If Funny Girl Came Back To Broadway...? — Page 3

Leslie Kritzer is the only talent today who would be able to completely erase all memories of Barbra Streisand (which is the reason we haven't seen a revival.)

If the show ever comes back, she is the star who deserves to headline it.

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Updated On: 3/25/09 at 12:27 PM

Jenn Furman...she IS this character!!! Check her out on youtube!

Updated On: 3/26/09 at 01:29 PM

I've never been able to get over Lillias White's rendition of "Don't Rain On My Parade" on YouTube. She's 1,004% wrong for the part, but I'd buy a ticket. :)

sauja i agree with you. Her rendition of that song was phenominal.

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Is it viable to even consider a revival of FUNNY GIRL? I wasn't even born when the show was on Broadway but from what I've researched on the show the success of the piece really hinged on the actress playing Fanny. Barbra Streisand was more than up to the challenge and of course succeeded and a worthy replacement was found in Mimi Hines who with her real life husband kept it running after Streisand left.

The book of the show I've read was the big problem. I remember reading that FUNNY GIRL was first conceived as a film but then turned into a stage show. Isobel Lennart then had to reconstruct her already existing screenplay into a cohesive stage book. The show was blessed with a rising star and an astounding score which more than made up for the show's shortcomings.

It wasn't until the 1968 film version that Lennart crafted and redid her original screenplay as she had originally intended and even then after the initial excitement, bounce and energy of the film's first act the second act is a little bit of a let down, it's slow in spots but Streisand's tour-de-force finale more than makes up for it.

For many who have seen both the film is a vast improvement over the original show.

I wonder if Nicole Parker could do it? I haven't seen her in Wicked, but she's has the comedic timing needed.

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I'd love to see Leighann Larkin in the role, although I do feel Kritzer would most likely be the best choice.

In what I have seen of Stephanie J. Block, she looks and sounds great- but she just seems like she is working too hard.

The actress should OWN this role and seem to play it effortlessly. It shouldn't seem like a challenge.

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Leigh Ann Larkin is too beautiful.
I just saw the film last night. I hadn't seen it in years since I was a teenager really, and I had forgotten what a beautiful film it is and simply how tight the whole film is (though I was surprised by how few book songs there are, especially in "Act II"). Streisand is SO divine in this movie, you can't see her acting, she's just inhabiting Fanny. Pretty brilliant.
I definitely see Leslie Kritzer stealing the show with this one in ways that Shoshana "can't act" Bean, Stephanie J. Block, or some of the other people mentioned here just couldn't. Now what's sad is that I think Ana Gasteyer would have been wonderful, but I imagine she's just too old for the part now.

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Updated On: 5/19/09 at 01:38 PM

People, Fanny Brice cannot just be played by a dynamite singer.

The character is described as "a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls." A very unique, ethnic 'look' is almost as requisite for the role as an immense comedic presence and knock out voice.

People like Betsy Wolfe, Sutton Foster, and Leigh Ann Larkin all personify the term "shiksa." They couldn't pass for a Jewish girl struggling to make it because of her unconventional appearance in a million years.

Shoshana Bean can't act, nor does her voice have the appropriate richness required of the score (this is one show she couldn't riff her way through.)

I know people suggest her every time because of her experience with the show regionally, but Stephanie J. Block isn't anywhere near funny enough to pull a major Broadway revival off (there is a reason she never plays comedic roles; even in 9 TO 5 she's playing the "straight" character.)

I stand by my assertion that Leslie Kritzer is not only the best choice for a revival but the only choice. She has the voice, the look, the unique comedic sensibility, and the star quality to make the show soar in a way no one else can.

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Updated On: 3/28/09 at 01:58 PM

I thoroughly second Marla Mindelle, I was lucky enough to see her in a few high school shows, and she has always been super talented and hilarious to boot.

They banked on a (relative) unknown with Streisand, I'm sure it could work again.

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Shoshana Bean. And we bring it up-to-date.

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Well! There you have it. All settled then.

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