FUNNY GIRL Revival

#1

FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:04am

If it ever happened (which it won't,) who would you want to see cast?

Leslie Kritzer or Nicole Parker as Fanny Brice
Peter Gallagher as Nick Arnstein
George Hearn as Florenz Ziegfeld
Beth Leavel as Mrs. Brice
Jackie Hoffman as Mrs. Strakosh
Brian d'Arcy James or Michael Berresse as Eddie Ryan

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Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

#2

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:38am

I think an even more exciting discussion is possible Fanny Brices. I am going to make an off-the-wall list.

Possibilities:
(IMHO!)
Leslie Kritzer
Leigh Ann Larkin
Beyonce Knowles
Nicole Parker
Natalie Cortez
Kerry Butler
Celia Keenan Bolger (I'd like to see what she would do. I think she'd be a surprise.)
Lisa Brescia
Anika Larsen
Eden Espinosa

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Updated On: 11/25/07 at 12:38 AM

#3

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:47am

Stephanie J Block might want it, something just gives me the feeling she does.

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"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards

#4

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:48am

Block is getting a little long in tooth to go for the role, but yes, she is DEFINITELY a possibility. I mistakingly left her off my list.

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#5

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:50am

I think Peter Gallagher would read as WAY too much older than Leslie Kritzer on stage. He is more than 20 years older than her!

Still, love the idea of Leslie as Fanny Brice. Perhaps Marc Kudisch would be an interesting Nick? He might be able to make the role more human than past Nick Arnsteins. And I definitely think he could tone his 'goofy' side down and characterize the role suitably, but uniquely.

I do think that Celia Keenan- Bolger is an interesting choice too! She'd be a completely different Fanny than we're used to as well.

I'd love to see Chad Kimball as the Ziegfeld Tenor, and Jeffrey Schecter as Snub Taylor.

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[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

#6

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:55am

Just sayin' :)

#7

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:56am

Hasn't Block been saying that she really wants to do a revival for a few years now? I could really see her in the role. Also, I don't know if she reads a little old for it, but Julia Murney.

#8

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:59am

Popular that was fantastic.

Thanks for the link.

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"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards

#9

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:13am

The Leigh Ann Larkin idea sounds interesting.
Apart from that all the other actresses mentioned are either too dull or too old for the role.
Leslie Kritzer seems like the ideal show. I wish I could listen to her sing the score.
I wish Debra Messing had been tackled to play the role when she was younger, she'd have made a fabulous Fanny Brice...though I'm not sure she could have sang the score.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#10

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:16am

are we really beating this old horse?
OK I'll contribute, after seeing Block do a few numbers at her Cabarets, she is the first choice in my book.
The thing about Kritzner, and I love her (she beter get a TONY nom for A CATTERED AFFAIR, she was so moving in San Diego) and admire her huge talent, she is more of a second Banana.
I don't see her carrying this show as well as Block.
Now, Kritzner in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is a different story.

#11

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:19am

I kind of agree, ray. Although, I do think Celia may be wonderful. I started to just say women who I knew could sing it. However, Anika Larsen has the personality and the voice.

Yes, Debra Messing would have been brilliant.

Oh, AMY ADAMS!

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#12

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:24am

Americanboy, ethnicity is a big part of the show. The woman playing Fanny Brice has got to have a strong Jewish identity, IMO. There are explicit references to Brice's Jewishness in the show, so that's why I don't think someone like Lisa Brescia, Natalie Cortez, or Beyonce Knowles would work. To me that's the equivalent of casting Barbra Streisand in THE LAST 5 YEARS, for example.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#13

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:30am

Yeah, that's probably right. Although, I am not totally against a black Brice. There are black Jewish people.

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#14

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:40am

It won't? You sure about that?

I'd like to see an unknown as Fanny. It's just so fitting to have an unknown play that part.

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"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

#15

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:47am

Yeah, the "star to be" feel is great, but what producer wants to risk their show on an unknown? The woman playing Fanny carries the show and has to do so with strength.

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#16

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:57am

IdinaBellFoster - You're welcome!

Ray - While I agree with you that there are certain mannerisms and characteristics that are synonymous with Fanny and how people expect Fanny to be played I don't think an actress needs to necessarily have a strong Jewish identity to pull those off. It's ultimately a HUMAN story that any good actress can find herself in. If the material and the acting/direction is good the audience will buy it... I think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is a fine example of that. Lainie Kazan and Andrea Martin played very convincing Greeks and you didn't need to be Greek to relate to them, did you?

Updated On: 11/25/07 at 01:57 AM

#17

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 3:03am

Ruthie Henshall

#18

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 10:28am

People like Stephanie Block and Julia Murney, as great as they could potentially be, would never work in a revival now.

Fanny has to be nineteen at the beginning of the show, and I wouldn't say more than ten years passes by the show's end. People like Kritzer and Keenan-Bolger are in the more appropriate age range for the role (Streisand was 22 when the show opened on Broadway.)

InfiniteTheaterFrenzy, I don't think Gallagher and Kritzer would read wrong on stage. When the characters first meet, Fanny's a young chorus girl and Nick is already an established business man. A significant age difference is certainly implied.

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Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

#19

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 10:50am

Henshall would have been remarkable, but she is definitely too old to do it now.

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#20

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 11:52am

People, people, people...

Can we please stop being OVERLY PC with the African Americans playing Fanny Brice?? It's one thing when fictional characters go from white to black (Sheila in "A Chorus Line," or that ridiculous "Honeymooners" film) but, Fanny was a real human. A real, white, woman. It would be stupid to have Anika Noni Rose, or any other African American actor, no matter how gifted, play that role.

Again, I'll still never read about an all white "Raisin in the Sun" on this board, but, I'll read about a black "Funny Girl." Same goes for Queen Latifah in "Gypsy." No, no, no! It doesn't make anyone a racist to cast white woman to play women who were white in real life!

-Vincent

#21

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:48pm

If this had happened 5 or so years ago, I would have really liked to see Idina Menzel or Sutton Foster as Fanny. I also like the idea of Stephanie J. Block, because she said she wanted to do it so much! I think Stephanie is certainly talented enough.

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"I'm thinking about how if you took the W in answer, and the H in ghost, and the extra A in aardvark, and the T in listen, you could keep saying WHAT but no one would ever hear you because the whole word would be silent." Please support BC/EFA at goodsearch.com! Search for anything, and your charity will get a cent!

Updated On: 11/25/07 at 12:48 PM

#22

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 12:56pm

JustaBroadwaybaby2, Sutton Foster is too much of a shiksa to ever convincingly play Fanny Brice in a full fledged production of the show, while Idina Menzel proved in the Actor's Fund benefit concert that she lacks the subtlety (both in her voice and her mannerisms) to pull off the role.

At 35, I doubt you can find a theater big enough for Stephanie Block to convincingly play a ninteen year old.

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Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

#23

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:15pm

"When the characters first meet, Fanny's a young chorus girl and Nick is already an established business man. A significant age difference is certainly implied."

I completely agree. Of course, that's in the script. But I believe he should be around 10 years older than her, NOT around 20 years older. He's been around, he's more experienced in some ways, 10 years older was a normal gap for the time... But 20 years? A never- been- married, 20- years- older bachelor who is finally willing to marry a teenager has a completely different subtext.

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[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

#24

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:30pm

I think that (don't kill me) Ashley Brown would be a great Fanny and has the voice, the look, and can dance. I vote Ashley!

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"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop

#25

re: FUNNY GIRL Revival

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:34pm

There is only one choice for the role: Kritzer.