I seem to remember a Los Angeles production, what? 15 or 20 years back with Pia Zadora that got really positive notices.
I was a dancin' boy in a Summer Stock Funny Girl eons ago - what a mess of a script, despite many sublime songs, great dance music and one of the best overtures ever. In today's market it would cost a fortune to mount a full scale Broadway revival. The numbers of cast members - you need Ziegfeld girls and dancing boys and Henry Street denizens. You need, roughly, three complete decades of costume designs, including street clothes and on-stage Ziegfeld costumes. Plus, some of the original material was well done-away with for the film - Private Schwartz from Rockaway? Ugh.
I'm thinking that, as a stage property, it is comperable to The Boy From Oz - others will play the role, but as time goes on, the legend will grow and it may just become impossible to even make the attempt.
"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett