Funny Girl

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 3:48pm

Okay, If Gypsy can run in 2003, have a City Center production in '07 and then run again in '08, Funny Girl should be able to have a shot (with Stephanie J. Block, of course.)

Join this:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/causes/show/93483?recruiter_id=2097446&m=56806



Don't have a facebook? Just sign the petition.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sjbfanny/


I've been a member a long time and I'm not a baby--this is a very very old username. I know how snide all of you can be; but really, you're softies. You probably want this production as much as I do in your heart of hearts. Even if you don't, just be nice.

[Hulmeman]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 3:51pm

There is a production at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England at the moment, doing good business I understand.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:05pm

"Okay, If Gypsy can run in 2003, have a City Center production in '07 and then run again in '08, Funny Girl should be able to have a shot"

Gypsy has a good book.
Funny Girl has a book that stinks on ice.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:06pm

You mean, "on rollerskates."

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:07pm

"You probably want this production as much as I do in your heart of hearts."

Well, as much as we may want it in our 'heart of hearts', you need to consider how important it was for Barbra Streisand, and you need to consider the fact that it worked because of her. It contains a brilliant score, but the book has problems. Barbra was a newcomer. She had the perfect look, powerhouse voice, and she had raw but perfected talent. That's what the role calls for.

While Stephanie has a great voice, and looks that could work for the part, she's not so much a newcomer, and she doesn't have that spark that the role needs. She's missing something. Kritzer, I heard, was marvelous a few years back when she played the role. She has the voice and the looks, and if anyone had to bring Funny Girl back, it's Kritzer.

I doubt many producers are looking to revive Funny Girl, because the star will always be compared to Streisand, and it really was her role.

Updated On: 6/17/08 at 04:07 PM

[parislover87]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:14pm

if anyone can bring it back, it's murney

but no one can bring it back like barbra did it... so i say let the memory and the cast recording live in instead of tainting it with stephanie's comparatively muted performance

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:32pm

I think it is funny how the people on this boards have nothing but negative words-- all the while they cannot hold a candle to what they are judging. Obviously they fall into the "those that can't do" category.

Honestly, for liberals, you all are incredibly closed minded people.
Babs is great. But in this day and age when all we are getting for our $121.25 is something we saw not 20, not 10, sometimes not even 5 years ago--we need new takes on old favorites.

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:44pm

I hear Ana Gasteyer was magnificent in this role.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:45pm

This question comes up on regular intervals. Anyone listening to the sparkling cast album would assume FUNNY GIRL was solid gold. Read the script..it was a mess barely pulled into shape for opening night. (The final scene was being rehearsed just before the house opened.)

A number of improvements were made for the film version, but those changes canot be incorporated into the stage production without getting Columbia pictures on board.

If anything a dynamic star might expose the weakness of the script. Look what happened to Faith Prince in BELLS ARE RINGING.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:46pm

"all the while they cannot hold a candle to what they are judging"

You don't need to be an artist to dislike a painting.

"we need new takes on old favorites."

Yes, when the book allows. No one is saying that we can't revive an old favorite. Why has 'Mack and Mabel' never survived? It's score is incredible, one of the best to ever be heard on stage, but the book has problems. No one has found a way to make it work, yet. 'Funny Girl' worked because of Barbra. She was a knockout, and made the audience members look past the less-than-perfect book. If 'Funny Girl' were to be revived audiences would expect the screenplay from the movie (which was admittedly better than the book for the stage show), but the book for the stage show would be used. Audiences may not look past the book if the star isn't as dynamic as Streisand was. Stephanie is not as dynamic.

Not all of us here are liberals. Maybe you should get down off your high horse and take in others' opinions, even if they don't agree with you.

You know, for someone who wanted everyone to be nice to them, you sure are a bitch.

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:48pm

i don't have the answers as to how to fix it-- I just think it deserves a chance.
We are reviving a hell of a lot. It could be a broadway fixer-upper.

[artscallion]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:51pm

"I think it is funny how the people on this boards have nothing but negative words-- all the while they cannot hold a candle to what they are judging. Obviously they fall into the "those that can't do" category.

Honestly, for liberals, you all are incredibly closed minded people."

Hey! You told us you weren't a baby.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:54pm

I have a DVD of Stephanie's FUNNY GIRL and though I do give her kudos for effort, I just didn't like her Fanny. It just didn't mesh. She DID look jewish ethnic, but not the ugly duckling Fanny Brice jewish ethnic required, so certain parts you had to just go with.

Barbra fit the bill more ways than just being able to sing the score.

Here's the real Fanny Brice:



Here's that Barbra person:



Here's the very pretty Stephanie J. Block attempting jewish schtick:

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:56pm

any chance of sharing that?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:56pm

Well yes, there are a lot of revivals running but GYPSY, SOUTH PACIFIC, SUNDAY IN THE PARK, CHORUS LINE and the long-running CHICAGO did not need "fixing up." Shows that do are really the domain of Encores where the glorious scores can be heard in concert. (Remember that FUNNY GIRL was done in concert a few yeasr ago, but no one came away from that with dreams of a full-scale revival.)

The best way to see FUNNY GIRL is to watch the film.

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:01pm

artscallion-
I'm not. I don't appreciate flat humor nor do I engage in arguments merely backed by "he said-she said" and name-calling.

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:04pm

sondheimgeek-
No high-horse here. I appreciate opinions- I don't appreciate when they are backed in such a way that personally attacks someone.

And good- bitches get the job done.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:07pm

Hmm, funny because I didn't throw any person attacks until you called anyone who disagreed with you close minded, a liberal, and suggested that because we don't support what you are saying, that we can't hold a candle to what we're criticizing. Cute.

Updated On: 6/17/08 at 05:07 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:07pm

Didn't you just call someone "moronic" for not sharing your enthusiasm for Block?

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:08pm

I'm a liberal. That isn't what I said. And I wasn't speaking from a political standpoint.

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:08pm

Yep I did.
...but I said they might surprise me. Updated On: 6/17/08 at 05:08 PM

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:08pm

"It could be a broadway fixer-upper."

What is Funny Girl? A '74 Buick?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:09pm

And you reconcile that with "I appreciate opinions- I don't appreciate when they are backed in such a way that personally attacks someone" how, exactly?

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:10pm

according to you, it might as well be.

[xluckystar2107x]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:12pm

I do, I appreciate this in fact. Except-- not the off-topic nature of it.
I appreciate that you disagree with me. But I want you all to actually put up a good fight. Not just saying: "well, I just don't see it"; or, it's flawed; or, Stephanie is a big "NO". That is not a valuable opinion. Maybe that is what I am protesting: people thinking negatively but never going into detail as to why.

Here is the question I pose:
Why is this board filled with Stephanie-haters?
I truly cannot grasp why that is.
I could probably write a book on why she deserves recognition and praise tenfold.
Updated On: 6/17/08 at 05:12 PM