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| Most remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 10:21 am EDT 07/26/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:20 am EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| Thursday through the star's closer on Sunday afternoon are all on TDF, for anyone interested in seeing this actor. Some have expected sellouts for the end of her run; it may fill of course, but the TDF availability is a good deal for those still wanting to see the first Fanny. August isn't up yet. | |
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| Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 03:40 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 03:19 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
| In reply to: Most remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF - Delvino 10:20 am EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| I was offered a free ticket to a performance one week ago on a Wednesday night. For that price, I went but with little expectations. I got a lot more than I expected. Yes, Beanie's voice is not up to the score - but it isn't horrible either. The middle lacks support and it's basically as of now a character voice. It is insufficiently trained. The very weird thing is that when Beanie got to the sustained high climax of "Don't Rain on My Parade" the support got under the tone and she was able to sustain a strong belt and hold the high note a long time with good quality. And there I heard a real voice with potential - there is an instrument there but one that hasn't been sufficiently trained and developed. The biggest problem is in sustained melodic ballads where it sounds patchy and nasal and thin. The other but - and it's a big but - Beanie is a good actress, with a winning open bright personality and an underdog quality that the audience connects to and loves. She was funny in several scenes and the audience adored her. There was lots of applause for each song and a long final ovation for her that didn't sound faked. I felt with better direction and pointing up of lines and action she would make an even sharper impression. (Vocal coaching too). Sometimes her choices need to be stronger and more definite. Again - direction is needed. Despite the weak and uneven vocalism, I enjoyed her performance and I was fully expecting not to. She gave a lot and the audience gave it right back to her. What I do hope is that Beanie doesn't abandon live theater in the face of this humiliation and derision as I feel she has real appeal onstage. I feel bad about all the negative energy directed at her. She was working hard and entertaining the audience the night I went. For example, she would make a wonderful Tracy Turnblad (soon - Tracy is in high school) in "Hairspray" with more vocal coaching. Meanwhile, I also got to see Ramin Karimloo as Nicky Arnstein and he is sexy as hell and a strong vocalist. Give Beanie a look with an open mind and forgiving ear - her performance has some charm. (Julie Benko is still all around better still but it wasn't by a mile) Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) |
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| re: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) | |
| Posted by: Thom915 04:56 pm EDT 07/27/22 | |
| In reply to: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) - Marlo*Manners 03:19 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| Thank you. I think this is the best and least biased critique of Funny Girl that I have yet seen. I saw it just before the critics were invited and knew there was trouble from the first line "Hello Gorgeous" given exactly the same line reading as in the television commercial I saw months before. Subsequently I saw an interview with Beanie where the interviewer remarked on that line being so iconic to the role and asked "So did you and the director work a lot on that line. Beanie kind of looked surprised and said "No." while I am sitting there thinking "Shouldn't you have?" I don't know where the problem was with Beanie or with Michael Meyer but they were not a match. Since the entire show had lackluster performances (save Jared Grimes perhaps) I tend to think the director might have been the problem and the orchestrations especially on Cornet Man (one can do a lot one way or the other on that song) did nothing to make use of Beanie's servicable voice. (We don't want to do Streisand but we are not going to change much from what Streisand did) The book was rearranged more to suit Karimloo's character than Feldstein's and Temporary Assignment did nothing but remind me of a number from a 60's variety show. But Feldstein did indeed have charm and there was that little girl who dressed up as Fanny Brice for her third birthday party. It is a pity that, for the most part she was not pushed nor even allowed to advance much past that point. | |
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| re: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:05 am EDT 07/28/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) - Thom915 04:56 pm EDT 07/27/22 | |
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| I agree. It's fair to say that the direction is the ultimate culprit here, not finding a way to pull the disparate quartet of stars into the same show. It felt cast by committee and staged with almost generic sense of time and place. The stock-like set, not a design debacle but no help, contributing. We're all bone weary from discussing the score demands, and I'm in the camp that found the direction of the book far more of an obstacle than anything in performance. Recast, the show will still be the show, the staging mostly a replica of what's there now (without a shut-down, it's hard to fathom a major set of changes, which would cost a lot in rehearsal.) Two friends who went over the weekend, rooting for everything about it including the star, basically had the same feelings, the actors not much of the discussion, only the disappointing material and its handling. | |
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| re: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) | |
| Posted by: mamaleh 04:08 pm EDT 07/27/22 | |
| In reply to: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) - Marlo*Manners 03:19 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| I revisited FG recently via a rush ticket as Beanie was out on my first visit to the revival. I fully agree with your take on Beanie and hope she hasn't been scared away from Broadway for good. Just one question: did she roll off the divan in the "You Are Woman" scene? Or did she sort of glide and crawl? She did the latter at the performance of hers I caught. I read that she might have injured herself doing the former and was easing off that move. Just wondering if she has resumed it for her remaining performances. | |
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| Thank you! | |
| Posted by: LynnO 01:50 pm EDT 07/27/22 | |
| In reply to: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) - Marlo*Manners 03:19 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| I completely agree with you, I thought that Beanie was overall wonderful and charming. She just missed the mark on one song, and that's okay with me. And RAMIN!! it's worth it just to see him as many times as possible... |
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| re: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) | |
| Posted by: andPeggy 03:53 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
| In reply to: Beanie isn't a dead loss up there - she has charm (re: remaining Feldstein "Funny Girl" performances on TDF) - Marlo*Manners 03:19 pm EDT 07/26/22 | |
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| I don't know that she'll have much of a choice about abandoning live theatre. I can't imagine anyone hiring her - at least for a musical. She might have a solid come back (or maybe a "RETURN") with a straight play. I think one of the big things is that her name doesn't necessarily sell tickets. When producers are influenced by how many twitter/instagram followers an actor has, we're in troubled times. I wonder if Okieriete Onaodowan will ever return to live theatre. I know the situations are not very similar, but it comes down to - can their name sell tickets? |
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