Theatre Talk: In Our Own Little Corner

[EtheltoTillie]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:22 AM, Rinaldo said:

I'm not sure what I can have an opinion on, as I haven't seen this production. In the two productions I have seen (Signature Theatre VA, Broadway revival), it was very effective, with a vaudevillian nightmarish time-jumping atmosphere. It would think it needs strong casting and direction to come across with its potential effect. At its original off-Broadway presentation, audiences tended toward the hostile, but it sounds like you were more just bored? I can't say what may have happened in production; certainly I don't find Sondheim's contribution weak, though the music is almost all pastiche (imitation of older styles), which would need to be well characterized in performance.

Rinaldo, I think you're right about my being bored, but what I meant about weak Sondheim is that it just didn't seem to have any important point to it or cohesiveness.  Just one of his lesser efforts. 

[aradia22]

So... I have been a lazy bean. I just come home from the theater tired. Today was also tiring and a nightmare subway situation. But the show I saw left me so energized that I want to get my thoughts out while they're fresh. Also, I took fewer notes so it'll be harder to review it in a few weeks.

Tonight, I saw Black No More. Before I get into anything else, it's really good and you should go see it. Is it perfect? No. But it's very close to being there and what is working is worth the ticket price. Plus, the cast is just stacked. Top tier... Brandon Victor Dixon, Lillias White, Howard McGillin. Second tier... Tamika Lawrence, Ephraim Sykes, Theo Stockman. If you recognize anyone in the ensemble, you know they're super talented... Mary Page Nance, Edward Watts, etc. but everyone was good. No weak links in the ensemble. Everyone is killing it and they could all star in their own shows. 

I usually don't start here but the costumes (Qween Jean) and choreo (Bill T. Jones) for this show are BRINGING IT. The costumes are so good. It's not that they are all fashionable or expensive-looking. But the design is so clear and so strong you'd see it even in a muslin. And yeah, a lot of them look damn good. Finally someone putting Lillias White in the beautiful gowns she deserves! The fit on the costumes for the diverse range of body types in this show. *chef's kiss* Give me this all the time. The choreography was incredible. It communicated so much. I have had some issues with the style of choreo where the ensemble just flops around (and occasionally has to move furniture and set pieces) when they're not the focus of the scene. This is not that. Every body on that stage has a reason for moving and a reason for moving the way they do. 

PLOT

Spoiler

The story boils down to Faust with tweaks. BVD plays Max, a salesman (?) who lives in Harlem who feels limited by the color of his skin but also has a rather mercenary POV. One night Helen and her brother Ashby are up from Atlanta and Helen and Max share a dance. Though they have chemistry, it ends badly with Helen openly rejecting Max to protect him from Ashby (she uses the n-word) and the next day Max is motivated to sign away his life to Dr. Junius Crookman who needs a first test subject for his Black No More device that uses science (something about glands and vitiligo) to change subjects from black to white. (This is only conveyed in the show by the way characters respond to each other after the change, not makeup or any other visual cue.) 

Max heads down to Georgia to try and take advantage of his new privilege and also to look for Helen. He struggles a bit at first until Reverend Givens (Howard McGillin) happens to overhear him talking to himself and takes an interest in his insights on race relations. Things escalate as Max is drawn deeper into this thinly veiled allusion to the KKK and basically becomes Grand Wizard and married to Helen (the reverend's daughter) almost overnight. Max gets through it by turning their ire away from "negroes" and Dr. Crookman and towards science since science enabled the Black No More device/process. But very soon Max is peddling racial resentment as much as anyone else in the organization. Helen goes along with it all thinking that she can use Max's success to save up the money to get away from her family and this life... though she very quickly ends up pregnant. Ashby is resentful at being passed over.

Meanwhile, in Harlem, the BNM device has been too successful and it is destroying the community. Madame Sisseretta (Lillias White) and Buni (Tamika Lawrence) sing about the ways they have played into it by selling skin lightening and hair straightening treatments and buying them rather than embracing themselves as they are. Agamemnon (Ephraim Sykes) the poet and activist devoted to black excellence and Madame Sisseretta push Buni to go to Atlanta to bring Max back to Harlem to denounce BNM and Crookman. Buni sings a song basically about being a supporting character but needing to act unselfishly out of love (not romantic). 

Buni manages to get to Max (now Matthew Fisher) safely, but he refuses to go with her because of the baby. Crookman (after using the BNM device on himself) now calling himself Blackman and appearing white, offers Max and his organization money to now turn the ire of the whites they manipulate with racial grievance onto new minority groups. (Honestly, I was a little distracted at this point and didn't totally follow Crookman's plan and what it had to do with continuing to scam people with Black No More.) Buni and Helen meet and Buni delivers some hard truths to her about how racist she really is. Max decides to give the hateful speech so they'll have enough money for the baby to leave. Blackman tells Ashby the truth about Max/Matthew. In a rage, Ashby attacks his sister, inducing labor. Max gives his speech and returns to find that his daughter has been born but Helen has died. He goes to tell people to "stop hating" but before he can say much more, Ashby shoots him. He is carried offstage like a martyr with a prostrating procession behind him. Crookman plans to go to cities with black communities across the US selling Black No More but Buni faces off with him and eventually slits his throat/pushes him into the oncoming train? (There are strobe lighting effects.) Buni returns to Harlem where she and Agamemnon (and also the community?) raise Max and Helen's daughter. 

BVD is fantastic. His voice is so smooth and it's just gorgeous whenever the music dips into R&B. But his rapping is also solid and clear and he can sell the dramatic portions and little moments of comedy. If there was a weakness, it is what I will get to more later which is a lack of chemistry with Jenn Damiano though I think a huge component of that is the writing. Lillias is as incredible as expected. She doesn't have a big part but she makes the most of it in her beautiful gowns with her knockout voice. And finally someone in this era who can actually scat properly. 

