FUNNY GIRL on Broadway - Reviews & News Thread- Page 17

[Bwaygurl2]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 9:57pm

Henry Street actually sounds fun in this clip. It's always the song I skip on the OBC. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 10:42pm

Meg is the second person shown in the sitzprobe video!

Also, Ramin and Amber’s reactions for “Hey Mr. Arnstein, here I am” are just perfect. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 11:04pm

Owen22 said: "joevitus said: "I hope Beanie won't be analogous to Daly because Daly couldn't sing the score."

Tyne sang the role just fine. I have seen every "well-sung" and "well-acted" Rose since and including Tyne and have enjoyed them all (I'm sorry not many in America ever got to see Caroline O'Connor's Rose in Leicester, England, possibly the best since Tyne) but just because she doesn't have Patti or Bernadette's voice, doesn't mean she didn't have a great instrument herself. And whatever she lacked in voice compared to the other's, she made up for in perfection in acting.

Now, you may have only heard her cast album which is remarkably abysmal, because she was very sick the week she was required to sing it (or saw her the show in the week's preceding).

Sorry, I know this is a Funny Girl forum, but I felt the need to defend my Tyne."

You are 100% correct. My experience is of the cast album. Thank you for clarifying the situation with that recording. Happy to be wrong on this topic.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 11:08pm

joevitus said: "You are 100% correct. My experience is of the cast album. Thank you for clarifying the situation with that recording. Happy to be wrong on this topic."

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 11:17pm

 

[joevitus]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 11:18pm

Auggie27 said: ""The Music That Makes Me Dance" is the Jule Styne take on "My Man." It's a song with the same 11 o'clock sentiments expressed. Adding "My Man" to this iteration would have the same impact as Streisand singing "Music That Makes Me Dance" in the film. Both songs land at the same moment, Styne having the tough assignment of creating a pastiche-esque musical comedy version of the Brice standard. The show won't hold both numbers.

Reminded of Merman's interpolated "World Take Me Back" in Dolly. When you listen to it, you hear all of Dolly's revived life sentiments in "Before the Parade Passes By." The show had to fold in a duplicate Dolly epiphany in order to give Merman a chance to sing a (great) Herman song, pre-production written for her. She basically came downstage and just sang it midway through act one. The song has never returned in other iterations because of its redundancy; it was written before "Parade" of course. Therein lies the issue with shoehorning both "My Man" and "His Music" into Funny Girl,"

Am I understanding you correctly that they couldn't obtain the rights to "My Man" for the Broadway production of Funny Girl, or are you saying Styne (or the producers) preferred a new song "in-the-style of" to an interpolation? 

 

[JaglinSays]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:04am

The most charitable thing one can say is that she sounds like an earnest undergraduate in a third-tier performing arts program.

No musicality, obvious and cheesy choices and an entirely unmemorable instrument.

 

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 5:24am

“Am I understanding you correctly that they couldn't obtain the rights to "My Man" for the Broadway production of Funny Girl, or are you saying Styne (or the producers) preferred a new song "in-the-style of" to an interpolation?”

Did some researching and “The Music That Makes Me Dance” was replaced by the new song “Funny Girl” for the 1968 film.  The song “My Man” was the replacement of the “Don’t Rain on My Parade” (Reprise) that ended the stage version.

Composer Jule Styne did not want “My Man” in the Broadway score, but he was overruled when the 1968 movie was made. In a candid interview with Focus on Film, he explained his disappointment, feeling that the song "destroyed Fanny's character." He felt it made Fanny "self-pitying and timid, which was all wrong." Styne said, "when they say 'On stage' she says, 'Nobody's gonna rain on my parade' and even has the line 'I'll cry a little later,' so she becomes strong."

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 7:03am

Except, and not a contradiction:

Both "My Man" and "The Music that Makes Me Dance" are diegetic pieces, in the story representation of Fanny's performances in the Follies for a live audience, not the character of Fanny voicing feelings in song to other characters. In purpose, like "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" and "Rat-tat-tat." So the two songs must function the same way in the show. The titular "Funny Girl," Oscar bait composed for the movie, isn't diegetic; it's reflective and ruminative, even if it covers some of the emotions in "Music That Makes Me Dance."  The stage show has one final performance, "Music," and then the Fanny-Nick failed reunion. The film splices together Fanny's last (for the movie story) Follies performance and the resolve in the "Don't Rain on My Parade" reprieve. Styne's quibble about "My Man"'s lyric may be true, but as everyone here knows, Streisand's tour-de-force rendition in the film covers its own arc, beginning tearful and tentative, but by the end, defiant, the performer Fanny vowing to continue on via a performance song. The resolve in the "Parade" reprise gets covered thus.

Styne may prefer the "Parade" reprise, but for film Fanny singing in her dressing room wouldn't have the punch that "My Man" has on the Ziegfeld stage. In any event, that reprise is back, and follows "Music," still in the "My Man" position, so Styne ultimately wins, the movie in no way shaping the stage show's revival.  "My Man" was never headed into a revival, safe to say, any more than "Second Hand Rose." 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 9:22am

Received their newsletter with a few links of recent press coverage before tomorrow’s first preview. Here are the articles in case no one has read or seen them. I’m sure they’re in the thread somewhere but we’ve slept since then. lol. 

https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/march-cut-cover-beanie-feldstein.html

https://people.com/theater/exclusive-first-look-at-beanie-feldstein-jane-lynch-in-rehearsals-for-broadway-funny-girl/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/theater/funny-girl-beanie-feldstein.html

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 9:31am

I’ll be obsessively refreshing tonight, hoping for dress rehearsal reports.   

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 9:45am

this just feels...uneventful.

