Planned Broadway revivals of Funny Girl have been derailed twice recently – once with Lauren Ambrose in the title role, when supporters pulled out, concerned about their bankability and a string of expensive classic musical remounts that had underperformed; again when Ryan Murphy halted early talks to produce the show with Lea Michele after she unofficially auditioned for Glee. The 1964 bio-musical by Fanny Brice is finally back almost 60 years after it first premiered, with a cheeky and appealing Beanie Feldstein at the helm. Still, one cannot escape the indelible impression of original star Barbra Streisand.
With a melodious if inconsistent score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and an unsatisfactory book by Isobel Lennart, the show had a checkered history on its way to Broadway; Luminaries such as Stephen Sondheim, David Merrick, Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins left production at various points in its development. The latter eventually returned and took a supervisory loan, resulting in disgruntled director Garson Kanin dropping out.
That bumpy road was forgotten, however, when the show opened to rave reviews and a three-year run, crowning a sensational new Broadway star in Streisand. Her irrefutable ownership of the role was cemented even more four years later in William Wyler’s premier film version, which further tailored the show as a star vehicle by removing many of the weaker numbers and sewing in additional Streisand showstoppers. Every artist must live up to this legacy.
Feldstein has become an irresistible screen presence in films like Booksmart and Lady Bird, and she was a delight in the supporting role of Minnie Fay in the blockbuster 2017 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler. But she has a beautiful, easy singing voice in a role that often calls for great power, and she reads girlishly without selling the consuming hunger that made Fanny a star in the Ziegfeld Follies of the early 1920s. Feldstein draws on comedy with tremendous charm, but she struggles to locate Fanny’s raw vulnerability in later years when her marriage to die-hard gamer Nick Arnstein (Ramin Karimloo) falls apart.
The shortcomings of the revival by no means rest solely on Feldstein’s shoulders. Neither director Michael Mayer nor screenwriter Harvey Fierstein has solved the problems of the creaky book, which fails to balance Fanny’s longing for romantic fulfillment backstage with her professional success — and eventual resilience as a showbiz survivor — into a robust line . The show feels sketchy and episodic, and needs a mind-blowing, roof-lifting lead to get over the cracks on paper.
There’s also the issue of his outdated sexual politics, with Nick’s emasculation brought on by his string of failed ventures, while Fanny leaps from success to success, surpassing her husband and feeding his humiliation. Karimloo is a gifted performer with rich tenor vocals; He cuts a good figure even though he’s not a born dancer. But too much of the central relationship’s decline is characterized by subpar songs that feel like unnecessary filler. And at nearly three hours this sluggish production needs no padding, even as it improves on the more skeletal staging Mayer and Fierstein tested in London, with Sheridan Smith receiving raves at the helm.
Production designer David Zinn and costume designer Susan Hilferty enjoy the Ziegfeld interludes, although Mayer borrows from another Follies – Sondheim and James Goldman’s far longer-lived 1971 musical – by letting the ghosts of Fanny’s past lurk at various points on the stage . But production numbers like “His Love Makes Me Beautiful,” a ridiculous American bridal pageant that Fanny hilariously scoffs at, show Feldstein at her best.
Jane Lynch is amusing as Fanny’s ubiquitous Brooklyn saloon owner mother, who towers over Feldstein and kibitters with her talkative Henry Street poker buddies, Mrs. Strakosh (Toni DiBuono) and Mrs. Meeker (Debra Cardona). There are some subtle messages of body positivity in Mrs. Brice’s support of her daughter when her friends insist that only conventional beauties can make it onto the stage in If a Girl Is’t Pretty. Feldstein is pretty, but she plays off the odd shtick to a pleasant effect that works for the character, and her physical comedy skills are undeniable.
Mayer and Fierstein amplify Act Two’s weaknesses by postponing “Who Taught Her Everything She Knows?” from its original placement much earlier in the show to a point where it’s just another distraction from the faltering Fanny-Nick relationship. The song will be performed by Mrs. Brice and Fanny’s longtime choreographer and friend Eddie Ryan (Jared Grimes); The latter is one of the best tap dancers on the New York stage, but his powerful numbers feel like vile extras, inorganic.
Basically, the hurdle with Funny Girl is that there are only two great songs, the popular ballad “People” – the lyrics of which don’t make sense; Why are “people who need people the happiest people”? – and the rousing “Don’t Rain on My Parade”. OK, maybe three songs with “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” if Streisand makes it a heartbreaking acknowledgment of Fanny’s undying devotion to Nick. The film, which is holding up remarkably well, added a theme song for Fanny, here mysteriously given to Nick; and it ended on an emotional high when Streisand poured her soul into the 1920s standard “My Man,” which is not used here.
Feldstein gives a spirited, highly enjoyable performance, and her freshness drew shouts of approval from what appeared to be a large contingent of very vocal young female fans at a recent press night. But she never really gets the stuff up, and this is a rickety vehicle that needs a supernova to put gas in its tank.
Location: August Wilson Theatre, New York
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes, Jane Lynch, Peter Francis James, Ephie Aardema, Debra Cardona, Toni DiBuono, Martin Moran, Amber Ardolino, Daniel Beeman, Colin Bradbury, Kurt Csolak, John Michael Fumara, Leslie Donna Flesner, Afra Hines, Masumi Iwai, Aliah James, Danielle Kelsey, Stephen Mark Lukas, Alicia Lundgren, John Manzari, Katie Mitchell, Justin Prescott, Mariah Reives, Leslie Baker Walker
Directed by Michael Mayer
Music: Jule Styne
Text: Bob Merrill
Book: Isobel Lennart, revised by Harvey Fierstein
Set Designer: David Zinn
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams
Sound Designer: Brian Ronan
Musical director and supervisor: Michael Rafter
Orchestrations: Chris Walker
Choreographer: Ellenore Scott
Tap choreographer: Ayodele Casel
Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott Landis, David Babani