Will we see a "Funny Girl" revival?

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 10:55pm

Do you think "Funny Girl" will be revived any time soon?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 10:56pm

Maybe after THE PIRATE QUEEN ends it's run.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 10:56pm

Not a snowball's chance in hell.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 10:58pm

God, I wish. It's one of my FAVORITE shows.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 10:59pm

If there was a revival- who would you cast?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:00pm

duh, Block.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:01pm

This topic has been discussed to death in previous threads. I would love to see a revival soon, especially one starring Julia Murney, but it probably won't happen anytime soon.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:06pm

Julia Murney would be great. Ana Gasteyer would have been great a few years ago but is probably a bit too old for the role now. How about an Encores! revival?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:07pm

Yes, this has been discussed before. We all pretty much came to the conclusion that it would be too expensive a production that producers wouldn't invest in it if an amazingly talented unknown or relatively unknown was cast in the lead.

[jg4892]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:08pm

Leslie Kritzer.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:08pm

I think Stephanie J. Block or Leslie Kritzer would be dynamite in a Broadway revival. Maybe a slightly small- scale one. Roundabout?

[jewishboy]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:09pm

I think the only way it would work is if some director/producer finds a complete nobody who has perfect comic timing and very powerful voice. As great as Julia is I just can't see her in the role.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:18pm

Just like BYE BYE BIRDIE and CARRIE, there will never be a FUNNY GIRL revival. Not on Broadway, at least.

Unfortunately, the show and the role of Fanny Brice (for this production) was crafted around Barbra Streisand's talents, so it oozes with lines, moments, and songs that catered to fit her. Mimi Hines seems to have incredibly made the role her own, as she kept the show running for some time after Barbra left. Seeing her performance clips from The Ed Sullivan Show clearly attest that she was a more than a perfect Fanny replacement.

Since FUNNY GIRL is so associated with La Streisand, any production (even regional) will always draw comparisons. Anyone playing Fanny will always be compared to La Streisand, unfortunately.

The 1996 FUNNY GIRL US National Tour with Deborah Gibson suffered this fate.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:23pm

I did a regional production with Rosalind Harris (Oldest daughter in the film version of FIDDLER) and the audience was CONVINCED she was Babs.

It was weird.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:27pm

The 1996 tour suffered cause it was Deborah Gibson.
I mean the girl has some talemt but she was out of her league.
The movie, not withstanding, the time for a Stage revival could be at hand.
Murney could do it, but I think Block has the energy and voice to pull it off.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:29pm

If a revival were to be done, and I agree that Roundabout is the only way it could really happen, I think Krizter is by far the best candidate. She already has experience with the role at Papermill and found great success with it.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:31pm

Krizter is an amazingly talented "second banana"
Just not leading Lady material in my opinion.

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:32pm

Is Kritzer Jewish?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:33pm

Yes.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:33pm

I'm pretty sure, but their is an accent in her voice on a recording I heard that had that Fanny sound to it. I know I just contradicted myself, but I could see Kritzer in the role.

[jg4892]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:36pm

She also played the role, with great reviews, at Papermill.

[jg4892]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:36pm

She also played the role, with great reviews, at Papermill.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:46pm

Leslie Kritzer is the only person who can play Fanny on Broadway (as she did at the Papermill Playhouse), as she's ethnic enough in the Barbra/Fanny Brice mold. Stephanie J. Block ain't ethnic -- I have that video of her in FUNNY GIRL, and she ain't ethnic enough for Fanny Brice (though she tried -- GOD, how she tried!).

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 11:56pm

Besides its undying association with one particular performer, "Funny Girl" also suffers from being a star vehicle with no mainstream performers talented enough to pull off the role (no one able to bring in major audiences, anyway.)

Realistically, no one other than informed members of the theatrical community (who are minorities in the grand scheme of things) would be interested in going to see Murney, Block, Kritzer, or anyone else of their stature take on Fanny Brice (though all are qualified to do it, some more so than others.)

The show itself does not have a built in enough fan base to work without a major star. Casting a phenomenal nobody in the lead role worked decades ago because no one had heard anything about the show, but the majority of it's loyal followers now are as passionate as they are about the show because of Streisand, and without her, many of them would probably not be interested.

The only place I could see this working is as a limited engagement through an organization like Roundabout, but even the odds of that happening are extremely slim.

[nealb1]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 12:12am

I did "Funny Girl" with Stephanie here in Los Angeles many moons again. I was the tenor who sang "His Love Makes You Beautiful," and it was Stephanie's first Equity show. She was wonderful and has done the role many times since.

She'd be a great Fanny in a Broadway revival of FG. Who knows if it will ever happen??