Review: FUNNY GIRL at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 28th May 2026.

No doubt many of you have seen the 1968 film of Funny Girl, starring the wonderful Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society are currently presenting the stage version of this musical, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and a book by Isobel Lennart, loosely adapted from the real life story. Funny Lady, from 1975, is the sequel film to Funny Girl.

Directed by Amanda Rowe, the musical direction is by Dylan Rufus, and has choreography by Kerry-Lynne Hauber. Rowe, drawing on a idea used a number of times before, has opted to have three performers fill the central role in order to show different facets of Fanny Brice.

Before the performance begins, the red curtains are closed and, in front of them, is the ‘ghost light’. This is a simple safety lamp that is left on when the theatre is empty so that the first person to come in has some light to prevent any accidents as they make their way to the lighting switchboard. There are also some superstitions surrounding it, hence the name.

We begin in the Jewish slums of New York and watch her rise to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. She was born Fania Borach on 29th October 1891 and, in 1908, she dropped out of school to work in a Burlesque revue. Only two years later, she had been discovered and was headlining in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1910 and 1911, returning to the Follies in 1921, and staying into the 1930s. She also worked in film and television. She was only 59 when she died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 29th May 1951.

Her personal life was far from the success of her show business career. In her late teens she had a short marriage to Frank White, a barber. Shortly after the divorce she began living with Nick Arnstein, only to lose him when he was imprisoned in Sing Sing for wiretapping fraud in 1915. She married him in 1918, after his release, and a week after his divorce from his first wife. He was soon back in Leavenworth prison for two years for selling stolen Wall Street bonds, this second incarceration being part of this musical.

She eventually divorced him in 1927 due to his infidelity. She then married Billy Rose in 1929, divorcing him in 1938. The film and musical play with the facts, presenting Arnstein as her first love, and having them marry and have a daughter before his imprisonment, separating immediately upon his release. Their daughter, Frances, actually married Ray Stark, who produced both the original musical and the film.

Olivia Sutton, Sarah Hamilton, and Sophie Stokes share the central role, each taking on a period in Fanny Brice’s career: the beginner, the star, and the married woman, the three of them occasionally onstage singing together. Each brings their own version of Fanny to the performance, with their own individual singing voices and styles, creating complementing characterisations to expand on Fanny’s persona. Individually, and together, they are superb.

Daniel Hamilton plays the man for whom she falls heavily, the con man and gambler, Nick Arnstein. As her star rises, however, his falls. Hamilton gives a standout performance in the role.

Carolyn Adams appears as Fanny's mother Rose, with Wendy Rayner as her rather negative, constantly gossiping friend, Mrs Strakosh. They generate quite a few laughs from their interactions. Anne Doherty, as Mrs. O’Malley, and Renie Lloyd-Jones, as Mrs. Meeker, are the other two friends who make up the regular comical card-playing foursome in Rose’s saloon.

Fanny’s first job is with Tom Keeney, played by Nicholas Bishop, whose choreographer is Eddie Ryan, played by Thomas Sheldon. Eddie becomes Fanny’s loyal and supportive friend, who later goes on to become the chorographer for Florenz Ziegfeld, played by David Kilsby. Bishop and Kilsby both give creditable interpretations of their characters, albeit with a somewhat dodgy Irish accent from Bishop, and Sheldon gives a very energetic reading to the role of Eddie.

The chorus, who all have minor roles to play, look and sound very fine indeed, with good harmonies, and sharply executing choreography clearly devised to be within their capabilities. Like the principals, they get to wear many colourful and period effective costumes by Rosie Fergusson.

Unfortunately, the performance was let down a little by occasional intonation problems within the orchestra, particularly in the early stages, but it was the sound that really marred the production, with late or missing microphone cues throughout and, at one point, an offstage microphone left on, causing distracting ‘Noises Off’; amplified whispering voices from the wings, and a couple of explosive coughs.

That aside, there is plenty of fun to be had in this light-hearted musical, and the audience was suitably appreciative, offering plenty of applause during the show, and at the end of the performance.

Photography, Pro Shots.

Fanny Brice, singing Second Hand Rose.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Direction of a Play - Top 3

1. Joe Mantello - Death of a Salesman

21.2% of votes

2. Duncan MacMillan, Jeremy Herrin - Every Brilliant Thing

15.5% of votes

3. Whitney White - Liberation

9.8% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats