Possibly Controversial Idea: Lady Gaga as Fanny Brice?- Page 2

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 1:56pm

She would back out of the run half way through due to low ticket sales.....I mean a hip injury

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 2:18pm

I can't wait to hear the lyric changes she'll make to suit whatever mood she's in.

Or maybe she'll play Fanny wearing a blue wig.

Link

Updated On: 6/30/13 at 02:18 PM

[Rentaholic]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 2:25pm

She really can't act or dance though. The only thing going for her here is the nose.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 2:29pm

Song, you can say many things about Lady Gaga, but you can't knock her work ethics. She's one of the hardest working women in the music industry today, and the most insanely devoted to her fans.

Goth, I've seen her live and she definitely has the humor.



Updated On: 6/30/13 at 02:29 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 3:17pm

Rentaholic, what acting have you seen her do?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 3:18pm

She's not a perfect dancer, but she's really improved over the years. She went from not dancing at all, to really dancing in a lot of numbers on tour.

"She would back out of the run half way through due to low ticket sales.....I mean a hip injury."

For what it's worth, I saw the Born This Way Ball tour in Los Angeles and it was more than sold out.

[quizking101]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 3:48pm

I'd still like the Sher revival to come around with Bobby Cannavale and Jessie Mueller (over the redhead they originally had)

[Kelly2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 3:53pm

We know my feelings re: La Mueller, but Bobby Cannavale would be sensational. The idea of that production is more exciting to me than anything that's been announced for next season.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 4:12pm

Deborah Gibson - I remember now.

Question: Who was the singer in the 90s that everyone wanted to do Funny Girl. She may have done a production of it outside of NYC. I don't know why I can't remember her name.

Updated On: 6/30/13 at 04:12 PM

[Kelly2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 4:17pm

Debbie Gibson?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 4:18pm

^^^Yes. I just remembered as you posted.

[latitudex1]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 4:23pm

^I thought you were talking about Taylor Dayne, who was attached to do a production of Funny Girl in the early 90s.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C307541%2C00.html

[behindthescenes2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 5:01pm

She can do as well as whatever they are throwing at this show....Anne Bancroft was offered the role first not BS. So she could probably handle it - Broadway is now in full throws of offering roles and coddling people on the stage that have absolutely no business doing it (the Weisslers have perfected this to a finite degree since the revival of Grease with Rosie O'Donnell), however in this case I bet the girl can sing it.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 5:10pm

"I thought you were talking about Taylor Dayne"

Oh wow, I didn't know Taylor Dayne was considered.

"Anne Bancroft was offered the role first not BS"

I think Carol Burnett was offered before Anne Bancroft. Theater legend says that Carol Burnett turned it down saying "This really needs a Jewish girl."

[all that jazz]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 5:22pm

I love Carol, but I'd like to see her attempt "People." I'm glad she realized this and denied the offer.

[amoni2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 5:52pm

"What "musical theatre" experience does she have and what does going to NYU have to do with anything?"

You do realize that "Lady Gaga" is a character don't you? Every time Stefani Germanotta is onstage as Gaga, she is doing theater.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 5:58pm

"I love Carol, but I'd like to see her attempt "People." I'm glad she realized this and denied the offer."

I think if they went with Carol it would have been a very different show. Who knows what songs would have been written or remained.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 6:30pm

That being said, I bet Carol could have sung the f*ck out of "People." She has an amazing voice.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 6:43pm

"What "musical theatre" experience does she have and what does going to NYU have to do with anything?"

I absolutely agree with Amoni. Plus, I don't know if Tisch was different back then, but now there are only 18 available spots for the MT program and hundreds of students auditioning from all over the world. There is no way you can get in, withouout demonstrating tremendous acting abilities.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 7:57pm

I'm pretty sure that she wasn't a musical theatre major, but was music composition or piano performance or something along the lines of that. But she often talks about her musical theatre experience in high school.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 8:08pm

Sir Robin, she was a theatre major at cap 21.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 8:19pm

Oh. Never mind then.

[Jane2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 8:27pm

'You do realize that "Lady Gaga" is a character don't you? Every time Stefani Germanotta is onstage as Gaga, she is doing theater'

Oh, you mean climbing out of a fake egg? pulling fabric over her face? (originally done by Leigh Bowery), copying a Madonna song? wearing outrageous costumes?

Fanny Brice is REAL theater.

Updated On: 6/30/13 at 08:27 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 8:45pm

Now, My Dear Gaveston,

First of all, there's no reason one can's be an ardent feminist and want to play a woman in a role one sees as written as classically pre-feminist. Actors often are drawn to people whose sexual politics are very different than their own.

Then we should ask ourselves, is Fanny classicly pre-feminist? Is Funny Girl? Is a woman who falls deeply in love, assertively goes after it, has no issues being in a marriage where she is the major breadwinner, and demands both a career and a marriage qualifies as classically pre-feminist - one can make a strong argument that she does not.

Is the attitude of Funny Girl strictly pre-feminist? I disagree. Although certainly it describes characters and situations which at sometimes make us question the roles of men and women, struggling men married to powerful strong women, and how they and the people around them saw that dynamic.

My dear henrik,

We're not talking about Angela Lansbury here. (Not that Angie would take a part she thought was hateful, but she identifies primarily as an actress, i.e., an "impersonator" of characters.) Gaga has always presented a persona based on certain principles, primarily including equality for marginalized groups, including women and gays.

In the play, Fannie barely registers her opening night triumph because she's too busy mooning over Nicky. At the conclusion of Act I, she walks out on her touring job (quite unprofessionally), telling Ziegfeld words to the equivalent of "a gal's gotta stand by her man."

Of course she's forgiven because she's talented and, anyway, the book was written with, as I say, a 1950s' sensibility. In Act II we find out she's far more happy about being housewife than a theater star and then she spends the rest of the act blaming herself for emasculating poor Nicky and offering to quit show business if it will only save her marriage. The message is clear: a woman has to suppress her talents so that her fella can be secure. It's pure ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.

In other words, Fannie does NOT demand "both" career and marriage. She uses the former to support the latter, but says more than once she'll give up the theater if it makes Nicky happy. EVEN IN THE FINAL MOMENTS OF THE PLAY, while she is waiting for Nicky's arrival, she once again tells her maid that she may be retiring if that's what it takes to keep Arnstein.

What part of that is NOT "pre-feminist"?

Now, of course, I don't know Gaga and maybe she'd like to do the show as an historical piece. But while she's still selling out MSG? I seriously doubt it.

Not to mention the creaky book and the fact that there is nothing avant-garde about the concept of the show and such seems to be Gaga's bent.

(ETA I should allow that Gaga might find her own way into the material. I saw Meryl Streep play Kate in TAMING OF THE SHREW in the Park and somehow she and Raul Julia made the "submission" scene at the end seem like the beginning of a marriage of equals. But, personally, I don't see the same possibility in FUNNY GIRL, though I will gladly go see the show (and had tix to the Ambrose version).)



Updated On: 6/30/13 at 08:45 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 11:19pm

Good points. I may have had a selective memory about the show. All I kept thinking about is "that's where I live; on stage."