Official! Lauren Ambrose to Star in FUNNY GIRL!- Page 2

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 1:59pm

Ambrose went in for the first time during the second round of callbacks about a month and a half ago.

She may have some classical vocal training, but she's also never done a musical. The odds of her being able to meet the demands of this score eight shows a week without major difficulty are slim to none.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:00pm

My eyebrow always raises a little bit whenever I hear 'trained opera singer' -- wasn't that how they described Emmy Rossum when she was cast in PHANTOM?

You honestly can't really begin studying opera seriously until you are in your late teens so you can't put much stock into releases that say Ambrose studied opera before she went into acting (which was when she was a child). I doubt Ambrose is going to be singing at the Met anytime soon - but I'm certainly glad to hear she has training of some kind. But being classically trained isn't necessarily going to give you all the tools you need to sing those Styne songs as they were written.


Updated On: 8/3/11 at 02:00 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:04pm

Ambrose did begin training in her teens, through BU's institute at Tanglewood. I believe she was a voice major in college, as well.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:05pm

Sheesh, such a bunch of negative nellies. You don't think that Sher and the producers are going to prep her for the demands? You don't think she's going to go into rehearsals and practice to hone her performance. I mean really, there not just gonna shove the girl on the stage point a spotlight in her direction and expect her to perform it perfectly right out of the box.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:09pm

I think if Ambrose were that accomplished of a classical vocalist, those would the clips we would be seeing on youtube.

But again, being a classical vocalist is sort of irrelevent as to whether she can sustain the vocals of a role that requires Ethel Merman. Wouldn't much matter.

EDIT - Carlos, I have no doubt she will be well rehearsed, but I don't think its being a negative nellie to suggest that this is a killer role to cut your musical theatre teeth on. There aren't many musical theatre divas who could sustain doing FUNNY GIRL nightly for a year, so to be skeptical of Ambrose's lack of musical theatre experience is pragmatic, but not to my ears dismissive. Hopefully she will indeed be another Angela Lansbury and shock with her dexterity in her first leading musical stage role. Updated On: 8/3/11 at 02:09 PM

[HistoryBoy2]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:11pm

I am excited for her. She will be completely different to Streisand, and for that alone I am grateful that she was cast. Cannot wait.

[Q]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:15pm

Michael Bennett - what interview with her and Sher are you talking about? I don't see one linked in the announcement.

edit - nevermind, I see it now Updated On: 8/3/11 at 02:15 PM

[Joey.]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:16pm

Who the hell is she playing, Fanny O'Malley?

I'm sorry, I realize the girl's a fine actress, but there's absolutely nothing "a bit off-balance" about her. And can she belt? That clip of her singing "My Man" is functional at best.

She's a slice of soda bread on a plate full of onion rolls. Not a bagel in sight.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:17pm

There's this:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Lauren-Ambrose-Bartlett-Sher-Talk-FUNNY-GIRL-Casting-20110803

And Bart Sher talks to the NY Times here:
https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/lauren-ambrose-will-be-fanny-brice-in-funny-girl/?ref=theater

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:19pm

I don't think the fact she's trained in opera means that she's a vocal powerhouse or that she's immediately ready to sing the score front to back. However, it does mean she's coming at this from a POV of someone who's familiar with learning about music, learning about technique, etc which I'm sure will make her sessions with her vocal coach easier and will help her connect with the material. Again, who cares if she can sing "Cornet Man" with the vocal strength of Streisand? (well, most people on this board do) What I want is someone who can ignite that stage on fire and who can make me believe I'm watching a real star, I firmly believe Ambrose can be that person.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:20pm

From reading the short interview with Sher, and from seeing her performance style in the clips with her band, I have a feeling that we should be ready for something weird.

It wouldn't surprise me if the keys, orchestrations, and execution of the score overall are completely changed in order to suit Ambrose.

[D2]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:21pm

If there had been message boards in late 1963, I wonder what all those theater queens would have been saying about the casting of Streisand after all the other names that the role had been offered to turned it down?

She had had one minor role in a Broadway flop, several club and T.V. appearances and that was about it.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:21pm

I agree that her take on My Man might not inspire confidence. I think this performance is a much better indicator of what we might expect:
Ambrose

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:26pm

For that matter, Mimi Hines didn't sing Fanny the way Streisand did, but acquitted herself well with the score and I enjoy her vocals very much.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:27pm

Exactly, Smaxie. If the score is modified to suit her, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's quite exciting, to be honest, seeing just how far out of the box this casting process went.


edit: MadBrian. she sounds much better in that clip. i do agree with all posters that suggest a matinee alternate. as cool as her voice is, it doesn't sound...durable.
Updated On: 8/3/11 at 02:27 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:30pm

As others have pointed out, the clips of Ambrose's concert are not necessarily reflective of anything she will be doing in Funny Girl. Entirely different styles.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:32pm

If you read the interview about how Ambrose got the role, well, it sounds like something Fanny Brice would do. Considering the actresses who were being considered, she was certainly a bagel on a plate full on onion rolls.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:32pm

That's not quite true D2, Streisand had done LOTS of television appearances and had started her recording career. Plus Styne was very vocal in interviews at the time that he'd written the score specifically for Streisand's unique gifts. There was enormous buzz about her in the year leading up to FUNNY GIRL. Nobody anywhere was doubting her vocal instrument.


for what its worth, I don't think the material Ambrose performs with her band is that different from a lot of the material in FUNNY GIRL. Updated On: 8/3/11 at 02:32 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:36pm

One of the most exciting casting choices on Broadway in years! I am, quite paradoxically, "glee"ful about it!

Sorry.

Now who should play Nick? And who should be Mama ("Mama Who?") Better start another thread on all that (but I imagine it won't be Eric Balfour - although that's not exactly a bad idea - and Frances Conroy).

* * *

"but there's absolutely nothing "a bit off-balance" about her."

Give her a chance! She's an actress!

Besides, would you really say Claire Fisher wasn't "a bit off-balance"?!?!

[D2]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:41pm

But she wasn't a huge name -- pretty much at the same level as Ambrose, MB.

And my point isn't so much about where Streisand was in her career when she was cast as Fanny, but what the theater queens would have been saying about her having been cast. Had there been message boards back then.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:42pm

Her "My Man" is growing on me, but I wonder if her delivery of it as Fannie will be as tough and bluesy as in the video with her band, more like a female "blues shouter" than the throbbing, vulnerable torch-singing approaches that both Brice and Streisand (in their different ways) took with it.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:46pm

My guess is that they'll be looking for 'names' for Nick and Mrs. Brice, but my choice for Nick would be Tony Yazbeck. Maybe Andrea Martin for Mrs. Brice?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:55pm

But "My Man" isn't in the show, is it? Or is it being added?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 3:03pm

^ I was about to ask the same thing. "My Man" wasn't in the original show, so are they jettisoning "The Music that Makes Me Dance" for it?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 3:03pm

Ambrose better do 8 shows a week. It's bad enough having the Sreisand/Brice thing overhead, she does not need a matinee Eve Hharrington/Lainie Kazan in the wings wearing her costumes.