As I said, the show is basically Faust but there is some VERY strong influence from Chicago and Kander & Ebb in general and also a bit of Little Shop of Horrors (though that's also Faust). I feel like the show gets a little stuck in how much it wants to be parable/allegory and how much it wants to move beyond that. There's a wonderful big cast in this show but a lot of the storytelling gets mired in fate and representational characters/abstraction but not enough for it to be clear and thus acceptable. For example, if you just say, oh, it's Faust, then it's clear why we're in this story where Max has made a devil's bargain and he has to be the one to save his soul... or not. Instead there is some convoluted reasoning in the middle where

Spoiler

everyone is convinced that they have to get Max back in order to denounce Crookman and BNM. But the show also seems to want to free us from that hero's journey/chosen one stuff. So we get Tamika as Buni singing this song about love that still feels like it's putting all the responsibility on a black woman to save everyone while being the supporting character. But then she gets to kill Crookman and save everyone from his plans, swerving away from the Little Shop ending. But she also ends up falling hysterically into Agamemnon's arms (right after, because it's on stage so they can ellide time) and I do kind of feel like we lose any suggestion of her potentially being not-straight as she falls into the maternal role of caring for Max and Helen's daughter and potentially coupling up with Agamemnon (though that part isn't totally clear). 

OK... criticisms. The show still needs tightening in the pacing and structure and some of the lyrics. I worried that I was going to struggle a bit because lyrically dense rap is not my thing but there were only a few places where I thought it was a little lyrically cluttered. Like a line or two in a verse here and there. There were even moments the actors tripped over a line so it wasn't just audience comprehension that was an issue. I do think the rise and fall of the show (like, this is a energetic moment... this is a sad moment...) isn't quite pitched correctly, some things feel rushed and others feel quite drawn out. But I think it also comes down to direction. Stronger direction could make it all work better even as it is now. Right now I feel like all the other parts are so strong that it's hiding some weaknesses in the direction, because, for example, if you took out the choreo, I don't think the rest of the staging is nearly as strong. I do think in the Harlem scenes, the gold scaffolding can pass for art deco but for most the show it feels like people moving around a bare stage. A lot of the "set" consists of the word "HARLEM" in red letters and "NORDICA" in blue letters. There are tables, chairs, props, etc. as needed but again, the choreo does a lot of the heavy lifting as do the very capable actors.

Helen doesn't work as a character. I hate to say it as I love Jennifer Damiano, but it's partially her fault. Helen needs to be more or less.

Spoiler

The show relies on instalove for it's main couple which is tough because that song is okay but it's not a banger. You need a much stronger initial romantic song to sell instalove like this. But also, her voice isn't suited to R&B. She doesn't have the smoothness that would signal through music some kind of soulfulness or affinity. But she also doesn't sing it with enough properness for that awkwardness to feel like an intentional choice. There are other moments like that but one that stands out is her big solo that's more rock which is where her voice feels more comfortable. But the song is dumb and I don't know if it's supposed to be. This is either a song that reveals her shallowness. Or else Trotter is just not capable of really empathizing with her character and making her more than the ideal/prize to be won a la all the other Faust stories. Basically, she's no Audrey from Little Shop. It just needs to be clear. Is she supposed to be silly or am I supposed to sympathize and take her seriously. I feel like it's trying to be Somewhere That's Green or She Used to Be Mine and it feels like a very shallow denial of personality responsibility and abdication of choice. And she keeps mentioning being blonde. Following it through, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about the ending. Is she a tragic figure and is Max a martyr? Or did we leave them behind as characters we couldn't take with us because they acted too late and were unable to show allegiance and stand behind convictions they purported to hold? Personally, I took the view that the ending represented Love/Emotion (Buni) and the Thoughtful/Academic Activism (Agamemnon) finally uniting (possibly with the community) to guide the next generation and raise Max and Helen's child.

But I don't know if that was what the show wanted me to take away or if I was genuinely supposed to find Max and Helen's instalove and messy, messy relationship and struggles compelling.

The last thing is that while I totally get writing a show for yourself, Dr. Crookman would be better played by someone other than Tariq Trotter/Black Thought. He's not horrible. He's just clearly not an experienced actor and he's on the stage with some incredible actors. Crookman should be such a fun bad guy. He should be charismatic but intimidating, malicious and gleeful in his evil doings. Trotter has one good moment when 

Spoiler

he's manipulating Ashby and laughing evilly 

but that's really it. The rest of the time he delivers his lines like... they're lines. I don't even get MC charisma like on the pretty basic song about making money. 

[aradia22]

My heart cannot handle the wholesomeness of Christy Altomare's engagement announcement video.

Edited February 10, 2022 by aradia22

[Scarlett45]

I’m taking my Mom to see Six for her birthday. She says she wants brunch, then a nap, and then to go to the theatre. I saw it on 2019 when it was at the Shakespeare Theatre here in Chicago and it was amazing. 

[theatremouse]

I saw it there too. Wow. I forgot that was 2019.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

I’m taking my Mom to see Six for her birthday. She says she wants brunch, then a nap, and then to go to the theatre. I saw it on 2019 when it was at the Shakespeare Theatre here in Chicago and it was amazing. 

My friend saw it last week with her daughter. They really liked it. 

[aradia22]

I saw the matinee of Intimate Apparel yesterday (thoughts to come). Thinking about it later at night, I finally realized something about Caroline, or Change. Obviously, the year the show takes place is significant given the civil rights movement and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But I was so focused on Larry in Vietnam and Dotty taking night classes that I failed to realize that Caroline being illiterate would mean she obviously couldn't vote. It gives even more weight to "Gonna Pass Me A Law" and Noah repeatedly calling her the president when she can't even participate in the most basic part of the legislative process (electing representatives). 

[Dr.OO7]

Beatrice Penny Toure just became the THIRD black Christine in Phantom Of The Opera (she was either the understudy and/or is going to be the London alternate)

[aradia22]

 

[aradia22]

A little chaotic but honestly, still funny. These sketches throw so much at you that you have to laugh at something even if they're uneven

 

 

[aradia22]

Quote

"For me standing in this very building sixty-four years ago at the start of my Broadway career, it would have been inconceivable that my name would be on the building today," said Mr. Jones of Shubert's decision to rename the Cort Theatre in his honor. "Let my journey from then to now be an inspiration for all aspiring actors."

