Unofficial but, Lauren Ambrose is rumored to be Fanny Brice. — Page 2

Mad - you are going to have to elaborate on that one for me. In my eyes she is very conventionally attractive, with strawberry blonde looks actually pretty ideal to the beauty standard/ tastes of turn of the century Broadway. She much more recalls (to me) anyway a young Marilyn Miller or Billie Burke (conventional stars of the Ziegfeld Era) than a young Fannie Brice...

Still not seeing a source or reference for this "rumor".

Sounds like another way to start yet another tedious "Who should play Fanny?" thread. Can't all of these be consolidated into just ONE tedious "Who should play Fanny?" thread?

Please tell us the reference for this rumor, or change the thread title to "This is who I think should play Fanny".

Take Madbrian's preface as a foreword to mine.

And I swear I'm not just being contrary when I say that I feel just the opposite. Benanti is very striking and certainly can appear beautiful. But I find her strong, sharp features often . . . less than beautiful. I guess I'd say I find her handsome more than beautiful.

Whereas the worst I've ever seen Ambrose look is pretty--even in that shot, where she looks a trifle plump.

But is being 'frumped down' all there is to playing the role of Fanny Brice? I think its somewhat a different situation from Nicole Kidman adorning prosthetics to play the strong profiled but Anglican Virginia Woolf to an Irish redhead taking on a very ethnic commedianne for a New York (largely Jewish) audience well versed in Brice's history as a 'yiddish' performer who became the first to break into conventional Broadway stardom.

To what degree is Brice's ethnicity important to the musical? I've always thought pretty paramount, but if Sher goes with Ambrose (or someone like her) we have to assume he's going to be focusing the musical in very different directions than previous incarnations. My point being, you don't cast a performer like Ambrose as Fanny Brice and then try to make her look Jewish...

While we have yet to hear confirmation of this news, it would be cool if it happened. Do looks really matter? Jewish women, Jewish singers, come in all shapes an sizes (inasmuch as this show tries to do a played-up version of the real Fanny Brice). All that really matters for this role is, can the actress sing and act? Thanks to Six Feet Under, we already know she can act. Thanks to YouTube, we know she can sing.

Ambrose played in some Lifetime MOW a few years back, an Orthodox Jewish New York bride in some cute based-on-true-story story. The red hair she's also known for is far from the biggest issue; if the actress can sing and act, you give her a wig or dye her hair brown. Problem solved.

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Of course Jewish women come in all different shapes and sizes. But a big driving part of the story of FUNNY GIRL and the character of Brice (in the musical) is how her non-conventional(i.e strongly ethnic) looks are pitted against conventionality - i.e. a 'mainstream' theatrical career in which beautiful girls are the norm, a 'gorgeous' husband who chooses her over more traditionally gorgeous women, etc.

Brice sums up how her character feels in the final scene with Nick; you could actually argue the character's entire journey ("Hello Gorgeous") is pitted on her insecurity over her looks. So, the fact that Ambrose could convincingly play an Orthodox jew isn't quite the same as saying she could play a strongly ethnic looking jew like Fanny Brice.

She was also great in Awake and Sing, where she played a Jewish girl in the Bronx. I think she can handle Brooklyn.

For the record, she was also one of the best Juliets I've ever seen in the Shakespeare in the Park Romeo & Juliet.

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And I swear I'm not just being contrary when I say that I feel just the opposite. Benanti is very striking and certainly can appear beautiful. But I find her strong, sharp features often . . . less than beautiful. I guess I'd say I find her handsome more than beautiful.

That sort of goes along with what I've always thought about Laura Benanti: I've always thought she was quite lovely but can definitely imagine her as an awkward looking little girl and teenager. Strong features don't often translate well on little faces and I think your comment, Reggie, speaks to the fact that they continue to go either way on an adult.



Anyway, I think Lauren Ambrose is very pretty naturally but can certainly imagine her made up to look plain or frumpy.

I just hope this is the first step towards a Can't Hardly Wait musical.

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Updated On: 7/25/11 at 04:34 PM

"I'm not sure she'd be able to sing score to Funny Girl entirely, nightly as originally written. But then, there aren't many who could..."

Thanks to Patti LuPone, and later Lea Salonga, an actress doesn't have to.

Yeah, we can thank Elaine Paige for that one, too.

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Sorry you were so offended, lovepuppy. If you read my posts you'd see that I'm not at all opposed to the idea of Ambrose in the role. And I agree about the overwhelming negativity of many similar threads.

I was simply making a (silly) point about your dismissing others opinions on the topic.

That coupled with your remarks about my life makes me think you're not as aware of tone as you'd like to think you are.

Nevertheless, my apology stands if I offended you.

Updated On: 7/25/11 at 04:44 PM

^ That is the correct answer.

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I seem to remember that, for some time, Ambrose was rumored for Sarah Brown in the recent revival of GUYS AND DOLLS as well. She might be something of a musical tease.

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If this is true, it would be nice if folks could, at the very least, keep an open mind. Especially since:

1) Ambrose is a first rate actress
2) Extremely warm and likeable
3) Her attractiveness shouldn't disqualify her. Extremely gorgeous women have scored as Fanny before. The young Lanie Kazan was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. And I agree with madbri, that Ambrose could easily be convincing as a bagel on a plate of onion rolls. Indeed she is often cast as the offbeat girl who doesn't fit in. And she's certainly not a quintessential statuesque Ziegfeld girl.
4) Streisand, brilliant as she was, in a great many ways, was nothing like Brice. The fact that it may be challenging for some to imagine Ambrose as Fanny shouldn't convince all of us that she couldn't potentially be great in the role. Hell, she might even be more like Brice than Streisand was. Ambrose is a talented actress, and, for my money, a much more exciting choice than many of the Jewish girl belters so often bandied about by those playing the Who's Fanny game.
5) One doesn't have to be Jewish to be convincing in this role - before Streisand was Fanny, the names being considered by Styne and company included Mary Martin and Anne Bancroft. Jewish women do indeed come in all physical types. For every Totie Fields there is a Hedy Lamar. For every Roseanne Barr there is a Paulette Goddard. Of course, the question here is not whether the actress can be convincing as Jewish, but convincing as Fanny Brice, or at least an alternative universe Fanny Brice (as Streisand's was). Again, with a little imagination, can't we at least consider that Ambrose might be able to pull this off?
6) Finally, I had no idea before this that Ambrose can sing. She clearly can, clearly well enough to potentially be able to score musically in the role.

Is the jury out? Sure, but doesn't that make it exciting?

Updated On: 7/27/11 at 05:35 PM