Funny Girl
Photo Credit: Ian Lawson Photography
Reviewed by: Patricia Connor (NODA) on 8 Feb 2019
Venue: Little Theatre - Southport
Date: 6-9 Feb 2019
Type of Production: Musical
Book, Lyrics & Music: Book by Isobel Lennart from an original story by Miss LennartLyrics by Bob Merrill and Music by Jule Styne
Directed by Rob MacGregor
Musical Director: Chris Rimmer
Choreographers: Toni Spofforth/Rob MacGregor
Funny Girl opened on Broadway in 1964 and has music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill taken from a book by Isobel Lennart. The story is set in New York before and after the first World War and is loosely based on the life and career of talented comedic Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway star Fanny Brice, and centers on her relationship with her first husband, entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein. At the beginning of the show we find Fanny arriving at her theatre dressing room where she sits waiting with some apprehension for Nick, who has just been released from prison, as she waits she looks back on their life together, and transforms from a heartbroken star thinking about the brake down of her marriage into a girl from Brooklyn who had lots of spirit but was considered a plain girl and without talent but had an ambition to be a star. She worked hard and practiced her dance steps with the help of her friend Eddie and becomes a rather inept chorus girl until her natural talent for physical comedy is noticed. As her career takes off she becomes captivated by the attention of good-looking Nick Arnstein and gradually a romance blossoms and they marry and have a child. After a number of failed ventures Nick gets involved in a shady bond deal, resulting in his arrest for embezzlement and is sent to Prison, but all this takes a toll on the marriage, which brings us back full circle to the theatre where Fanny is waiting for her husband, however you are not exactly sure if at heart Nick is good or a bit of a scoundrel.
The experienced Production Team of Director and Choreographer Rob MacGregor, Musical Director Chris Rimmer and Choreographer Toni Spofforth, along with the support of excellent backstage and technical crews, must have put a lot of hard work into planning every detail of this slick outstanding production which had at its core brilliant singing, acting and dancing, the show also included lots of different emotions such as being full of life, funny and uplifting, yet also very touching and poignant.
There was a wonderful talented cast which included Janine Burrows who was outstanding in the role of Fanny Brice, originally played by Barbra Streisand. Janine proved to be more than a match for Streisand and produced some very good comedy, singing and acting brilliantly and showing us different emotions while performing such songs as the poignant “People”, and “Don’t Rain on my Parade”. Dom Tolley who also acted and sang excellently was the quintessential Nick Arnstein looking the part and complementing Janine very well thus making a very strong leading couple. Nicky Williams produced an enjoyable characterization as Fanny’s warm hearted proud Mother Mrs Brice with very good comic timing and a polished New York accent, while Harry Gascoinge showed off his all round talent and future potential as Fanny’s mentor and friend, Choreographer Eddie.
There were a number of supporting and cameo roles which included Stephen Hughes-Ally as Ziegfeld, Marie Orr as Mrs Strakosh, Peter Forshaw as Keeney, Denise Masters as Mrs O’Malley, with John Delahunty and Natasha Proffitt playing a number of the other small roles between them. It is very important for the success of any show that the actors performing in these supporting and cameo roles, perform well and suite their roles which they more than did on this occasion. Accents on the whole were very good and maintained throughout the show, however just a constructive comment, on a few occasions, maybe due to trying to get the accent right, dialogue was a little unclear, but this did not affect my enjoyment of the show.The chorus of singers and dancers performed with confidence supporting the principle cast very well and choreography was nicely thought out and just right for the setting, one of the highlights of the show was a brilliant tap dancing routine which was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. The Orchestra performed expertly making a very enjoyable and entertaining sound supporting the cast and playing at just the right level.
The set was minimalistic but very well designed and built by Alan Gosling for maximum use of the stage area and AV projection designed by Paul Shacksmyth was used to change scene locations which all worked excellently keeping the pace of the show just right and along with costumes which were colourful and were a good example of the era added to the feel, authenticity and success of this production.
Congratulations to all involved in bringing this outstanding comedic yet very poignant production to the stage, we had a lovely enjoyable evening of entertainment thank you.