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Shubert-Organization-Will-Rename-the-Cort-Theatre-After-James-Earl-Jones-20220302

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 2/28/2022 at 4:14 PM, aradia22 said:

A little chaotic but honestly, still funny. These sketches throw so much at you that you have to laugh at something even if they're uneven

 

 

The video is not available in my country but I am guessing this must be the traditional big musical . . . pastiche . . . from John Mulaney's recent SNL?

[aradia22]

Quote

Tony Award nominee Will Swenson will play iconic singer/songwriter Neil Diamond in the Broadway-bound musical A Beautiful Noise. Tickets go on sale today to the general public for the world premiere engagement at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Will-Swenson-Will-Lead-Neil-Diamond-Musical-A-BEAUTIFUL-NOISE-20220304

[bosawks]

1 hour ago, aradia22 said:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Will-Swenson-Will-Lead-Neil-Diamond-Musical-A-BEAUTIFUL-NOISE-20220304

I don't know if it will be good but it'll probably be a lot of fun.

[Spartan Girl]

Saw Mean Girls today! Nadina Hassan was Regina George; she was really good. She reminded me strongly of Nasim Pedrad. 

On the whole, the musical version was entertaining. My one gripe is the “I’d Rather Be Me” number is wasted on Janis, who is still the worst (the character, not the actress). Annoyed that the updated story STILL doesn’t call her out on any of her crap. Couldn’t Tina Fey have at least added a line where Cady finally tells her to stop calling her “Caddy”?

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

My one gripe is the “I’d Rather Be Me” number is wasted on Janis, who is still the worst (the character, not the actress).

 I don't really know the musical but I have heard “I’d Rather Be Me” and I felt like I was integrating all of sullen hostile Janis and appreciating it in that way. After I saw your post I went and watched the official music video from the stage show and was taken aback  to see the extent to which it seems to be a to be a straightforwardly positive girl power anthem.  I'm going to go back to picturing Lizzy Caplan.

[Spartan Girl]

12 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

 I don't really know the musical but I have heard “I’d Rather Be Me” and I felt like I was integrating all of sullen hostile Janis and appreciating it in that way. After I saw your post I went and watched the official music video from the stage show and was taken aback  to see the extent to which it seems to be a to be a straightforwardly positive girl power anthem.  I'm going to go back to picturing Lizzy Caplan.

Oh don’t get me wrong, the song is great. But just like in the movie, Janis doesn’t really take any responsibility for anything she did. She acts like she was haplessly burned by both Regina and Cady when she was the one that got Cady to join the Plastics for her own ends. Her “I’m a bitch but at least I’m real, you’re just a phony” doesn’t really help up. She was just as manipulative as Regina but she thought she was better because she was a arty nonconformist. Cady was no saint, but she got caught up in the power of popularity and at least owned up to that and apologized to the people she hurt.

Aaron was slightly better than he was in the movie. Slightly.

And the musical does let Karen shine and not just as the dumb blonde comic relief. She got in some really good lines, and turned out to be one of the few genuinely nice characters in the show.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Spartan Girl]

Daniel Radcliffe to Star in Merrily We Roll Along revival

Pamela Anderson making her Broadway debut in Chicago

Psyched for Daniel to be in an off-Broadway musical.

Pamela…well, she can give it her best shot.

[aradia22]

Someone bumped a thread with this article on BWW and I'm reposting here because it's funny...

http://www.newnownext.com/museum-broadway/07/2019/

[RedElf]

After two years of darkness, the Sacramento Music Circus, the summer theater in the round Broadway shows, is re-opening, starting in June.  The shows are Kinky Boots, Carousel, Kiss Me Kate, Something Rotten, The Secret Garden, and The Color Purple.  The only one I'm really interested in is Carousel, so I'll be calling tomorrow to get a single show ticket.

 

[aradia22]

I finally got around to watching Reopening: The Broadway Revival that aired on PBS in January. It was like one long episode of On Stage. There were some people I wanted to hear more from. I did appreciate that it was very well-coordinated and they got a lot of useful footage beyond interviews, especially of opening nights and events. And some parts were wholesome and some people like Sara Bareilles came across very well. But some of them came across as very actor-y and privileged and out of touch. There's a world in which they could have easily edited around those parts. Still worth watching but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. 

ETA: I don't think this is the reason the Broadway.com vlogs haven't come back but if any of them were airing, I'm sure we'd see a lot of people being lax about covid protocols. This reminded me how iffy some people were behaving around that time and how much the entertainment industry operated by different rules. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by aradia22

[aradia22]

I missed the NYMF bankruptcy announcement (for obvious reasons given this story is dated January 2020). Still an interesting read.

https://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/news/the-new-york-musical-festival-is-dead_90400.html

Quote

Why did NYMF close?
The official reason is financial. A 2017 tax filing revealed the festival to have $96,000 in assets and $270,000 in liabilities, a debt burden that does not seem to have improved in the last two years. The New York Times reports that the festival's permanent staff had been working without pay since August, and that artistic director West Hyler submitted his resignation on January 1 after learning that participants in the 2019 festival still had not received their cut of the ticket sales. Executive director Scott Pyne and general manager George Youkim soon followed him out the door. On January 2, the board of directors announced that the festival would cease operation immediately. According to a press statement from the festival, "The Board and donors have been valiantly subsidizing NYMF operations for 15 years, but looking ahead, we do not see a clear path forward."

Scrappy young artists and producers are willing to take a loss on a festival production if they think it will result in exposure for their show and opportunities down the line. But NYMF had developed a reputation as amateur hour, hosting an ever-increasing number of vanity projects. Serious producers didn't show up, leading to fewer Broadway and off-Broadway transfers of NYMF musicals — although 2018's Emojiland just started previews for an off-Broadway run at the Duke on 42nd Street. It may very well be the final NYMF musical to do so. 

[...] While NYMF and FringeNYC weren't actually the launchpads many hoped they would be, their absence leaves some unsettling questions for young artists: How do you get a show produced on a New York stage? Do you need an MFA and an agent to even get in the door? And if only the wealthy and their children are able to afford careers in the theater, how representative will their work be of our society as a whole? The theater festivals didn't offer great answers to these questions, but in lieu of a better system, they were the best ones we had.

 

[RedElf]

"Diana the Musical" won five awards at this year’s Golden Raspberries, including worst picture, worst actress for Jeanna de Waal in the title role, worst director, worst supporting actress (Judy Kaye) and worst screenplay. It had been nominated in nine categories altogether.

 

[aradia22]

Such divided word of mouth after the first preview of Funny Girl (I'm lurking in ALL the threads). After the sitzprobe video, I'm inclined to believe those who find her vocals lacking and the chemistry with Ramin absent/offputting given the age difference but who are charmed by her humor and stage presence. Right now I don't think this is a show I'll be seeing for myself but things might change as there's not much else this season that interests me. Right now I've got off-Broadway stuff in mind and catching up on older shows (Company, Hadestown, etc.) depending on how covid cases/policies are looking. 

And eventually I will circle back to give my thoughts on Baby, Anyone Can Whistle, Intimate Apparel, Caroline or Change (the third time), Girl From the North Country, and Flying Over Sunset. I know I've been slacking on reporting back.

[aradia22]

Whoa... there are dates! Who will they cast? I really want this to be good but I'm not attached to it like say My Fair Lady or The King and I so as long as it's a decent, competent production, I'll probably be happy with it.

Quote

Next season, Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) will bring the world of Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT to vibrant life once again when it produces a new version of the classic tale, reimagined for the 21st century. Featuring a book by Academy and Emmy Award winning writer Aaron Sorkin, based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner, and direction by Bartlett Sher, Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT is scheduled to begin performances on Thursday, November 3 and open on Thursday, December 8 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Aaron-Sorkin-Bartlet-Sher-Will-Bring-Reimagined-CAMELOT-to-Broadway-20220328

[Spartan Girl]

Yeeeeeeah, I’m not sure if Sorkin is the right guy for Camelot, let alone any musical.

[aradia22]

Quote

Producers Brian Anthony Moreland, Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy announced today that August Wilson's seminal, Pulitzer Prize®-winning drama The Piano Lesson will return to Broadway next season, marking the first Broadway revival in more than 30 years since the play's Main Stem premiere in 1990. Directed by Tony Award® nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who is making her Broadway directorial debut and will be the first woman to ever direct an August Wilson play on Broadway, this production will star Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker Charles, John David Washington as Boy Willie, and Danielle Brooks as Berniece. The Piano Lesson will begin performances on Monday, September 19, 2022 at the St. James Theatre.

INTERESTING. Btw, I don't know if there have been a lot of announcements all at once this season (once people felt better about covid/the reopening) or if this is all normal. It felt like nothing was happening and then suddenly A Strange Loop, Kimberly Akimbo, Paradise Square, Mr. Saturday Night, etc. plus all the plays. But maybe I'm just not used to it after the hiatus.

ETA: I think my brain has also just been absorbing the next season shows like KPOP, Come Fall in Love, Black Orpheus, Dancin', Pal Joey, Camelot, etc. and feeling like "well, that's a lot."

Edited March 30, 2022 by aradia22

[Spartan Girl]

Saw Hamilton at the Wharton Center today—my second time seeing it live! I think I’ve been spoiled by the countless times I’ve seen the OBC proshot on Disney+ because seeing the touring cast was a little jarring. Not that they were any less good, mind you!  Especially Jared Dixon as Burr and Warren Egypt Franklin as Lafayette/Jefferson. Neil Haskell definitely put his own spin on King George, which was great.

Meecah’s Angelica was played off as slightly more lovelorn than I’m used to, and I’m not sure that worked. My mom didn’t think Stephanie Jae Park’s Eliza had as strong as voice as the actress that played her in the last tour, but I thought she was okay. She nailed “Burn” and the finale.

The new season will be announced April 25! In the meantime our next show is Dear Evan Hansen. I guess that’s going to be the “obligatory” show for this season, but oh well. Maybe it’s bette4 than the movie.

[lurkerbee]

50 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

The new season will be announced April 25! In the meantime our next show is Dear Evan Hansen. I guess that’s going to be the “obligatory” show for this season, but oh well. Maybe it’s bette4 than the movie.

It’s much better than the movie. There is a whole song early on where the mothers lament how difficult motherhood is. Those roles are far more fleshed out onstage. The stage version packs a much stronger punch than the film. I was lucky enough to see the show before seeing the movie. I just saw the show again recently and was glad to have my memory freshened on just how much better it is.

Our new season was announced last month, and outside of one show, it’s an exciting lineup. The season is beginning with Hamilton and ending with 1776, which I find amusing, and we’re also getting Hadestown and Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, among others.

[aradia22]

I've been getting back into opera. Mulling over the possibilities for next season. I also finally started watching that production of La Fille du Regiment from 2019. Pretty Yende is great. Javier Camarena's in good voice but he plays it too goofy and they seem like an odd pairing. I don't love the production but I skipped ahead until her first entrance and I'm enjoying the music so far. Bel canto doesn't always work for me but I like the way it's incorporated into Marie being excited. It makes sense that her voice would trill up like that. And her "Chacun, le sait" was fantastic. I wish the youtube channel would put a clip online.

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, lurkerbee said:

It’s much better than the movie. There is a whole song early on where the mothers lament how difficult motherhood is. Those roles are far more fleshed out onstage. The stage version packs a much stronger punch than the film. I was lucky enough to see the show before seeing the movie. I just saw the show again recently and was glad to have my memory freshened on just how much better it is.

Good to know. I’ll keep an open mind.

