Will we see a "Funny Girl" revival? — Page 3

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#51

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:26pm

Craig, Nicole Parker would be stellar.

I hadn't mentioned her here as I was just commenting on those already named in the thread (though I did bring her up for the role in the recent disccusion on the closing of DQYNJ,) but with her killer voice and obvious comedic flair, she'd be a knockout.

Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

#52

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:26pm

Exactly, regarding Idina at the FUNNY GIRL Actor's Fund Benefit concert. She sang and slaughtered "Cornet Man". Oy! It was horrible. She was trying so hard to make it pure "Idina Menzel"-ish, and it just didn't work. It was a mess.

Sutton Foster did Fanny's first number "The Greatest Star" and it just dragged. Cute attempt, but there was no magic to it.

Kristin Chenoweth did the "His Loves Makes Me Beautiful" number and stole the show. The ladies of the different seasons were played by drag queens who towered her, so they played this up to the hilt. When she descended the stairs and stood next to them, it was HILARIOUS!

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

#53

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:28pm

How was Lillias' Don't Rain on My Parade? I think that's what she did, right?

"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#54

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:30pm

Her rendition was incredible, and was Murney's "People". Judy Kuhn did a great "Who Are You Now?", but she's too old for a full production now.

"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

#55

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:30pm

wickedfan, White delivered the number with her trademark power and passion. I quite enjoyed it.

#56

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:54pm

How about Krakowski's "Sadie, Sadie," oddly enough, that is one of my favorite songs from the show.
I'm all for Kritzer now. Nothing against Stephanie J. Block, I just think she lacks the kind of comedy needed for this role.

"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"

#57

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:57pm

I heard Krakowski's "Sadie, Sadie" a while back. I remember really enjoying it. I DID have the pleasure of watching Kristin's "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" and it was just spectacular.

"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

Updated On: 6/4/07 at 01:57 PM

#58

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:14pm

Maybe. Someday. Otherwise, perhaps not.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#59

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:59pm

I would like to comment on a few of the thoughts already expressed on this thread. Broadway's FUNNY GIRL certainly DID make Barbra Streisand a star, while her presence in the show made it a success. Her previous work on Broadway was a featured role in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, a 300 performance flop; but people did sit up and take notice when she was singing her solo "Miss Marmelstein" from that show. I saw WHOLESALE several times and enjoyed her in it. During the run, Streisand also appeared in a nightclub in the West Village. Jule Styne caught her act at the club and suggested her to the other creators of FUNNY GIRL. The rest is history. While she was appearing in FUNNY GIRL she appeared in a TV special which further cemented her star status.

I saw FUNNY GIRL a number of times and I agree with Frontrowcenter: The libretto is full of problems. There was a three year period of creative haggling before a finished show emerged. Jerome Robbins was the first director, then was replaced, then came back into the picture and ultimately salvaged it. The second act is dramatically boring and cries out for musical numbers to keep it afloat. Granted, the score is great, but it could not carry the show. It needed Barbra Streisand to do that.

I will leave it to the younger members of this Message Board to suggest possible Fanny Brices, but beware of the problematic script. Without a true star, there is not much there.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Updated On: 6/4/07 at 02:59 PM

#60

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 3:26pm

Barbra singing "The Music That Makes Me Dance" in the original 1964 Broadway production:
re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Stephanie J. Block attempting some yiddish schtick in the "You Are Woman" sequence:
re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

...and in the "His Loves Makes Me Beautiful" number:
re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

#61

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 5:49pm

"Idina? Really? Have you HEARD/SEEN the clip of her singing at the benefit concert? Her voice is completely wrong for the part--I'm sort of an Idina fan--but DEFINITELY would not want her in the role. She is too...head voice. I think of Fanny as having a powerful, full voice."

Well, I don't know the context of "Cornet Man" in the actually show, and judging from Idina's performance, she wasn't going for that; the number was more smooth and sexy than quirky.

Nevertheless, I don't see how her voice is "wrong" for the part; different than what we're used to? Yes. But it's nothing she couldn't sing. When somebody says a voice is "wrong" for a role I think...Idina as Maria is West Side Story, or something. Just...something she wouldn't do. I don't get how the voice is "wrong" here; she just has wildly different timbre than the rest of the mentioned ladies.

But, I'm not sure I'd even want to see a revival of the show, to be honest.

#62

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 5:56pm

One can hope

By the time I got around to seeing it, Mimi Hines & Johnny Desmond were the leads. Hines was quite good as I remember & was probly closere to the real Brice than Streisand was.

Poster Emeritus

#63

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 5:59pm

I'd love to see Kelly Rippa in the leading role.

#64

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:01pm

Please no

Poster Emeritus

#65

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:03pm

Kelly Ripa? Boy, is that random.
Fosse, you got any pictures of the Actor's Fund Concert by any chance? (say Jane Krakowski performing "Sadie,Sadie")
I wish I had been able to see Lainie Kazan in the role. From what I've heard/read, she was fantastic the one time she was able to go on in the role (though other people say she never played the role).

#66

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:05pm

Ripa - No
Chenoweth - No No No

Poster Emeritus

Updated On: 6/4/07 at 06:05 PM

#67

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:06pm

It's "Chenoweth," but she's as Jewish as Streisand is Muslim.

#68

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:10pm

I have made the correction

If Hasselhoff can do Broadway, anything is possible

Poster Emeritus

#69

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:14pm

HAHA!

I was joking about Kelly Rippa.

#70

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:24pm

Wow, Steph looks like Lucie Arez in those pics.
I still think her voice would be best for this show.
That woman can SING.

#71

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:29pm

I always wondered what the story of Jerome Robbins' involvement was... In some ways at first it seemed like they were hoping to do a sorta followup to Gypsy--similar eras, based on real stories, Jule Styne (Merrill is no Sondheim but I wonder if he was the first choice) and Robbins...

E

#72

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:31pm

See, this is one of the threads that probably pushed Margo to her moratorium. These same women have been suggested over and over and over and over in thread after thread after thread...

None of these ladies will appear on Broadway as FUNNY GIRL. It will just never happen.

#73

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:32pm

Sondheim was the first choice for lyricist but dropped out early in the creative process. It was originally going to be a vehicle for Mary Martin, to which Sondheim said "No. You need to have a Jewish girl. And if she's not Jewish, she has to have the nose."

"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#74

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:34pm

I only read the first page but...

someone mentioned how there would never be a bye bye birdie revival.....well it's actually coming back....hahaha

I'm serious

#75

re: Will we see a 'Funny Girl' revival?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:36pm

Desiree - Yep! :) Is there a link or is that just something you've heard?

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