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re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material...

Posted by: pierce 01:35 am EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material... - simbo 03:16 am EDT 10/31/15

Rat tat tat tat is of course bad history as Brice married Arnstein after WWI but is shown doing a WWI number after her marriage


Funny Girl was never concerned with accuracy or "good history," and we can start with the fact that Fanny Brice's marriage to Nick Arnstein was her second one, along with the fact that Arnstein (the rascal) was more than happy to live off his wife's money.

Funny Girl was mostly concerned with giving its audiences good songs, good performances and good entertainment - and down the road, giving its investors a nice profit. A few facts were thrown in to keep the show within the ballpark of Brice's life, but it was never intended to be a documentary - just an entertaining Broadway musical. And the relevant point about "Rat Tat Tat Tat" was that it was a funny, rousing number, and "The Swan" wasn't.


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re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material...

Posted by: simbo 05:47 am EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material... - pierce 01:35 am EST 11/02/15

I dunno. Of the two numbers we get where Fanny is actually funny on stage, "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" is by far the funnier of the two. It makes me wonder why they didn't do a Baby Schnooks number. Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat just kinda sits there. Yes, it's got energy ,but it's pretty empty calories (I tend to feel the same way about "Find yourself A Man", which is funny, but would be just about as funny in any other show, since it doesn't actually take the plot anywhere)


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re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material...

Posted by: PlayWiz 02:16 pm EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material... - simbo 05:47 am EST 11/02/15

I think "Find Yourself a Man" also serves a purpose to give Fanny a rest, as she has a big load of songs to sing; she's very rarely off the stage.

I don't know if the real Brice ever sang as Baby Snooks, who I believe she mainly performed on radio, but I agree that it would have been a fun thing for the creators to have musicalized. In either the film "Funny Girl" or "Funny Lady" (I forget which) there is a short scene where she has just finished performing Snooks in costume in front of an audience watching a radio broadcast.

"Rat-tat-a-tat" is amusing, as there is a YouTube video of Mimi Hines doing it.

The film's problem is the much weaker 2nd half: besides "Sadie, Sadie" it doesn't have much comedy in it. "The Swan" is too weak and not really funny, even if we are shown cutaway shots to the audience enjoying it. Also, the song "Funny Girl" isn't anywhere as good as "Who Are You Now" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance", two gorgeous ballads which were dropped. Yes, "My Man" works extremely well as the replacement for the latter, but the 2nd half is too melodramatic and lacking in "funny". The stage show at least has "Sadie", "Find Yourself A Man" and "Rat-tat-tat-tat" to keep things from getting too heavy.


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re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material...

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 02:54 pm EST 11/02/15
In reply to: re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material... - PlayWiz 02:16 pm EST 11/02/15

"In either the film 'Funny Girl' or 'Funny Lady' (I forget which) there is a short scene where she has just finished performing Snooks in costume in front of an audience watching a radio broadcast.

I don't know if it's also in FUNNY LADY, but it is in FUNNY GIRL, although I don't think it's a radio broadcast. From the wings, we see Fanny cavorting on stage as Baby Snooks, then she comes offstage and hears the new that Nick was arrested.

"The film's problem is the much weaker 2nd half: besides 'Sadie, Sadie' it doesn't have much comedy in it."

Another reason why "Find Yourself a Man" is a useful number in the stage version, even if it's not a great song.

"'The Swan' is too weak and not really funny, even if we are shown cutaway shots to the audience enjoying it."

I don't believe that number has cutaway shots of the audience enjoying it. I think there is some humor in the number, but it's not filmed well, and it's something of a mess in the way they edited it down from the much longer version. Nice to have Tommy Rall in it as the Prince, though!


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