Posted: 3/29/22 at 1:54pm
The gossip back then was that he couldn't handle the dancing demands of the role and the "injury" was more to safe face for the newly awarded Tony winner.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:03pm
Chris Kattan was replaced in previews by Roger Bart in The Frogs
Carolyn Mignini was replaced by Josie de Guzman in previews of the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls
Roger Rees was replaced by Steve Barton in previews of The Red Shoes
Daniel Davis was replaced by Robert Goulet in the 2004 revival of La Cage (although the production was running for a few months when he was replaced)
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:06pm
At Monday night’s performance, Beanie was often under pitch on many notes, multiple times within a song. She landed and sustained the last note strongly in People and Don’t Rain On My Parade, but for me that doesn’t make up for the rest of her vocals. There are moments where she is both nasal and under pitch/flat throughout the show. Having heard Beanie perform in the past, she can get away with some songs that might not require strong vocals… but this show exposes more weaknesses than strengths. I expect she will grow within the role with her acting, but wouldn’t expect a huge difference with her vocals
The production currently comes across overall as amateurish. In my opinion, Jared Grimes is the “biggest star” with his tapping.
I was certainly rooting for the success of this show.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:14pm
Bummer. Maybe Michael Mayer is just wrong for this show.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:23pm
So it sounds like I won't have to scurry around to save my pennies to pre-order the OBC.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:37pm
Why is changing the key causing such a drama/debate? Obviously it's allowed by copy right so if a person is perfect for the role and the melody stays the same, why not? Lowering might not give a song that belt at the end but how many of the general audience is going to know/notice anyway?
Posted: 3/29/22 at 2:44pm
if a person is perfect for the role....
That doesn't apply here though.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 3:13pm
SweetLips22 said: "Why is changing the key causing such a drama/debate? Obviously it's allowed by copy right so if a person is perfect for the role and the melody stays the same, why not? Lowering might not give a song that belt at the end but how many of the general audience is going to know/notice anyway?"
I’d imagine the issue is she doesn’t have much a chest voice. We’re not talking about an accomplished and skilled vocalist like Marin Mazzie where lowering the keys in N2N made sense for her voice and score.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 3:16pm
SweetLips22 said: "Why is changing the key causing such a drama/debate? Obviously it's allowed by copy right so if a person is perfect for the role and the melody stays the same, why not? Lowering might not give a song that belt at the end but how many of the general audience is going to know/notice anyway?"
It's mostly that we live in 2022 where generations have grown up with American Idol and Glee and Wicked and have strong vocals, comedy chops, and can dance. So why would we lower the key when we can just find someone better.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 3:39pm
Thanks for offering up your opinion, Brody. It was the closest to a Whizzer piece I can remember, on this board, in a long time.
I put a lot more credence in the opinions of people who've actually seen the show.
I can only imagine what social media would've done to what are now classic shows had it been around decades ago. Of course we're able to research shows from the Golden Age (or thereabouts) and read about changes that were made between the first preview and opening night, but other than word-of-mouth, the general public wasn't weighing in to the world within an hour of the very first curtain call, the Sitzprobe or even the announcement of a future production.
In all honesty, I'm as guilty as others of blowing out my opinion before I should have. I've reeled it in a bit as I've been proven horribly wrong in a few instances where it's turned out that the emperor had definitely changed into some new clothes.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:01pm
QueenAlice said: "A question -- purely academic, not suggesting or advocating or even insinuating this could happen -- has there ever been a case of a major above the title star being replaced in previews prior to opening of a major Broadway musical or revival?"
Jeffrey Tambor in La Cage. If memory serves, her was replaced by Chris Seiber after one performance. Of course this was an already running revival, but he was an above-the-title-star and there was a lot of publicity around his casting.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:07pm
I'm fairly sure that the keys for Beanie were determined some time ago. I think it's not so much a question of keys as a question of range. Sheridan Smith, who has succeeded in "Funny Girl," "Legally Blonde," "Little Shop," "Joseph," and playing star singer Cilla Black on TV, is not a powerhouse vocalist. But she has a wider range than Beanie and has no trouble hitting all the notes necessary in her musicals, even if her singing may not thrill. Beanie's range is smaller, so she's forced to shift to a sort of soprano/head voice for a few lines in "People" and "Music" that are out of her range.
