Funny Girl? — Page 2

You really need a Jewish girl to play this role. A dynamic Fanny IS A MUST. I just listened to the CD last night. Without a great Fanny this show is doomed. IMHO that's why it has not been revived. I didn't know the Arnstein story - what a shame!!

Bobby -- did they incorporate changes from the movie? Listening to the tracks of Darcie Roberts in the TUTS production, its clear they added some things from the film.

And is it true that Gibson wasn't funny at all?

Mimi Hines replaced Streisand on Broadway in FUNNY GIRL and Barbara Cook did a national tour.

There was also took a few years back of a production of FUNNY GIRL starring Lisa Kurdrow

I think Randy Graff or Faith Prince, while on the older side, could manage.........although as has been said, originally attributed to Carol Burnett, according to Jerome Robbins, "the Jewishness of the actress playing in Funny Girl has to come from inside......

I would love to see the certainly Jewish Emmy Rossum star in a Funny Girl revival or an interesting choice would be Lauren Frost, the "young mini Streisand" in the concert tour a few years back. Or how about checking out Mayim Balek???

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What few people understand is that Fanny is damn near impossible to find:

Linda Eder cannot act, and is too old and pretty, just having the voice is not enough
Sutton is, again, too pretty, and wouldn't work here, and not sure her comedy is right on the mark.
Janine LaManna is something I'm curious about, but I'd want to hear her belt hardcore.
Julia murney would sing the s*** out of it, can act, and has the requisite look, but might not have the comic, youthful edge.

I dunno.


Doug

Luvliza beat me to it. Steph Block is the perfect choice for a revival.

I dont know about any professional mountings of the show, but there is a production of it opening on monday in West Palm Beach, Florida that will be as close to professional theatre as you can get. The girl playing Fanny Brice could easily do the role on broadway. And she is is still in high school. It might be worth checking out if you need a Funny Girl fix to get you by until a revival happens.

PJ?????? "No one's ever had the balls, and excuse me for being so crass, to play Fanny on Broadway since Streisand in the 60's."

Are you joking PJ? I assure you if a production group gets together to finance a production of FUNNY GIRL on Broadway, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of performers who would have the "b*lls" to play Fanny on Broadway.

Streisand was already a star on the rise when FUNNY GIRL opened. She already had been tony nominated for I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, had two best selling albums already and had begun making several memorable television appearances, even prior to her "early" television specials starring herself. She had also already become THE cabaret darling of New York's nightclubs. FUNNY GIRL certainly cemented Streisand as a legend and a star worthy of her own planet. But, she was hardly an unknown when FUNNY GIRL opened. Had she been an unknown, why would they have put her name OVER the title in the original production?

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I saw Funny Girl a couple years ago when Music Theatre of Wichita did it. Stephanie Block played Fanny and was ABSOLUTLY perfect for the part...she not only sang the crap out of the role but she acted it with such ease. Honestly it was one of the top performances i've ever seen! She HAAAAAAS to do the revival if it ever happens.

I know that she is way too old now, but I read an article in Theatre Arts magazine back in the 70's (the magazine doesn't exist anymore). Someone asked Jule Styne about a revival and he said that he would like to see Bette Midler do it. That would have been great, I think.

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okay *girls* retract the claws...i think the point has been made that streisand was not an unknown when she starred in "funny girl".
geez, reading thru this thread and all the responses that one comment got you'd think a crime was commited against humanity. are all streisand fans this. for lack of a better word, "defensive"?

KRistin Chenoweth as Fanny Brice

They had so many great people at the concert a couple years ago, Id like to see Idina do it but at the same time have a hard time seeing that, Sutton would be very good. Id also like to see Len Cariou play Zigfeld as he did in the concert (Im just that obbsessed with Sweeney Todd)

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Swifty, according to you Shoshana has interest in doing every show. Judging by the way she acts in WICKED there would be no way on God's green earth anyone would put her in a revival of show that size.

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