Review: Talented singing and dancing elevate classic storyline of Fanny Brice in ‘Funny Girl’ at First Interstate Center for the Arts
“You ever feel like your past is watching you?”
At the top of “Funny Girl,” audiences see Fanny Brice (Hannah Shankman) sitting at her dressing table backstage, her star slightly dimmed because of the runaround her professional gambler husband Nick Arnstein (Stephan Mark Lukas) has given her.
The next moment, we see the beginning of that past, when Brice was a bright-eyed aspiring performer living with her mother on Henry Street in New York City. From trying to get a job with Tom Keeney’s troupe (David Foley Jr.) to catching the eye of Florenz Ziegfeld (Walter Coppage) to headlining his “Ziegfeld Follies,” audiences see how Brice became a renowned star of stage, film and radio.
It’s easy to root for good-natured, naturally funny Brice on this journey to stardom, and it’s a joy to watch, as she goes from feeling like “a bagel on a plate of onion rolls” to a Broadway star.
“Funny Girl,” which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Barbra Streisand, who originated the role of Brice on Broadway, features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and a book by Isobel Lennart.
The touring production uses the same revised book Harvey Fierstein created for the 2022 Broadway revival, which both trims down the show and also adds moments to clarify the storyline.
In only her second week as Brice full-time, Shankman, who previously understudied the role, was an absolute star. Shankman’s voice was as pristine as they come, especially during “I’m the Greatest Star,” “People” and, of course, “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
She leans wholeheartedly into the physical comedy of lighter moments and firmly stands her ground when Brice stands up for herself. Shankman clearly cares deeply for Brice, and that love reveals itself more and more with each song, dance and wisecrack.
Though I wanted to caution her against falling for Arnstein, knowing what was to come, it was lovely to watch Shankman fall head over heels for Lukas’ character. He played Arnstein with the perfect mix of charming and swarmy, making Brice, and the audience, feel like he really did mean what he said, all the while losing more and more of Brice’s money.
The trio of concerned mothers, Melissa Manchester (Mrs. Brice), Christine Bunuan (Mrs. Meeker) and Cheryl Stern (Mrs. Strakosh), were effortlessly funny, getting big laughs from smaller moments, like their frequent poker games.
Though Brice was the leading lady in her “Follies” numbers, she had a solid troupe of performers to support her. So too does Shankman. The ensemble — Vinny Andaloro, Jack Bianchi, Courtney Brady, Kate E. Cook, Connor Coughlin, Joel Douglas, Annabelle Duffy, MathewCQ Fedorek, Alex Hartman, Kathy Liu, Missy Marion, Bryan Charles Moore, Sami Murphy, Emily Anne Nester, Myah Segura, Brendan Sheehan, Jordon Taylor, Sean Seamus Thompson, Travis Ward-Osborne and Annaliese Wilbur — deserve a big round of applause for playing so well off of Shankman’s Brice.
Whether trying to perform while a young Brice had two left feet or dancing with giant flower headpieces on the Ziegfeld stage, the ensemble added a lot of skill and energy to the show.
Speaking of dancing, the tap choreography by Ayodele Casel was so fun to watch, especially Izaiah Montaque Harris, who shined in general as a dancer but also as Eddie Ryan, with his unwavering support of Brice through thick and thin.
Leah Platt, as Emma and Mrs. Nadler, also sweetly rode the waves with Brice, sharing the ups and downs that came with loving a man like Arnstein.
It’s easy to watch “Funny Girl” and think “Well, that was a great show!” And “How about that singing and dancing?” but when you take a moment and remember that that singing and dancing tells the story of a real person who really did make it big, it feels even more important to pay homage to a trailblazer like Brice.