What does “Funny Girl” look like in the 21st century? Even when the show premiered in the 1960s, people associated it more with its star, Barbra Streisand, than with the real-life stage and radio superstar Fanny Brice.
“Funny Girl,” which runs through Sunday at the Bushnell Theatre, is bound by old values and old Broadway tropes, but Brice’s fierce spirit and some of the most moving showtunes of the ’60s shine through.
Brice contributed some true pop standards, like “My Man” and “Secondhand Rose,” but because “Funny Girl” is not a jukebox musical, these songs are not included. Instead, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill created their own classics, including “People,” “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “Who Are You Now?,” and “What Do Happy People Do?”
CT holds a special place in the heart for the “Funny Girl” star, who performs at the Bushnell this week
The show focuses on Brice’s time with her second husband, Nicky Arnstein, and presents her as if her first husband never existed. (Her third husband, Connecticut island owner, songwriter and producer Billy Rose, was the subject of Funny Lady, a sequel to Streisand’s Funny Girl.) Arnstein was a multimillionaire gambler and con man, and Funny Girl downplays his most illegal acts, making it seem as though his main problem was his insistence on a staunch patriotism: making his own money and making his own decisions so he wouldn’t be labeled “Mr. Brice.”
The show also gives the impression that Brice is the only key star of the Ziegfeld Follies: Florenz Ziegfeld first appears in the show as a godlike, disembodied voice, like the director of “A Chorus Line,” but before long, the esteemed Broadway producer begins hanging out in Brice’s dressing room (even while she’s on tour) and behaving as if he were her manager or subordinate.
It’s a strange way to describe one of the most influential theater figures of the time, and it’s equally odd that Blythe makes no mention at all of the other superstars of the Ziegfeld Follies, such as W. C. Fields, Bert Williams, Eddie Cantor, Josephine Baker, Sophie Tucker, and, heck, Will Rogers, a Follies star who had a Broadway musical made of him.So there you have it, context.
Funny Girl is an intimate drama, not a historical vaudeville play. Despite a major script rewrite by Harvey Fierstein, the revival remains mired in the same romantic clichés and hackneyed body image issues that most modern Broadway musicals try hard to avoid. Brice suffers a lot of emotional abuse because she feels she is not attractive enough to be loved by a dashing man like Arnstein. Scene after scene, not to mention the title of the show, relentlessly repeats the forced and irritating assertion that it’s good that Brice is funny because she’s never been pretty. There are several songs that emphasize this, including the gender-bending male power tune “You Are Woman, I Am Man.” After a while, it becomes really unbearable.
Given that the revival was defined on Broadway by two big-name film and TV stars (first Beanie Feldstein, then Lea Michele), the producers made an interesting choice to cast a near-unknown in the role of Bryce for the first national tour. Caterina McCrimmon, who appeared in a bit role in Hartford Stage’s “Ah, Wilderness!” in 2021, has no Broadway credits and little résumé, but she turns out to be exactly the type of sassy, hungry young performer who could prove something the show needs. It’s also a chance to watch “Funny Girl” and think of Bryce, not Streisand or Feldstein or Michele. There are no distractions, just the story and the songs.
Matthew Murphy/MurphyMade
At right, Isaiah Montaque Harris tap-dances with gusto during one of the lively, full-cast dance numbers in “Funny Girl.” (Matthew Murphy/Murphy Made)
McCrimmon is perfect for the role. Her singing is dreamy, nailing not only the all-important “People” but also the emotive closing numbers in both acts. She’s funny, just like the musical’s title suggests, but she’s also tender and vulnerable. Leading a full-cast Follies spectacle in wedding dresses and military fatigues, McCrimmon is truly the most captivating person onstage.
The tour features a big star in Melissa Manchester, who has a fair bit of stage experience but is best known for her hits “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” and “Midnight Blue.” But Manchester is relegated to a stereotypical comedic Jewish mom role, with only a few songs to sing; her exaggerated accent prevents her from even using her amazing voice to sing those songs.
Steven Mark Lucas is a passable rogue, but he’s nowhere near McCrimmon’s charisma, and it’s often hard to understand what Bryce sees in the nasty nuisance; Lucas is at his best when he reduces the character to a lazy caricature, as in a ludicrous seduction scene in a fancy hotel room.
There is another important role in Funny Girl: Eddie Ryan, Fanny’s childhood friend and acting teacher. His unrequited love for Fanny is one of the drama’s tragic love subplots. Isaiah Montak Harris brings great energy to the role and shows off his impressive tap dancing skills in this dance-centric production.
The “Funny Girl” tour is like a Goodspeed Opera House production. There are eerie similarities between Brice’s final big turn in this show and what Judy McLaine did with the “Rose Turn” in last year’s Goodspeed production of “Gypsy.” The show is also very similar to Goodspeed’s stripped-down “42nd Street” from a few years ago. If you liked those shows, you’ll feel right at home here.
“Funny Girl” is lithe, colorful, quaint and cohesive. The staging is hinted at by a few quickly moving objects, including a trash can and a streetlight that set the romantic scene of a late-night street corner. There is little of the high-tech wraparound projections that have characterized many of Bushnell’s Broadway tours this year. “Funny Girl” is set in the world of 1920s vaudeville, and it’s done so with footlights at the front of the stage and old Ziegfeld Follies posters as a backdrop. The stage is not cluttered, and there is plenty of room for wild, free dancing.
In fact, the dancing is the show’s greatest, unexpected delight. There’s a full-cast dance number that has everyone kicking high and swinging their arms wildly. Just as important, whenever dance moves are inserted into the show — a waiter bringing drinks or a passerby passing through a train station — it’s done with panache. Eleanor Scott’s flamboyant choreography, with Ayodele Casel, who is separately credited for tap choreography, enlivens the show with every exaggerated moment.
Michael Mayer’s staging is sometimes too vivid and emphatic for good reason. On Tuesday night, when the lights went out in the auditorium at the end of one dramatic scene, a significant number of audience members, mistaking it for intermission, began running down the aisles to the bathrooms. There is a helpful warning that the first act doesn’t end until Fanny sings “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
Revisiting “Funny Girl” isn’t all that fun, with its constant sexism and central argument that couples can’t both work, but the production celebrates Fanny Brice’s comic artistry, sings Jule Styne standards and adds plenty of fresh excitement with snappy choreography. And “funny” is more than just an adjective.
“Funny Girl,” with music by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill and a book revised by Harvey Fierstein from Isobel Lennert, runs through Sunday at The Bushnell in Hartford (166 Capitol Ave.). Remaining performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m., with tickets ranging from $38 to $148. bushnell.org.
