Kazan Joins Benefit Performance Of Brinberg As Streisand In FUNNY GIRL 7/11

Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe Nominee Lainie Kazan has signed on to appear on stage in ReVision Theatre's Benefit Performance of Funny Girl starring Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand. This special one night only show will take place at the Paramount Theatre on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park on Saturday, July 11th, at 8 pm.

Kazan served as understudy to Barbra Streisand in the Original Broadway Production of Funny Girl, finally getting to go on eighteen months into the run when the star was felled by a serious throat problem. Her rave reviews got her on Dean Martin's variety series where she appeared twenty-six times. Other television work includes a recurring role as Aunt Freida on the Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny and as Kirstie Alley's mother on Veronica's Closet, and guest shots on St. Elsewhere (resulting in an Emmy nomination), The Paper Chase, Touched by an Angel, Boston Legal, and Will & Grace. She also was featured in My Big Fat Greek Life, a short-lived series based on her film with Nia Vardalos. Kazan returned to Broadway to recreate her film role for the musical adaptation of My Favorite Year, earning a Tony Award nomination for her performance. More recently she completed a stint in The Vagina Monologues. She has also appeared in regional productions of A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha, Gypsy, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hello Dolly!, and Fiddler on the Roof, among others. Kazan's feature films include Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart, My Favorite Year, Harry and the Hendersons, Beaches, The Cemetery Club, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Gigli, and You Don't Mess with Johan.

The show is directed and choreographed by Connor Gallagher and music directed by John Fischer. Tickets are available online now at www.ReVisionTheatre.org or by calling 732-455-3059. Premium Seats are still available and tickets are priced at $100, $50, and $25.

With music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill, Funny Girl has some of the funniest and most touching songs in the history of musical theatre including "I'm the Greatest Star", "People", "You are Woman, I am Man", and "Don't Rain on my Parade". Funny Girl follows the career of Fanny Brice, one of the funniest women of early American musical theatre. Fanny Brice made her first appearance in Vaudeville in 1910 and became "The Greatest Star" when she was discovered by Florenz Ziegfield and performed as a headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies for the next 25 years. Funny Girl is the story of Fanny Brice's rise to fame and her overcoming a variety of obstacles including her heart wrenching relationship with her husband, Nicky Arnstein.

For the first time in history, Fanny Brice will be played by a male, a complete "revision" of Funny Girl. Steven Brinberg is the premier Barbra Streisand Impressionist, having performed his show, Simply Barbra, both on stage & screen. Steven accurately portrays Streisand physically and vocally.

The Broadway musical Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in March of 1964, and ran until July of 1967. Barbra Streisand went on to star, making her debut, in the 1968 film of Funny Girl opposite Omar Sharif. She was nominated and won an "Oscar" her first time out. The song "People", sung by Barbra Streisand, became a standard around the world. The score to Funny Girl and the song "People" both won Grammy Awards in 1965.

ReVision Theatre is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional regional theatre company dedicated to producing invigorating theatre with a fresh new perspective reaching the diverse community of Asbury Park and Monmouth County. ReVision Theatre's Producing Artistic Directors, Thomas Morrissey, David E. Leidholdt, and Stephen Bishop Seely, produce reinventions of previously produced classics, overlooked or forgotten work in a new way, and new work with a fresh voice. The company serves as a home for local artists and writers. ReVision Theatre also believes in the importance of theatre education and teaches children and adult theatre classes. ReVision Theatre produces readings, workshops, cabarets, concerts, and mainstage productions. ReVision Theatre's 2008-2009 Season will end with the blockbuster musical, The Full Monty (August 12-September 6) at the Carousel Theater on the
Boardwalk in Asbury Park.

Visit www.RevisionTheatre.org or call 732-455-3059 for show calendars and more information.