[Dr.OO7]

A conversation between Lucy St. Louis and Emilie Koautchou, London and Broadway's, respectively, first black Christines:

 

[aradia22]

Quote

Ashley Loren, Tony Award nominee Derek Klena, Declan Bennett and Caleb Marshall-Villarreal will lead the Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical beginning Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Ashley Loren will be Satine, having played over 100 performances in the role as the Satine Alternate since Moulin Rouge! The Musical opened in the Summer of 2019. Derek Klena, most recently nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Jagged Little Pill, will take on the role of Christian. Declan Bennett, who previously appeared on Broadway in Rent and American Idiot, will play The Duke of Monroth. Original Moulin Rouge! The Musical cast member Caleb Marshall-Villarreal will play Santiago.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ashley-Loren-Derek-Klena-Declan-Bennett-Caleb-Marshall-Villarreal-to-Lead-MOULIN-ROUGE-THE-MUSICAL-20220408

Whoa. Klena seems like perfect casting. I'm interested to hear what people think. And it's nice to see people promoted from inside the cast.

[Spartan Girl]

Ooh, I really hope the Moulin Rouge tour is coming to my theater next season, along with Six and Beetlejuice—don’t judge me, I know not everyone thinks it deserved to come back to Broadway, but we need all the funny shows we can get right now.

[aradia22]

Quote

Baryshnikov Arts Center will present a new adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, starring Jessica Hecht and featuring ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.

The Orchard, conceived, adapted, and directed by Ukrainian born theater director Igor Golyak, is translated by Carol Rocamora, with some additional material developed by Golyak.

This hybrid production includes two simultaneous and intersecting theatrical experiences - a live performance at The Baryshnikov Arts Center (450 W. 37th Street) and a separate interactive virtual experience online that audiences can participate in live from around the globe.

Produced by Arlekin's (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab, Cherry Orchard Festival Foundation, Groundswell Theatricals, Inc., & ShowOne Productions, the limited engagement of The Orchard begins previews on May 31 with opening night set for June 16, and will run through July 3.

Ticket prices for Live & In-Person at the Baryshnikov Arts Center are $79, $59, and $39 with premium seating available. Tickets for the first week of previews are $69, $49, and $29.

Tickets for The Virtual Experience Online are $28. There are also bundles available for those who want to experience both versions of The Orchard and the prices are $100, $80, and $50 with premium seating available.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Jessica-Hecht-and-Mikhail-Baryshnikov-to-Star-In-THE-ORCHARD-At-Baryshnikov-Arts-Center-20220412

[Dr.OO7]

Has anyone seen the new production of Macbeth? I want to take my father for Father's Day, but I've seen some pictures and it looks like a modern day version and I'm not sure he'd like that, even if the original dialogue is kept.

[aradia22]

@Dr.OO7 I have not seen it but the chatter is that Sam Gold hasn't really figured it out yet and it's confusing and hard to follow whether or not you know the play. Also, Amber Gray plays Banquo and apparently there's some additional doubling of parts that makes things confusing. Plus, they were on hiatus for covid. It is selling well so if you're determined to see it, I would perhaps try for later in the run when they might have settled into it. But then everyone continued to hate Gold's version of King Lear.

[aradia22]

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photos-First-Look-at-Beanie-Feldstein-Ramin-Karimloo-Jane-Lynch-More-in-FUNNY-GIRL-20220414

I don't know that I'm wowed by the Susan Hilferty costumes. They're not horribly unflattering but she doesn't seem to know how to confidently dress someone with Beanie's body type. And I know many of the other characters are not wealthy, but I'm not sure that excuses the designs or color/fabric choices.

[theatremouse]

If even I recognize that as odd fabric choices, you know it's bad.

[aradia22]

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The Broadway League announced today that the owners and operators of all 41 Broadway theatres in New York City will extend the current mask requirement for audiences through at least May 31, 2022, but many will no longer check vaccination status after April 30, 2022.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Many-Broadway-Theatres-Will-No-Longer-Check-Vaccination-Status-20220415

[theatremouse]

Welp, that basically means every other theatre in the country that hasn't already dropped its own mandate (unless still required by locality) will also drop this. A whole bunch that I know of have been following "whatever our state/county says or whatever Broadway does, whichever is stricter".

[Spartan Girl]

My theater still requires masks, but they no longer require vaccination/test proof.

[aradia22]

Given that I have become absolutely shit about writing down my thoughts after shows, I wanted to get down some ideas about for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf while it's still fresh in my mind.

First of all, I'll say that it was an enjoyable show but not a must-see for me. If you do go, I would recommend the orchestra for the intimacy which feels very important for this show. The rake is really great. I was in row L and I felt very close to the stage. The seats are pretty uncomfortable though, even for a short show. I cannot think of another Broadway theater with hard-backed wooden chairs.

Speaking of intimacy, I wish the "set" was different. I think there's a strong use of lighting for the most part but those suspended panels have a cheap look and they don't serve much of a function in terms of visual storytelling so they end up just making the show feel smaller. I would have rather had a bare stage or a plinth or platform to raise the actresses up. It doesn't help that only one of them is tall so those hanging rectangles just emphasize the lack of levels. It has a vibe of a student showcase or a short run/temporary sort of show especially with all of the monologues.

I do not know what this show is supposed to be like but this version has a lot of choreography and for the most part, I think it serves the show well and helps the actresses take up space and fill the stage. To me, the show didn't feel like it was from the 70's but it didn't feel contemporary either. The vibe I was getting from the music and the dance and the performances was strongly 90's. The show's best moments felt like a celebration of black joy and sisterhood and the choreography really plays into that. 

Full disclosure, I'm not very good with poetry. My brain just doesn't follow it that well if there aren't really strong connections or if it's too flowery. Sometimes I listen to spoken word but that's mainly prose recited emphatically. During the more poetic sections, I picked up pieces of things but my attention did wander or I just couldn't follow the thread. In general, I would say my favorite parts were the ones about relationships (this might be my bias as a woman to find what was most relatable) but those parts also seemed more straightforward (not poetic), still relevant and not dated, and generally more funny and engaging ("my love is too," "somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff"). Monologues and spoken word poetry are interesting mediums. They're definitely presentational but in a different sort of way than musical razzle dazzle. I wouldn't say it was disjointed exactly but the way the show was organized, I did get pulled out and feel an acting class vibe at times. It was a lot of actors acting at the audience. I wished for characters and some throughline where all of an actress' monologues felt consistent with one character so I could be more immersed. 

