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| Funny Girl last night | |
| Posted by: Indavidzopinion 07:51 am EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Thunderous applause and cheering. A special poignancy when she sang lines like: “And if I’m fanned out…at least I didn’t fake it.” There was so much added drama, every time the Fierstein revised script emphasized the theme: Yes, I’ve been knocked down, but I’m going on with my life, and hopefully better things. Quite an emotional evening, with all members of the cast firing on all rockets, and working together as a team. | |
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| re: Funny Girl last night | |
| Posted by: lonlad 08:01 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: Funny Girl last night - Indavidzopinion 07:51 am EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Was Jane in? Just curious since she wasn't this afternoon. | |
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| re: Funny Girl last night | |
| Posted by: Indavidzopinion 08:24 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Funny Girl last night - lonlad 08:01 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Yes. Very spirited, and the hugs at the curtain call looked genuine. | |
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| re: Funny Girl last night | |
| Posted by: Delvino 07:01 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: Funny Girl last night - Indavidzopinion 07:51 am EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Jane Lynch was out this afternoon; hoping she isn’t the last Covid sidelined star. | |
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| The problem is… | |
| Last Edit: ShowGoer 02:03 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 01:59 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: Funny Girl last night - Indavidzopinion 07:51 am EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| (and this is coming from someone who’s well on the record as liking Feldstein): “There was so much added drama, every time the Fierstein revised script emphasized the theme: Yes, I’ve been knocked down, but I’m going on with my life, and hopefully better things.” This isn’t the theme of Funny Girl, and there’s almost no universe in which anyone could construe that it is. Quite the opposite, it’s a show about someone who basically never gets knocked down because she has such an ironclad belief in herself and her own destiny of stardom. (The most one can say in support of the above is that she reaches a crisis in her marriage… but then, as before, ultimately realizes that she’s better off without him and, as usual, didn’t need him all along. ) That’s “Funny Girl” on the page, at least (and it’s a problem with “Funny Girl”, frankly)… but if you described it to anyone as the story of someone who keeps getting knocked down but then always eventually realizes that whatever else, life has to go on – even the writers of the show wouldn’t recognize it as the play they wrote. That’s not the story of Fanny Brice, it’s the Book of Job. This production, more than any before, reveals the flaws inherent in the material, because however charming and skillful Feldstein was, the casting is so at odds (even putting aside the fact that post-opening-night she managed little more than half of her performances) with the general indomitable spirit of who this character is supposed to be. |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Indavidzopinion 04:28 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: The problem is… - ShowGoer 01:59 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| I guess you didn’t bother to actually see the current production, with a revised book. The very end of the play practically screamed the « theme » I referred to. | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 04:37 pm EDT 08/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Indavidzopinion 04:28 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| “ I guess you didn’t bother to actually see the current production, with a revised book. The very end of the play practically screamed the « theme » I referred to.” As it happens, I did see it, both in London in 2016 and on Broadway in April. I would humbly suggest (and again, I’m not picking an argument with you over Beanie, who I quite enjoyed, but rather your analysis of the show itself) that irrespective of whether or not the rewrite is in improvement (I believe the overall consensus is that it isn’t, though I think it is better in some respects)… In my opinion, the score and the overall way the show was originally shaped and structured don’t necessarily support those rewrites, any more than the score was necessarily supported by Beanie Feldstein’s vocals. But even if you were correct in your estimation that the theme of this new version is “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again” – that’s not the story of Fanny Brice, it’s not the overarching theme of Funny Girl, and it never has been. (No matter how much the finale or any comments on the Internet scream otherwise.) |
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| re: The problem is…obvious | |
| Posted by: dreamawakening 03:16 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: The problem is… - ShowGoer 01:59 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| She can't sing the score! People can write all the paragraphs or articles they want about drama and who invested in her casting and how much she weighs or how many shows she missed. If she could sing "People" 8 times a week ... hell, if she could have sung "People" once during press performances ... she would be a star. Life in the theater is going to be so much better once she's gone. |
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| "Life in the theater is going to be so much better once she's gone." | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 03:30 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is…obvious - dreamawakening 03:16 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| How exactly do you imagine Beanie leaving one musical will make life better for the entire American theater and everyone involved in it? Aside, of course, from we'll hopefully have to stop listening to unhinged reactions to Beanie's casting. | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Glamourboy 02:53 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: The problem is… - ShowGoer 01:59 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| I totally disagree with you. The commerce of any dramatic piece is conflict and Funny Girl has a continual amount of conflict for the Fanny character. In the very opening scene she is not chosen for a part based on her looks. She is able to get herself hired but then she screws it up...which leads to her being noticed...so she keeps her job. With a raise. Her mother's friends