FUNNY GIRL on Broadway - Reviews & News Thread — Page 46

CBS Sunday Morning will be profiling Beanie tomorrow: Sunday April 10, and footage from the revival is included. It’ll be up on YouTube shortly after it airs so no need to watch it as someone will post it here.

This is a REALLY great feature (regardless of your feelings on Feldstein). https://youtu.be/meZJvLYivXA

I saw it, Feldstein is an underrated star! I do not care what others think, I thought her performance was absolutely fantastic!

The best parts of the CBS Sunday Morning piece feature the history of Brice, which really capture her persona and even showcase her singing. Feldstein's thoughtful comments on her trailblazing really are apt, and give Brice the credit she's often denied in the shadow of the '68 film's reputation. Was surprised the segment included so much Streisand, including vocals; perhaps inevitable, they invite the very comparisons so many are suggesting are unfair -- and sidestepped in the production's comedy focus (If I had been publicist, I would've insisted on video of "Rat Tat Tat" or "His Love Makes Me Beautiful," which posters agree are the best showcases of Feldstein.) And then Ted Chapin, discussing the show's problems. An odd element, since though he's a musical theater historian, his negative remarks don't sell the show.

But the show is selling quite nicely, and this probably helps.

Updated On: 4/10/22 at 10:54 AM

Inextricable works just as well, if not better.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Dylan Smith4 - thank you for sharing your review but you lost me at: GLEE, calling Eddie Ryan a musical director (he’s a hoofer-turned-choreographer), and most jarring: Barbara Streisand (it’s BARBRA, not Barbara). And no, Beanie may get a Tony Award nomination (those awards politics), but has zero shot in taking it home. I loved the revival enormously, but one does need to keep realistic things in perspective. A close friend of mine is an Oscar nominated actress. Do I think she’s one of the best actresses around? Hell no. I don’t even see everything she does. Is she talented? Beyond talented. But come on. One needs to keep reality in perspective here."

I got lost amongst all the exclamation points.

Several friends also wondered why the show’s publicist didn’t insist on CBS using footage of “Rat Tat Tat Tat,” a number ripe for introduction via a new Fanny. Unknown to the film fans. Posters assure it’s Feldstein’s finest moment, and could have brought in Ayodele Casel, the brilliant tap specialist profiled in today’s Times, and Jared Grimes. The segment ends with speculation about Streisand’s attendance, as a friend noted, maybe the wrong question to pose in distancing the new iteration from its still tethered star.

Updated On: 4/10/22 at 03:17 PM

QueenAlice said: “”or is the issue that she doesn't project the mature gravitas to successfully play the second half of the story - which is the doomed romance between Fanny and Nick. In that cast, it likely wouldn't matter who played Nick."

That’s correct. I felt nothing for Fanny in act two. I didn’t feel any genuine emotion from Beanie until the finale.

joevitus said: "ljay889 said: "“There are two types of people in the theater, explains Arthur Laurents, who wrote the librettos for “Gypsy” and “West Side Story” and has directed Broadway revivals of both: those who have the musical “in their bones” and those who do not. In his short, acerbic memoir, those with the right bone structure are generally referred to by chummy diminutives — Steve (Sondheim), Angie (Lansbury), Lenny (Bernstein) — and those without repeatedly by their full names, chiefly Mr. Sam Mendes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/books/review/Brockes-t.html


I was using that term to express that Beanie is not a natural at interpreting music and lyrics. Jane is, Ramin is. Beanie doesn’t have that skill, and it’s sorely missing in the ballads. She sounds like a High Schooler during the Spring vocal recital."

Well this is hardly a "nuanced view, as someone called it. And Laurents is probably always the wrong person to emulate in terms of critical vocabulary (amazing book writer; fairly awful person/critic)."

I didn’t ask for your assessment of my *opinion.* Go see this revival for yourself and add your own “nuanced” opinion.

Updated On: 4/10/22 at 08:59 PM

ljay889 said: "joevitus said: "ljay889 said: "“There are two types of people in the theater, explains Arthur Laurents, who wrote the librettos for “Gypsy” and “West Side Story” and has directed Broadway revivals of both: those who have the musical “in their bones” and those who do not. In his short, acerbic memoir, those with the right bone structure are generally referred to by chummy diminutives — Steve (Sondheim), Angie (Lansbury), Lenny (Bernstein) — and those without repeatedly by their full names, chiefly Mr. Sam Mendes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/books/review/Brockes-t.html


I was using that term to express that Beanie is not a natural at interpreting music and lyrics. Jane is, Ramin is. Beanie doesn’t have that skill, and it’s sorely missing in the ballads. She sounds like a High Schooler during the Spring vocal recital."

Well this is hardly a "nuanced view, as someone called it. And Laurents is probably always the wrong person to emulate in terms of critical vocabulary (amazing book writer; fairly awful person/critic)."

I didn’t askfor your assessment of my *opinion.* Go see this revival for yourself and add your own “nuanced” opinion."

Right back at ya, hon. I posted my reaction to your opinion. I didn't ask for your assessment, either.

JasonC3 said: "Really trying to wrap my head around what this casting would have been like."

This would have been THE event that season as Bernhard was riding high in 1990, but though she does sing, its not in the polished Streisand style so she’d be getting slammed for her vocal interpretation of the score. Bernhard uses her head voice primarily. Those book scenes would today be part of Broadway folklore had this Weisslers produced revival ever happened.

Sandra Bernhard, circa 1990