Katerina McCrimmon and Stephen Mark Lukas (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.)
Reviewed by Socks Whitmore
Ahmanson Theatre
Through April 28
In the darkened auditorium of the mighty Ahmanson Theatre, an overhead voice proclaims, “Let us take you to musical comedy heaven!” Thus begins the touring Broadway revival of Funny Girl, a 1964 stage show with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart, loosely adapted from the life and career of American singer-actress Fanny Brice.
Born on the Lower East Side of NYC to a Jewish immigrant mother, Brice’s revue career began in 1908 and led her to the Ziegfeld Follies, where she quickly climbed to stardom. The semi-biographical musical makes a point of labelling Brice as a woman who isn’t pretty — which, at the time of writing, was a reflection of public opinion on Jewish physical features — and paints her as a neurotic, irrepressible comedian with a strong sense of independence. These traits launch the fictionalized Brice into the spotlight and into the arms of Nicky Arnstein, a charming entrepreneur and gambler. The real Arnstein spent 14 months in prison for swindling and lived with Brice for six years before their marriage. The adaptation takes liberties with this story, detailing a romantic courtship and the pair’s married life before ultimately staging the relationship’s collapse. The show features a mighty overture before each act (great for audiences running late) and is interspersed with extravagant follies numbers, from chorus girls bedecked with flowers to a military song glorifying Yankee victory against the Kaiser.
Katerina McCrimmon is electric as Fanny Brice, deftly juggling mighty hollers and jazzy croons with impressive timbral versatility. Her powerhouse rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” is an absolute showstopper. The role of Eddie Ryan, performed by Izaiah Montaque Harris and understudied by Rodney Thompson, is an underutilized character ripe with potential who shines during lengthy tap solos. The chorus girls of Keeney’s and Ziegfeld are diversely cast; normally this is something to compliment, but because of Funny Girl’s fixation on Brice’s atypical look, the lack of uniformity undermines the very crux of the plot. The direction by Michael Mayer decorates various scenes with ghostly follies dancers wordlessly haunting Brice and her mother, though this addition feels awkwardly abstract in the middle of “musical comedy heaven” and doesn’t really land.
The design elements are somewhat underwhelming; the plethora of elaborate follies costumes and the bright rim of lights framing the stage make for decent spectacle, but the set design relies too heavily on screen-printed cutouts and the flashing lights at times feel like a crutch. The lyrics are also frequently unintelligible, making it a little too easy for audiences to tune out while the music puts the plot on hold.
The Broadway revival features a revised book by Harvey Fierstein that makes a few specific changes to the script’s events, adding new numbers, adjusting the order of songs, and fleshing out the nuance of Fanny and Nicky’s relationship. In theory, these adjustments add interest to the show, but in practice the production feels slowly paced and overly crammed with ideas. The plot makes an exceedingly ambitious attempt to cover a vast timeframe, and makes little effort to demonstrate the passage of time beyond a passing mention. One wonders if this story might be better adapted as a mini-series or feature film not bound by the two-act structure of the theatre.
The premise of Funny Girl relies heavily on outdated gender roles, from numbers like “If A Girl Isn’t Pretty” and “You Are Woman, I Am Man” to the internalized toxic masculinity that leads to Arnstein’s downfall. This production raises interesting questions about love, respect, money, independence, and communication in relationships, but fails to answer them in a satisfying way that resonates in today’s landscape or give a clear sense of who and what to root for. Some audiences might enjoy the nostalgia factor of the follies and the stylings of Fanny Brice, but future iterations of Funny Girl should seriously consider how to stay relevant without being oppressively heteronormative or glib in the face of current events. Musical comedy heaven? Not right now, and not for everyone.
Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave, Los Angeles; Tues.-Sat., 8 pm, Sat., 2 pm, Sun., 1 pm & 6:30 pm; thru April 28. https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/ahmanson-theatre/2023-24/funny-girl/ two hours and 40 minutes with one intermission
