The national tour of the musical “Funny Girl” opens at Proctors in Schenectady on Tuesday. It’s based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, one of the most important figures in 20th century entertainment.
Brice first appeared on stage in 1908 and continued in various form of entertainment until her death at the age of 59 in 1951.
The show focuses on Brice’s career and more important, her marriage to gambler and entrepreneur Nicky Arnstein.
It has an incredible score, that includes the forever popular “People,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “You Are Woman, I Am Man,” “Sadie, Sadie” and “His Love Makes Me Beautiful.”
One thing about the songs is that they are almost impossible to listen to and not hear the voice of Barbra Streisand, who at the age of 21 created the role of Fanny Brice in 1964.
Indeed, the role is so identified with Streisand, who also starred in the hit film, it is nearly impossible for any other person to make it their own.
Hannah Shankman is playing the lead role at Proctors. Though fairly unknown outside of the theater world, she has a long string of Broadway and national tour credits.
Playing the role of Arnstein is Stephen Mark Lucas, an experienced actor who was the Broadway understudy.
The biggest name in the touring cast is Melissa Manchester, the pop singer who in the 1970s had numerous hits. She plays Fanny’s mother.
It’s a solid cast. But it is fun to think of “Funny Girl” had it been performed by some of the actors originally proposed for the roles.
The original concept was for Stephen Sondheim to write the score for Mary Martin. He refused to write it because he felt Mary Martin wasn’t right for the role.
Anne Bancroft was suggested along with Jerome Robbins as director. That went away because of Bancroft’s limited singing ability. But the story has two sides. Bancroft claimed she withdrew because she hated the score.
Next, and perhaps the most intriguing, was casting Carol Burnett as Fanny. Mentioned as the director was Bob Fosse. Burnett felt she wasn’t capable of being Jewish, which was an important element of Brice’s personality.
The final team was Music by Julie Styne, lyrics by Bob Merril and direction by Garson Kanin.
It wasn’t in the cards to have a star to play Fanny. So, they bravely went with the unknown Streisand with Kanin as director. Lacking a star, they created a superstar. It turned out to be a tense duo especially when Kanin wanted to drop the song “People” from the show. It was his opinion that the song didn’t fit the character. History disagrees, as well as did Streisand.
In tryouts, the biggest problem was with Isobel Lennart’s book. A half hour was cut between Boston and the New York opening. It still runs nearly three hours. Critics believe it is the show’s Achille’s heel.
In truth, the book has not aged well. The rags to riches story of a young brash girl’s rise to become a star is overly familiar. So too is the tale of a talented person brought down by a weak partner. It even has a dream ballet.
But with lavish production numbers and a great score, it is an entertaining look at a past era.
“Funny Girl” is at Proctors Tuesday, April 1 through April 6. For tickets and schedule go to atproctors.org
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