Of course I hope I'm wrong about the above and that some key switching might very well solve the problem.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:11pm
I am just a theater fan. I love musicals. I travel across the country to NYC to see as many as I can at least once a year when there isn't a pandemic. I have had a trip planned for more than a year and added Funny Girl to my list of shows. We saw it last night. I really wanted to love it. I wanted to love Beanie. I'm sad to write a review saying I was disappointed.
What I liked: Ramin Karimloo (would love to have heard him sing with his equal in singing skill), Jane Lynch, and Jared Grimes. Most of the costumes (I absolutely loved Jane Lynch's long, navy blue gown in Act II and Ramin's rumpled, ill-fitting suit at the end of Act II). The ghosts ... just loved that. The orchestra sounded so wonderful. I loved that Fanny was a dumpy, frumpy girl (I so wanted her to blow us away with her talent .. isn't that the whole point of the show? ... it didn't work ... which made the whole thing not work).
What I didn't: Beanie's singing (she could hit the big notes at the end but most of the rest was weak and it was hard to listen to). Beanie's costumes weren't the best for her figure (and as a not-so-skinny person this wasn't just because of her figure ... there are ways to best work with her shape ... seems like they were trying to emulate costumes Barbara wore and not what would work best and I'm talking about the wardrobe after she became successful and not before). The set seemed cheap and sometimes the mirrors around the opening of the stage were distracting from the mezzanine. I didn't feel any connection between Beanie and Ramin (this may take time), The Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat scene ... I couldn't hear the words Beanie was singing at all (not sure if it was the accent she was trying to use or the mustache or her microphone) so that song fell flat.
We are coming into town again in May to see Into The Woods and we have tickets to see Funny Girl again. If reviews improve, we will see it again.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:34pm
SouthernCakes said: "they’ve had weeks of rehearsal and I’m sure beanie has been working on the songs for months now… so this is just what we are gonna get…"
Yes, apparently this is just what we are gonna get.
When my husband and I first knew that "Funny Girl" was being revived, we decided that Pandemic or not, we would make our way from the West Coast to see it. But as we learned more about the the casting of Fanny, we changed our minds. I don't believe this version of "Funny Girl" pays proper homage to the memory of the great Fanny Brice, and that makes me both a little sad and a little angry.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:44pm
cliffordbradshaw2 said: "I'm fairly sure that the keys for Beanie were determined some time ago. I think it's not so much a question of keys as a question of range. Sheridan Smith, who has succeeded in "Funny Girl," "Legally Blonde," "Joseph," and playing star singer Cilla Black on TV, is not a powerhouse vocalist. But she has a wider range than Beanie and has no trouble hitting all the notes necessary in her musicals, even if her singing may not thrill. Beanie's range is smaller, so she's forced to shift to a sort of soprano/head voice for a few lines in "People" and "Music" that are out of her range.
Of course I hope I'm wrong about the above and that some key switching might very well solve the problem."
The vocal arrangement for Smith is different than even the OBC and many songs were lowered just a bit to keep them in a comfortable place in her voice. Smith's vocal arrangements avoid almost any "big" open-throated moment that Streisand and the OG team came up with for the original production.
Regardless, things will change as needed (see: Wicked. They played around with Elphaba's stuff a lot out-of-town.), but these arraignments are what they want to go with.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:46pm
I'm just baffled. Many months of vocal lessons from (I'm assuming) the best teachers in the business, and her placement is still so off. 
Posted: 3/29/22 at 4:50pm
I saw last night’s performance and had a great evening. Loved Ramin!!! I found Beanie quite funny which, I think, is essential to the role.
I had never seen the movie nor any production of Funny Girl before so I didn’t have any expectations. I did notice most of the songs I recognized were in act 1.