This should have a ton of buzz and it just is seeming less exciting as the days go by

Beanie is not a lead, she was delightful as a supporting character in Hello Dolly but to carry a show like this...I think there is a potential bust here but I'm hoping for the best

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 10:02am

All the mean comments about Feldstein and my comment about Lea Michelle gets deleted? 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 11:21am

Jordan Catalano said: "I’ll be obsessively refreshing tonight, hoping for dress rehearsal reports. "

I’m curious if anyone here will be in attendance and/or would be willing to share. For me the refreshing will be tomorrow night. 😂 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 11:56am

I’ll be sure to report on tomorrow night!

[joevitus]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:01pm

JSquared2 said: "Skip23 said: "I always think it's funny that no one ever seems to cast a Fanny who is remotely like the real Fanny. The real Fanny was aggressively Jewish (yes, there IS such a quality) in performance, not a beauty (in fact, kind of a meeskite), waaaay over the top and still loveable and a bit sexy.

Maybe Mimi Hines came close. Or Marilyn Michaels."

It's not a documentary."

While actors doin't have to mimic the stars they are portraying (and Fanny Brice's actual performance still and even what she looked like is largely unknown now, so few will make a comparison) I think Skip's idea is inspired. Brice actually had a very limited voice, and her performance style was very broad. She was a mug comic. This might be the best work-around in trying to playing the role while not doing Streisand but not seeming like you are only making your choices out of a desire to not do Streisand.

 

Somewhere else, I read someone say, essentially "You can only sing 'I'm the Greatest Star' if you can prove you are; otherwise, it comes across as hubris." I think this is generally true, but someone really playing the song the way Fanny would have, being very silly and playfully grandiose and goofy, might be just the way to approach the number in a fresh way and take the emphasis off of "Does she have a vocal instrument like Streisand's" Because, of course, no one does.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:13pm

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "this just feels...uneventful.

This should have a ton of buzz and it just is seeming less exciting as the days go by

Beanie is not a lead, she was delightful as a supporting character in Hello Dolly but to carry a show like this...I think there is a potential bust here but I'm hoping for the best"

For a show with no buzz, it sure is selling awfully well!

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:33pm

I think with the Company revival we have learned that people want strong vocals. We are now accustomed to Wicked, Phantom, Moulin Rouge style vocals. That’s what audiences want. I get she might be a strong actress - and she’s been great in stuff I’ve seen her in - but a powerhouse she is not. But maybe we will be surprised? I was excited to see Lenk perform… but it wasn’t for me. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:36pm

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "this just feels...uneventful.

This should have a ton of buzz and it just is seeming less exciting as the days go by

Dunno where you are but I have friends in 3 different shows on Broadway right now and they are a-buzzing about FUNNY GIRL right now.  Regardless of their thoughts, the Broadway community is very present with the show.  I know many flying in to see the show during previews so interest in the show isn’t just with Broadway folks.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 1:53pm

There are plenty of shows without buzz: Girl/North, Paradise Square, Mr. Saturday Night, Skin of Our Teeth and the majority of other Broadway plays this season. Comparatively speaking, Funny Girl's buzz is HIGH. That doesn't mean it's a guaranteed hit, but it's not a bad place to start.

[Papi2013]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 2:50pm

Oh this definitely has buzz ( good and bad).  And just by looking at availability thru the interactive seating chart.. it is selling very well.  

[JasonC3]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 2:54pm

SouthernCakes said: "I think with the Company revival we have learned that people want strong vocals. We are now accustomed to Wicked, Phantom, Moulin Rouge style vocals. That’s what audiences want. I get she might be a strong actress - and she’s been great in stuff I’ve seen her in - but a powerhouse she is not. But maybe we will be surprised? I was excited to see Lenk perform… but it wasn’t for me."

I think we learned that some people on this board have preferences for certain types of vocals.  I'm not sure how widespread that feeling is among the people who have been packing it at Company for months now.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 3:25pm

JasonC3 said: "SouthernCakes said: "I think with the Company revival we have learned that people want strong vocals. We are now accustomed to Wicked, Phantom, Moulin Rouge style vocals. That’s what audiences want. I get she might be a strong actress - and she’s been great in stuff I’ve seen her in - but a powerhouse she is not. But maybe we will be surprised? I was excited to see Lenk perform… but it wasn’t for me."

I think we learned that some people on this board have preferences for certain types of vocals. I'm not sure how widespread that feeling is among the people who have been packing it at Company for months now."

Also, Lenk has been studying with Joan Ladar, Patti’s esteemed vocal coach. Her vocals have significantly improved since opening night, as many have mentioned on here. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 4:20pm

JasonC3 said: "SouthernCakes said: "I think with the Company revival we have learned that people want strong vocals. We are now accustomed to Wicked, Phantom, Moulin Rouge style vocals. That’s what audiences want. I get she might be a strong actress - and she’s been great in stuff I’ve seen her in - but a powerhouse she is not. But maybe we will be surprised? I was excited to see Lenk perform… but it wasn’t for me."

I think we learned that some people on this board have preferences for certain types of vocals. I'm not sure how widespread that feeling is among the people who have been packing it at Company for months now."

Because it’s a fantastic show and production! Duh!

[OldTheatreLover]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 5:32pm

joevitus said: "JSquared2 said: "Skip23 said: "While actors doin't have to mimic the stars they are portraying (and Fanny Brice's actual performance still and even what she looked like is largely unknown now, so few will make a comparison)"

Very few if anyone alive has seen Fanny Brice’s actual performances (other than some old movies) and would have no association to a contemporary actress such as Beanie playing Fanny. However, the association that EVERYONE has today with Fanny Brice is with Streisand playing Fanny, hence my belief why there has not been a Broadway revival. The Streisand association factor is just too huge.