This is a review from Naomi Adam, who is an English student at the University of Liverpool, and also a features writer for their arts and culture-dedicated magazine, Ellipsis.
‘Hello, gorgeous.’ What better way to get the audience eating out of the palm of your hand from the first than simple flattery. Even if the show’s opening line is not strictly directed at the crowd, but is ostensibly the leading lady addressing her own reflection. Still, it worked: one line in, the three-hundred-strong (packed) crowd hooked.
Based on the story of real-life twentieth-century comedienne and vaudevillian, ‘Funny Girl’ follows the fortunes of Fanny Brice, who begins the show with a head full of dreams and two left feet, yet by the climax two hours in is (spoiler alert!) a Broadway starlet able to make out cheques for twenty thousand dollars. Along the way, she falls in love with a ruffled shirtfront, travels the world- oh, and sings quite a bit, too. (The show’s most recognisable numbers being the tear-jerker ‘People,’ and the irrepressible ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade.’) The show was initially a 1964 Broadway hit, before it (and lead Barbra Streisand) transitioned to a film version in 1968. It won Streisand a Best Actress Oscar; ‘Hello gorgeous’ was reportedly the first comment she made post-win- to the gong. Since then, following the much-publicised stint of Sheridan Smith as Fanny which was even screened in cinemas, the show has been enjoying something of a resurgence. Understandably, too, when it speaks so clearly to the zeitgeist.
Yes, it is a light-hearted laugh-fest, but it also explores serious and prescient issues. One scene manages to explore the concept of consent through the medium of song; another queries how women on the stage are often perceived as object of the male gaze.
Most importantly, though, there is the central character Fanny- as she herself notes, ‘a bagel in a world full of onion rolls.’ Yeah, the central role thinks she’s a roll without a centre. Perhaps it’s pathologically ingrained to refer to herself as foodstuffs after being told in adolescence her lady bumps are like lentils. She learns to come to terms with herself as an individual, embrace her uniqueness as a selling point- who doesn’t love bagels, right? It is a message just as relevant today as it was when the production first premiered in the ’Sixties. They could quite easily add in The Greatest Showman’s 2018 smash-hit ‘This Is Me’ without it sounding out-of-place.
‘Let the world know you as you are,’ as the real Fanny Brice once advised.
In Southport Spotlights’ version, the audience’s almost immediate empathy with Fanny ‘Bagel’ Brice was due in no small part to the talent of leading lady Janine. She was exuberant and effervescent, as if she had just consumed an entire tube of blue Smarties in the green room before coming onstage. It was onstage she stayed for the majority of the production, all-singing, all-dancing, all-acting. Her repertoire spans cheerful, fearful, realistically tearful, and everything in between. Few other shows demand quite as much of their leads, but here she rose to the challenge with aplomb. (And an aside or three.) The rest of the relatively select cast of fifteen were equally as energetic through the numerous costume changes their small number required- special mention should go to the sparkly-waistcoated Eddie, and Fanny’s mother, Mrs. Rosie Brice. Judging from the cheers post-performance their wit and warmth was not missed by the audience. (Or they had the whole family plus the neighbour’s cat in.)
Sets and props, meanwhile, were used sparingly but to great effect. Suspended picture frames represented an ideal of marital bliss for Fanny, twinkling fairy lights transported an enraptured audience from Houghton Street to Fanny’s backyard in Henry Street, NYC. One scene cleverly reversed the bright lettering above the stage to make it appear Fanny was backstage at the Follies, bounded by the audience on both sides, ever the consummate professional. Subtle nods were made to the original stageshow and film, too. Of course there was the ubiquitous blue marble egg Fanny is gifted, and her classic fur-trimmed crimson dress and hat combo. Waistbands drop, and hemlines rise- as does the anticipation of the audience as the show nears its poignant conclusion. (Which I won’t spoil here.) As a nice finishing touch, to end all female cast appear on-stage donning the various costumes Fanny has worn throughout, a nostalgic back-catalogue of her career.
A single fudged line, a couple of bum notes, but overall Southport’s Little Theatre staged a performance as polished as the show’s ubiquitous blue marble egg. What rating does it get? Golden. Any show that peddles the line ‘Life’s candy, and the sun’s a ball of butter...’ Delicious!