Before Mrs. Maisel, Kristen Wiig, Mary Tyler Moore or Lucille Ball, there was Fanny Brice. Funny girls, if you will, who weren’t afraid to push the envelope, be loud, or unladylike.
“Funny Girl” opened at the Kravis Center Tuesday night, a part of the performing arts center’s Broadway series. Of course I was familiar with the movie and the musical—hello, Barbra Streisand—but I walked in without knowing much about the details. It was probably better that way, and I entered the theater without a clue of the plot and could appreciate it for what it was.
The musical is based on the real Fanny Brice, a comedian, singer and actress who performed from the 1910s until her death in 1951. While the musical simplifies her journey to the top and her rollercoaster marriage, it captures her struggle in show biz, where funny girls aren’t gorgeous and gorgeous girls aren’t funny. Frustrated that she doesn’t seem to fit into the line of chorus girls, Fanny exclaims, “I’m a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls!”
Even more defeating, producer Mr. Keeney says, “If a girl isn’t pretty she should go get a job.”
But a job is just what Fanny is looking for—a job on stage, anyway—and the Jewish girl from Henry Street manages to impress Mr. Keeney and then even Florenz Ziegfeld of Ziegfeld Follies fame, using her singing and comedic chops to become a national sensation. All the while, she’s falling in love with Nick Arnstein, a smooth-talking businessman, whom she eventually marries and has a child with. Life is just perfect, and as Fanny exclaims, “Don’t Rain On My Parade.”
As the musical moves along, it becomes a production within a production, with the Follies performing their own song and dance numbers in between the trials and tribulations of life backstage. In fact, the play begins and ends with Fanny in her dressing room, anxiously waiting news of her husband’s arrival at the theater—he never misses an opening night. Needless to say, Nick is not all he’s cracked up to be, and he can’t seem to live in the shadow of his wife’s success. Even so, Fanny is told “You should have loved him less and respected him more.”
The starring role goes to Hannah Shankman in the traveling Broadway show (in New York, Fanny was played by Lea Michele of “Glee” fame), who absolutely floored the audience with her piping vocals, comedic movements and facial expressions, and emotional range from spunky to heartbroken. It’s uncanny how she even resembles the actual Fanny Brice. I questioned a misstep during “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat,” where Shankman wrestles with an uncooperative stick-on mustache. However, it appears to have happened in other productions, including Michele’s, so perhaps it’s become a part of the show?
For me, another standout member of the cast was Izaiah Montaque Harris, who plays choreographer and Fanny’s BFF, Eddie Ryan. The crowd was mesmerized by his tap dancing, and his quick feet had solos of their own, in particular in between scenes as Harris riles up the crowd while performing seemingly impossible tasks on tap.
Even though the musical has been on Broadway since the ‘60s, I won’t spoil the end for you. But it’s a tale as old as time—women struggling to find that balance between success, love, beauty and talent.
“Funny Girl” is at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Concert Hall through Feb. 2. For more information, visit kravis.org/events/funny-girl.