I think some of the monologues that are somewhat dated still felt enjoyable because they could somewhat stand as period or historical. Like "graduation nite." But I kind of lost the thread at the end of "toussaint" and I really lost the thread of "sechita." I did find the signing of the actress playing Lady in Purple really effective. Her movement was one of the best on stage in general but she really got her moment to shine in "sechita" and for the audience to appreciate the beauty of the way she signs so gracefully with her hands and her arms. 

I was confused by "now i love somebody more than" and the multiple references to Willie Colon throughout the show. It was more confusing because multiple characters referenced him and he wasn't just a favorite of one of the "characters." I think "latent rapists" and "abortion cycle #1" are important but they fit in awkwardly and I don't know if they felt as vital as they might have in 1976.

It's hard to quantify stage time without the script in hand, but it felt like Lady in Brown (looked like she was wearing black), Lady in Yellow, and Lady in Blue were the stars of the ensemble cast. For me, Lady in Blue was good but didn't add extra depth to her monologues. Though it could be argued that she had to deliver emotionally tough things without a lot of buildup. Lady in Brown was solid but I kind of want to see her understudy. And Lady in Yellow was the one who really felt like she took advantage of her time on stage. She was excellent performing "one" and "graduation nite" and to me, she was the best dancer on stage. 

Lady in Purple, Lady in Red, and Lady in Green felt like excellent featured players. I wanted more from all of them. Kenita as Lady in Red is okay throughout, finding the comedy in the bad relationship monologues, but she's a powerhouse delivering "a nite with beau willie brown." It does feel dated but she sells it. Lady in Green is hilarious performing "somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff." I think some of the poems are assigned differently to what's on wikipedia because she also did "latent rapists" but I could have watched so much more of her. Again, Lady in Purple moves well and signs beautifully. They balance between letting her sign with someone else narrating ("sechita") or else speaking while signing during "pyramid" and the group scenes. Lady in Orange was just kind of there. She wasn't bad but she also wasn't memorable to me.

I don't know how much of it is the actresses and how much is the direction but I think the vast majority of the dialogue is delivered well and the choreography adds a lot. It does feel like a smaller show but if you're open to it, I think it's worthwhile seeing this new production.

[aradia22]

Mix of old/new production photos of Funny Girl. Some of these costumes are CHOICES. Maybe they look better on stage.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photos-First-Look-at-FUNNY-GIRL-Starring-Beanie-Feldstein-Ramin-Karimloo-and-More-20220421

[aradia22]

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A star is not yet born in the revival of Funny Girl. Beanie Feldstein is just a gleam in her producer’s eye. It’s a charming gleam, possibly a lucrative glint, but not the sunburst of ambition and verve the actress playing Fanny Brice requires to transform this 1964 backstage musical with a gorgeous score and a so-so book into a vehicle for voracious, unstoppable talent.

Feldstein (Booksmart) has oodles of pluck and mugs like a mischievous child for indulgent parents, resorting to the explosive cackle that made her turn in 2017’s Hello, Dolly! such a delight. 

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If Feldstein had sheer lung power and intuitive richness in phrasing, you could forgive her acting for being merely cute and eager, unable to touch the sadness and anger in the character. But her singing is as studied and limited as her scene work. She has a thin, nasally voice that no amount of manipulation by sound designer Brian Ronan can coax into sonic depth. I don’t mean that Feldstein sings badly—she can belt a button or smolder in the gentler numbers—but she doesn’t let the music flow through her or show lyrics popping into her head. 

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No actor should have to fill such vast footwear, so let’s discover what Feldstein does instead of a Streisand impression. In her earnest, somewhat naïve approach, she turns the story of Funny Girl from the rising up and wising up of a great, if troubled, trouper into the wish-fulfillment fable of a moderately gifted young lady. Who knows? Maybe that angle is what Feldstein’s fans would prefer, in an age where anyone with an Instagram account and 17,000 followers thinks they’re celebrity influencers. But on the stage of the August Wilson Theatre, one feels a hollowness—a well-rehearsed and dutiful hollowness—where there should be restless combustion. 

https://observer.com/2022/04/review-beanie-feldstein-grabs-the-spotlight-unsteadily-in-funny-girl/

[aradia22]

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But she has a lovely, light singing voice in a part that often calls for big-belt power, and she reads girlish, never quite selling the consuming hunger that propels Fanny to stardom in the early-1920s Ziegfeld Follies. Feldstein leans hard on the comedy with enormous charm, but she struggles to locate the raw vulnerability of Fanny in later years, as her marriage to inveterate gambler Nick Arnstein (Ramin Karimloo) falls apart.

The revival’s shortcomings by no means rest entirely on Feldstein’s shoulders. Neither director Michael Mayer nor script doctor Harvey Fierstein has solved the problems of the creaky book, which can’t build Fanny’s longing for offstage romantic fulfillment to match her professional success — and her eventual showbiz survivor resilience — into a robust through line. The show feels patchy and episodic and it needs a knockout, roof-raising lead to paper over the cracks.

