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

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 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."

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?

“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."

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

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

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. 😂

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!