Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast! — Page 2

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#26

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 1:49pm

"Brian d'Arcy James, Marc Kudisch and Aaron Lazar are my top three choices for Nick Arnstein, in that order."

Of those three, Lazar is the only one that strikes me as appropriate.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#27

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 4:19pm

Debra Monk for Mama Brice

Adam Pascal as Nick Arnstein.

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

Updated On: 8/4/11 at 04:19 PM

#28

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 5:03pm

Raul Esparza for Nick.
Faith Prince for Rosie Brice.

#29

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 5:37pm

Seconding Aaron Lazar for Nick.
What about Victoria Clark for Rosie? I imagine she's contracted to be in Sister Act through at least 2011, but still.

#30

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 8:32pm

I thought Lazar was sort of bland in NIGHT MUSIC, I'd like someone with more presence given that the role (as it has been discussed already) is already not that interesting. I love Danieley's voice, I like the Marc Kudisch suggestion as well. Steven Pasquale would be fantastic and he has missed out on working with Sher twice.
I honestly can't imagine Laura Benanti actually auditioning for this or having been seriously considered, but I might be incredibly wrong on this. What particularly convinces me is that she has a show on NBC coming out in the Fall and can't imagine she would have made any kind of commitment to start rehearsals in NY in November. Again, I have no inside knowledge so it would be neat if someone could confirm the extent of Benanti's participation in the audition/casting process.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#31

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 9:23pm

Marc Kudisch did play another Sydney Chaplin role (Jeff Moss) in Bells Are Ringing, so I can see it possibly working with him.

What about Brent Barrett? I can see him doing well in the role.

#32

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 9:58am

Brent is a doll, but he's nearing 55.

But if Rosie takes Eddie's advice to "find herself a man..." she couldn't do better!

#33

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:09am

Madbrian, just out of curiosity, what about BDJ doesn't strike you as appropriate for Nicky? He was the first name that came into my head, with his deep sexy voice and swarthy looks. He actually reminds me a lot of a young Omar Shariff.

Agreed that Lazar can be somewhat vanilla on stage. I think of the actors named in this thread, BDJ and Pasquale would be my top two choices.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

#34

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:16am

I'm not quite sure...I get that you can check off all the right boxes, but for me, he just doesn't come across as the ikind of guy that's going to sweep someone off her feet. Perhaps it's too much emphasis on the movie, but I think of Streisand's reaction when she opens the door and sees Shariff, and I just don't think BDJ evokes that same reaction. I like him, however, and would love to be proved wrong.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#35

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:25am

Another of my favorite dashing men of the moment is Corey Stoll (Intimate Apparel, wonderful as Hemingway in Midnight in Paris).

Anybody know if he sings?

#36

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:28am

Not sure if Stoll can sing, but he doesn't come off as the dashing leading man type--at least not to me. It didn't read very convincingly when he was cast as Margaret Colin's sexy young lover in Old Acquaintance.

#37

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:34am

I've never seen him on stage but he was certainly swoon-material in Midnight in Paris.

#38

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:35am

Maybe Eric Kunze as Nick?

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#39

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:37am

The Importance of Being Corey's Ernest.

Meet Me at the Cafe Lipp!

#40

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:42am

He looks much better there then he did in OLD ACQUAINTANCE or as Marco in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. I forgot how sexy he was as Hemingway!

Is he still on the LAW AND ORDER reboot? Was that show cancelled?

#41

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:45am

In addition, in his usual baldness, he has a surprising "ethnic" allure (not to suggest that Nick should be bald).

#42

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:53am

Oh, heck, just cast Ryan Reynolds, the bimbo of the moment in the movies, as Nick. Maybe it'll sell tickets. (Yeah, he don't look like no "Arnstein" but there's always make-up.)

Oh, and I am not serious about this suggestion.

Updated On: 8/5/11 at 10:53 AM

#43

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 10:59am

How about Zachary Levi?

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#44

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 12:09pm

Levi is younger than Ambrose, and too young for Nick. Arnstein has little singing to do, so I'd cast Liev Schreiber, and teach him to seng well enough to fake it.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#45

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 1:00pm

Zachary Levi is actually the perfect age. The real Nick Arnstein was 32 in 1911, when Funny Girl starts. Zachary Levi is 31. And while Lauren Ambrose is 33, she reads much younger on stage, and needs to play around 18-19 for the earliest scenes of Funny Girl anyway. There was about 10 years difference between the real Fanny Brice and Nick Arnstein. If Zachary Levi could play his own age and Lauren can play younger (which she has to do anyway), there's really not an issue. He's also 6'4", so being a tall handsome presence helps. And he started in musical theatre, so he already sings and dances.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#46

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 1:13pm

Arnstein's actual age when they met is irrelevant. The story varies so far from reality that it doesn't matter. What does matter is that he is seen as an older man. If I think of Ambrose and Levi, I don't think of him as an older man. Sure, his stature and presence could help, but I'm not sure it's the best approach for the role.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#47

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 1:27pm

Not sure that I agree. Whoever plays Nick Arnstein needs to be elegant, charming, sophisticated, cut a dashing figure in evening clothes. I don't think he needs to be pushing 40, necessarily, to be viable.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#48

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 1:38pm

I think I'd buy in to your case if we were talking about a younger actress as Fanny, or if we didn't know who was cast as Fanny yet. So, if you made this suggestion in the 'Perfect Casting' thread, I wouldn't quibble.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#49

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 1:49pm

The challenge is more up to her - she's the one who has to play younger than her actual age. It doesn't matter to me that technically, she would be older than her Nicky Arnstein. Can she play 18? Could he play 30-35? I think yes in both cases and don't really care about their literal ages. Also - just thinking about Sher's South Pacific, he did cast a younger than usual Emile, and that worked just fine.

Anyway, I'm not that invested in who plays the role. He just strikes me as a good idea.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

#50

Let's Round Off Funny Girl Cast!

Posted: 8/5/11 at 2:51pm

Liev is a very interesting idea. Arguably bizarre and overcast but very, very, very interesting. I can envision a definite chemical reaction between Lauren and him. And if anyone could find some much needed dimension to the role, he could! With the help of some judicious rewriting of course.

And the man looks fabulous in a tux!

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