Interview: Kennedy Wilson of FUNNY GIRL at Footlite Musicals

The classic musical Funny Girl tells the story of Fanny Brice, a talented but unconventional young woman who quickly rises from chorus girl to a true Broadway star through her own determination and comedic brilliance. Along the way, her soaring career contrasts with the complicated romance between her and Nick Arnstein, forcing Fanny to choose between love and the spotlight. 

I had the pleasure of meeting with the wonderfully talented Kennedy Wilson to talk about her experience playing the leading role in Footlite Musical’s upcoming production of Funny Girl which opens this Friday.

LP - What drew you to the role of Fanny Brice? 

KW - I would say that what draws me to Fanny the most is that her story closely resembles my own in a lot of ways. In being an unconventional-looking performer. And not necessarily struggling with confidence in yourself and your abilities but having everybody tell you that you don’t quite have the look, well you’re not exactly what we’re looking for… It is really interesting to see how Fanny relies on comedy a lot and that is something that I find myself doing as well. It has to be a kind of funny that I think only comes from being funny looking. You learn not to take yourself too seriously. And it can kind of be a good reminder to other people not to either. 

LP - Did you research the real life Fanny Brice or did you lean into studying Barbara Streisand’s performance?

KW - As much as I worship Barbara, and everybody should.. in general, I do not love modeling my own performances after other people who have done the role. As iconic as I think it is, and I think that they have kind of become inseparable: Fanny Brice and Barbara Streisand. I would say a big thing to avoid is playing Kennedy Wilson as Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice. So I try to cut out that middle man, I try to give my most authentic interpretation of Fanny Brice, and my own performance. I kind of had to remind myself that Fanny Brice was a person, and her story as she became a performer, yeah, she was a hell of a singer, but more than that, she was known for being a performer, period. People liked that she was funny. People liked that she was off-beat. Again, even Fanny Brice was not the singer that Barbara Streisand is. So doing that research, seeing how her quirkiness and comedy really was the draw, not her vocals… it gave me a lot more confidence stepping into the role myself.

LP - What have you learned through playing this role?

KW - It has been such an insane honor to play two dream roles that I have had pretty much since I began doing theatre, right back to back. It has also given me a lot of confidence in myself as a performer. I relate to Fanny Brice in a lot of ways, including: well, I’m the funny one, the comic, I know you don’t want me playing the pretty princess, but I can play a damn good wicked witch. But I found myself limiting myself even before others could, in the same way that you kind of make yourself the butt of the joke before someone else does it first. Something else that I love about this role and how it has made me grow as a performer is that she does have those comedic beats but there is a lot of heartfelt, like nitty gritty, emotional, real stuff that she is dealing with. I am getting to do the things that I love and that I am confident in and getting to show an audience that I am funny… but also getting to stretch into something else… more poignant, really raw and layered…  like an onion, or an ogre. 

LP - What do you think today’s modern audience can take away from Fanny’s story?

KW - I think that now more than ever, because of social media culture and influencer culture and kind of the way that everyone has a piece of technology in their pocket that puts us on the world’s stage every day. So every selfie you post, every video you post, every comment you leave, you are open to constant scrutiny and comparison. Especially with our culture being so looks-focused it is good to kind of be able to get away from that and know that my value and my ability is not tied to the way that I look. And something that I really love about Fanny Brice is that she doesn’t try to shrink herself or change herself to fit into the mold that she is told that she should.

LP - Tell me more about some of your fellow castmates.

KW -   I have been having an incredible time with my Nick Arnstein, played by Aaron Mann. He and I were called back as romantic leads together for Kinky Boots and neither of us were cast. And then when we were called back together for this one we were like, yeah, this is ours! As a typically comedic actor I don’t often get to play romantic roles so this was foreign to me. Aaron has created a space for the on-stage intimacy and romantic scenes to be very comfortable and secure. Also, Andrew Ranck, who plays Mr. Ziegfeld, we have had a really fun time bouncing off of each other. We are finding the right balance of how far we can tip-toe up to the line and finding how far we can push the comedy together. 

Footlite Musicals is located at 1847 Alabama St, Indianapolis, IN 46202

Funny Girl performances are: March 6–8, 12–15, 19–22

Regular tickets are only $25 — take advantage of Footlite’s discount tickets: footlite.org/funny-girl

• $15 on first Sunday and Thursday

• $15 age 17 and under

• $20 for age 65+

• $20 for students

• 15% off for groups of 10+

FREE parking is available in the private lot located just behind the theatre. Access is available from New Jersey Street.