Was this the same production at the west end a few years ago? Michael Mayer directed that one too.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:02pm
You can go back to the Joan Diener Aldonza, comparing the Broadway recording with the London. She renegotiated “It’s All the Same” to change which end of her voice she used in places. But as others here note, both iterations are successful vocals. She was a trained singer making choices. It’s a different conversation than one addressing range, technique, or singing ability.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:02pm
Double post.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:03pm
Wick3 said: "I saw last night’s performance and had a great evening. Loved Ramin!!! I found Beanie quite funny which, I think, is essential to the role.
I had never seen the movie nor any production of Funny Girl before so I didn’t have any expectations. I did notice most of the songs I recognized were in act 1.
Was this the same production at the west end a few years ago? Michael Mayer directed that one too."
Same director and Harvey Fierstein revising the book but this Broadway version was a full scale lavish production so the set design, costumes, choreography and the whole scope was different from that barebones London revival.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:23pm
NYCBTL said: "Saw the preview last night. My thoughts:
1. Beanie is cute and has a lovely little voice, but the part is way too big for her. This part needs acting and singing chops. She is just not right for the part. I needed someone in that part that would just blow you away.
2. I didn’t get the connection between Fanny and Nicky. Did not feel any love between them. You just didn’t convince me that Nicky would fall for her. This is a major problem.
3. I thought Jane Lynch was very vaudevillian in her moves. Again, no connection either physically or emotionally between her and Beanie. Everyone else seemed to like her, but I thought she was miscast.
4. The Beautiful Refection number felt too rushed.
5. What was up with the brick castle look and the useless stairs on the side of the stages? Also, from the balcony, the mirrors surrounding the stage were disconcerting.
6. Ramin looked and sang the part beautifully, but the number where he dances was so out of character and did not fit the show. The choreography was stilted.
7. Not impressed with the choreography-many times it was very jerky. Tap was great.
8. Costumes were great. Missed all the different brides thought in Beautiful Reflection though.
9. All in all, a great deal of hype about a just so so show. Hope they can work through the problems, but I don’t see how. I hoped for so much more."
Thanks for this review. I saw Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, when I was 17 years old, at the Winter Garden in 1964.
I have a few questions:
Did Beanie have any charisma in the role of Fanny?
Was there any chemistry between Beanie and Ramin?
Last, what are the tech requirements to upload a profile pic here?
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:31pm
Would be interested to hear from someone who saw both this production and the earlier Menier Chocolate Factory/Savoy Theater runs who could tell us what changes were made. I saw the Savoy iteration through a streaming service and it was a bit flat, it was evident that the leading lady was being saddled with Streisand's custom made Jule Styne marathon. The original survived because it was tailored to Streisand's performance and voice. i was hoping this go round they wouldn't be so genteel with the original script and give us something new, something parred down and tailored to it's new owner. From early reports it sounds like they weren't given a long leash.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:33pm
I saw it last night as well, coming in fairly blind (knew songs, don’t think I’ve seen the whole thing). People around me seemed to be more enamored of it than I was, it was an enjoyable night at the theater but I was hoping to be blown away and wasn’t. Comedy both worked and fell flat at times, seemingly no rhyme or reason.
Unrelated: someone brought their Jack Russell Terrier. Saw it rolling around the lobby and hope it fell asleep…
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:37pm
Yes, Beanie has tons of charisma which is why her comic choices work. Without the audience on your side, that is impossible to achieve. I personally found chemistry between them as I’ve seen many relationships fit this type of matching. Beanie plays the older Fanny more assertive so it matches Ramin. We first see this assertive/sophisticated switch with Fanny when she appears for the “You Are Woman” sequence. Even the way she carries herself we see she’s matured and she’s established herself in her own career. Still the same Fanny from earlier, just with a more elegant and sophisticated way with herself, which she holds over for the rest of the show.
Posted: 3/29/22 at 5:47pm
Reading Harvey Fierstein's memoir I couldn't help but wonder what he might have done with this as the director. I know he revised the book, but reading about his early work at La MaMa and his background in visual arts makes me wonder what he'd be able to pull off as a director.
To quote Arthur Laurents, this show seems to be "in his bones" so perhaps he would have staged a winning production.