There’s also the issue of its dated sexual politics, with Nick’s emasculation caused by his string of failed ventures while Fanny skips from success to success, out-earning her husband and feeding his humiliation. Karimloo is a gifted performer with rich tenor vocals; he cuts a dashing figure even if he’s not a natural dancer. But too much of the central relationship’s decline is marked by subpar songs that feel like needless filler. And at close to three hours, this sluggish production needs no padding, even if it improves on the more skeletal staging that Mayer and Fierstein test-drove in London, with Sheridan Smith receiving raves in the lead.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/funny-girl-beanie-feldstein-broadway-theater-review-1235134524/

[aradia22]

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It is unfair, but unavoidable, to compare Feldstein to Funny Girl’s original leading lady, Barbra Streisand, who was not only a fresh comic talent at the time but also one of the greatest vocalists in Broadway history. But there’s a reason Funny Girl hasn’t been revived since its original run in the early 1960s: Despite several memorable songs (with first-rate tunes by Jule Styne and second-rate lyrics by Bob Merrill), there’s not much to the story, which follows Brice’s meteoric rise in show business and her unlucky romance with a handsome but feckless gambler, Nick Arnstein (Ramin Karimloo). Isobel Lennart’s book has been rewritten for this production by Harvey Fierstein, but it still feels episodic and superficial. To cover its holes, this musical requires a star who really has the goods. What Feldstein has is the okays. 

I’ve been a fan of Feldstein’s for years, and was hoping for the best when her casting was announced: She’s a gifted comedian who clearly loves musicals, and she was a delight as Minnie Fay in the Bette Midler revival of Hello, Dolly! But in the role of Fanny, she’s simply overmatched. Feldstein has a solid belting range, but when she rises to the higher notes her voice becomes nasal and strained; at this level of sustained exposure, it’s an unpleasant sound, and the effort required to produce it distracts her from the spontaneous charm that she puts across well when given a chance. (You see glimpses of it in “His Love Makes Me Beautiful” and “Rat-a-Tat-Tat,” when Fanny is at the center of big production numbers and the vocal pressure is off.)

Feldstein’s Fanny seems very young—in one early scene, as her neighbors deride her looks (“If a girl isn’t pretty like a Miss Atlantic City, all she gets from life is pity and a pat”), she sits on the floor like a child—so it feels almost weird to review her, like reviewing your cousin’s performance in her high-school show. But it’s hard to keep rooting for her as the show goes on; what is meant to read as chutzpah plays uncomfortably close to entitlement. (Who is she to be lecturing us about the luckiest people in the world?) Under Michael Mayer’s forcibly old-timey direction, nearly all the actors push too hard; Jane Lynch is bizarrely cast as Fanny’s protective Jewish mother—in her knit woolen sweater, she looks like she should be running a lighthouse in Maine—and Peter Francis James, as Flo Ziegfeld, barks out his lines like the Great and Powerful Oz. (Toni DiBuono, in the small role of Mrs. Strakosh, often seems like the only actual human onstage.) 

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/funny-girl-broadway-review-revival-beanie-feldstein

[aradia22]

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It took nearly 60 years for “Funny Girl” to receive a Broadway revival – and theater aficionados will probably spend the next 60 years scratching their heads wondering how and why Beanie Feldstein got cast as Fanny Brice.

In past years, “Funny Girl” almost returned to Broadway with Debbie Gibson (who did a short-lived 1996 national tour), Leslie Kritzer (who appeared in an acclaimed 2001 production at Paper Mill Playhouse), Lea Michele (whose character on “Glee” starred in a Broadway revival of the show), Lauren Ambrose (who was slated to star in a 2012 Broadway revival that got scrapped at the last minute), and Idina Menzel (who was originally expected to star in the current revival).

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Without an extraordinary lead performance, “Funny Girl” doesn’t work – which is unfortunately the case here. Vocally, Feldstein is strained and nasal and unable to handle power solos like “I’m the Greatest Star,” “People,” “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance.” She also overplays the comedy and resorts to mugging. (I question how Feldstein could even be cast as Fanny in a high school or theater camp production.)

Feldstein’s miscasting is made even more evident by the fact that the production’s supporting cast is especially strong, including Ramin Karimloo as Fanny’s husband Nick, Jared Grimes as her friend Eddie, and Jane Lynch as her mother Mrs. Brice.

The blame for Feldstein’s performance rests not with her but with the people who cast her, including director Michael Mayer (who previously staged the musical in London with an English cast). What were they thinking? While Feldstein has film credits, she is not such a big star that she could have scored the role without auditioning.  Did they check whether she could sing the role?

Mayer’s revival (which runs nearly three hours) lacks opulent production values, including a large orchestra that can do justice to the show’s dynamic overture, or a large ensemble that can do justice to the “Ziegfeld Follies”-style production numbers. While the Broadway revival of “The Music Man” may be relatively dull, it at least has two great lead stars and substantial production values.  

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/review-funny-girl-revival-broadway/

You can't tell me some of these reviewers don't post (or at least lurk) on the popular theater message boards.

[aradia22]

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The problem with this uninspired revival of “Funny Girl” — which opened at the August Wilson Theatre on Sunday, marking the show’s Broadway return after nearly 60 years — is not simply the singular ghost of she who shall not be named. (Alright: It’s Barbra Steisand.) Rather, the issue here is the production’s inability to live up to its star-making potential that would have made us once again forgive the simplistic, sentimental and sanitized original book credited to Isobel Lennart.

The script, revised by Harvey Fierstein for this production, still fails to come to terms to any great degree with the disconnect in the relationship of Fanny and gambler husband Nicky Arnstein, effortlessly played and stunningly sung by Ramin Karimloo. What a 2022 audience may find exasperating is the unresolved dichotomy of its leading character. Fanny is clearly no push-over, one who is so confident and determined that — hell, she starts out by singing “I’m the Greatest Star,” so clearly self-esteem is not in doubt.

Yet Fanny is also a fool for love, or at least an unexplored, unjustified and unbelievable fool. Yes, she is insecure about her looks and class but she’s also a person of power and she doesn’t hesitate to use it, even on the intimidating theatrical impresario Florenz Ziegfeld.

But her character — and Feldstein’s performance — never goes far beyond the sentimental, tiresome and not-exactly-of-the-moment cliche of the woman who can’t stop loving her man, even after nearly every character on stage (not to mention the audience) knows it’s doomed. An end-of-show empowerment reprise of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” is too little, too late.

To make some kind of emotional sense of Fanny’s character calls for an actress of extraordinary charm, maturity and finesse, one who is able to show motivational shadings beyond the limits of the script. Oh, and sing the hell out of the score.