sing an entire song about how she's never going to make it. She marries Nicky Arnstein but their marriage quickly turns sour. He becomes an absent husband and ultimately gets arrested and goes to jail. It is ALL adversity for her. and yes, he does pick herself up, constantly. | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Last Edit: Roman 03:40 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| Posted by: Roman 03:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Glamourboy 02:53 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| I don’t know that your examples (not getting the part, initially; “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty”, ) support a counterpoint to ShowGoer’s observations. In fact, I think they support ShowGoer’s position. She actually DOES get the part. Because, as ShowGoer states, she believes in herself. “If A Girl Isn’t Pretty” are the beliefs of others. Not Fanny. The song and others’ lack-of-faith never impede her determination. She’s confused they don’t see what she does (“it must be a plot! ‘Cause they’re scared that I’ve got such a gift!”). She hears the song and Keeny’s words. She knows what’s she looks like (“you think beautiful girls are gonna stick around forever? I should say Not! Any minute they’ll be out! Finished! Then it will be my turn!”; “I’m a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls! No one recognizes me!”) This is why she doesn’t want to sing in the Ziegfeld finale. She doesn’t want to be laughed at for her looks. It’s a moment we see such delicate vulnerability in someone we’ve come to know as very confident. And then to have someone so attractive take and interest in her…? She knows she’s the greatest star. What she is less familiar with is someone seeing beyond her looks to the woman she is. Marriages fail. But this is the only real knockdown she gets. (“It’s all happening so fast! Where the suffering you have to do before ya click?!” Eddie and Mrs. Brice say something like “Cheer up! Maybe you’ll suffer later!”). And she does stand at the end as says she’ll cry a little later as she rallies herself with the Parade reprise. |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Roman 03:54 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Roman 03:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| In addition, in that moment where she says it’s happening so fast, she also asks “where’s the hard knocks?” I mean, even FANNY would disagree with you. |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 02:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: The problem is… - ShowGoer 01:59 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| How many shows has Feldstein missed (including absences for COVID and tonsillitis) versus what she has performed? Do we have hard numbers? | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 04:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 04:33 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Singapore/Fling 02:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| 23-24 total, not “half.” You and I do not agree on aspects of her performance but I fully agree with your post above. Nothing about her performing the role during this challenging season of absences or her exit has any impact on any other show. Nor is this some kind of industry wide teachable moment. Enough. I just watched the cast wish her well on Instagram. I join them, without reservation. |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Roman 03:43 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Singapore/Fling 02:35 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| I believe over 30. | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Indavidzopinion 06:15 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Roman 03:43 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| In more than 50 years of going to the theatre and hearing stories about the theatre, I do not recall such a steady stream of bile and denunciation streaming out like water coming out of a fire hydrant opened at full blast, aimed at a young performer! | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 08:06 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Indavidzopinion 06:15 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| What bile? | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 07:37 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Indavidzopinion 06:15 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Agreed, though I wouldn’t put Roman’s comment in that category. | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Indavidzopinion 08:07 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Singapore/Fling 07:37 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| I wasn’t speaking of Roman’s comment, by itself. This thing has gone on for months. So many people, ripping the young woman to shreds. What was her crime? Not having Streisand’s voice? Not auditioning for the part? Breaking long-standing rules by taking a day off to attend a wedding? One thing that attending last night’s performance showed me that those four big vocal numbers that go to the female star are only part of the show. There is a lot of comedy and “ shtick” for her to sell, as well. Good luck with that, Lea Michelle! | |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Last Edit: Roman 10:47 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| Posted by: Roman 10:46 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Indavidzopinion 08:07 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| You know, your last comment? Smells a bit … bilious. I can’t believe you’re kvetching about the “bile” aimed at Beanie while aiming some of your own at Lea. Is this happening? Or is it the hash? |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Last Edit: Roman 07:01 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| Posted by: Roman 06:55 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Indavidzopinion 06:15 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Facts are bile? I didn’t say anything about her performance. But it’s a fact that she missed about 30 performances. Get a grip. |
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| re: The problem is… | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:48 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The problem is… - Roman 06:55 pm EDT 07/31/22 | |
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| Indeed, a preponderance felt she was miscast in a show that doesn’t quite work. The advance dried up. Decisions were made. Disappointment was voiced. Of the sort I’ve seen in 5 decades of theater going in NYC. This was not some nadir in a response to a performance. Yet for mysterious reasons became a litmus test of sorts, particularly among those who did not actually see the show. | |
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