester, Hannah Shankman, Jordon Taylor, Rodney Thompson, Sean Thompson, and Annaliese Wilbur. The tour has received rave reviews: “Sparkling and explosively entertaining!” — “Vivacious and delightfully glitzy!” — “Funny Girl is the exact musical that we need right now.” Don’t miss it!
For tickets and more details, click here.