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Feldstein’s Fanny is a wide-eyed woman-child, at turns stubborn, awkward and silly. Knowingly precocious, Feldstein relies on broad face-making rather than a more nuanced comic skillset. Yes, though Brice herself could be soulful in song, she was not the subtlest performer either — one of Fanny’s trademark comic characters, after all, was Baby Snooks. But that doesn’t mean this bio-show has to reflect a child’s version of adulthood.

But ah, that tuneful Jule Styne-Bob Merrill score — not to mention the iconic overture, which still gives chills even if there aren’t dozens of musicians in the pit. While the ballads “People” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance” are underwhelming here, Feldstein’s big-note numbers land well, especially “I’m the Greatest Star” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”

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The rest of the cast lend fine support. Jane Lynch as Franny’s loving, wry mother is splendid and lands every laugh with the greatest of ease. If the part of Fanny’s faithful pal Eddie is sorely underwritten, Jared Grimes at least has a terrific showcase tap number, choreographed by Ayodele Casel.

Martin Moran and Peter Francis James give old-pro performances as theater owner Tom Keeney and Ziegfeld. Toni diBuono and Debra Cardona as Mrs. Brice’s poker buddies are a hoot. And Daniel Beeman is a solid ten of a tenor in the Ziegfeld number “His Love Makes Me Beautiful.”

The production, under Michael Mayer’s direction, gets little help from David Zinn’s unattractive set, dominated by what looks like a giant brick silo; Susan Hilferty’s sometimes garish and unflattering costumes does the leading lady no favors; nor does Ellenore Scott ever elevate the show’s choreography above standard fare.

https://variety.com/2022/legit/reviews/funny-girl-review-broadway-beanie-feldstein-1235239624/

[aradia22]

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The show, like the movie, has sumptuous costumes (by Susan Hilferty), it glitters as it should, but it also has a sense of constant strain about it, a story that freezes and never progresses, and a central couple in Fanny and Nick who are baffling rather than scintillating. It’s hard to know what we are supposed to think of them. There is a low-key, serviceable chemistry between Feldstein and Karimloo, rather than a crackling, passionate one, and a relationship that seems transactional rather than romantic from its inception.

Appositely, a bizarrely designed set houses this puzzle of a show. Two sets of stairs on either side of the stage are supposed to signify Henry Street, the neighborhood where Fanny is from, as well as the stairs of the theater where she performs. In the middle of the stage is a doom-emitting brick tower, which must be another building on Henry Street but instead looks like it may hide machine gun snipers. The back of this structure is a hollowed-out interior serving as interchangeable locations, like a fancy restaurant or home. Once that setting is used up, it’s back to facing the forbidding sniper tower, or whatever the hell it is.

The performers negotiate this cluttered stage well enough, but not so much the repetitive impediments of the story. Karimloo and his sculpted torso (we are given more than a peep when he wears an unbelted dressing gown, so thanks for that) plays Arnstein as a guy down on his luck, and so therefore somehow unavoidably beholden to wasting Fanny’s money on schemes and gambling that never come good.

In a witty moment, just as in the film, when they first meet Fanny leaves the story to sing his name as an inner swoon. And he—well, what does Nick Arnstein think of Fanny Brice? Object of fascination? Love? Meal ticket? Whatever, he never seems very attracted to her. His love feels protective, or big brother-ish, at best. He does give her a cute blue egg.

[...] Right from the beginning, the pairing of Fanny and Nick seems a bad idea, and the plot never disabuses itself or us of this notion. We know that opposites attract, but these two cleave hard to their respective signifiers—she the working-class grafter, he the suave gambler and traveler. It doesn’t matter that both Feldstein and Karimloo are charming performers. They seem unsure what they are supposed to be charting here. The idea is each has the kind of “grown-up pride” that “hides all the need inside,” as Fanny sings in “People,” but here they both seem utterly independent. They share a stage but not a relationship. They seem unable to be together, despite the idea of being together seeming, for no apparent reason, a good idea to them.

“People who need people are the luckiest people in the world,” Fanny sings in that famous song—and it sounds like a lament, because she really doesn’t. Nick makes her feel beautiful, she says, but she also, from the beginning, seems to reject all the social norms that say she is not as beautiful as other women. The story never unpacks its own contradictions—around what Fanny does or doesn’t feel about beauty, about her professional and domestic ambitions, about Nick’s motives, about what draws him to Fanny in the first place, about what they feel or do not feel for each other—or explains them.

Fanny wants fame but not as much as she wants her marriage to work, making it clear right to the end she would give up the stage if she has to. But this doesn’t square with her desire to act, perform, or that life she so fervently wants. Yes, she can and should contain multitudes, but the musical never makes it clear how.

[...] 

Feldstein seems too much of a junior partner to Karimloo—a sassy ingenue rather than wry diva. Streisand is obviously an intimidating shadow to operate under, and comparisons are unfair but inevitable given the iconic nature of the role and its foundational star. Feldstein’s singing matches her incarnation of Brice, in being questioning, tentative, and wide-eyed. She nails the big songs but more restrainedly than many might expect. The numbers need more. She does not have the voice for this.

[...] Its best scenes showcase Feldstein and Karimloo’s lively combined comic energy, most visible in a nervous energy-filled dinner scene when he somehow flips from floor to sofa, and when they beautifully sing “You Are Woman, I Am Man” (which is wittily redirected to give Fanny power).

Generally, however, they seem beached and static as a couple. He sees a poker game as more important than her opening night and is furious with her when she financially helps him. There are dry oil wells and phony bond deals, and finally jail. The show leaves the audience with the problem of not really having anyone to cheer for, or castigate. They are clearly an incompatible couple, and we are forced to spend an evening with them, not making any sense of their union. They have a child whose presence is passingly alluded to. Nick is not a crook, just weak; Fanny is not an overbearing partner, just loyal. And there we have it, over and over again.

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Given the show is a relentless misery ski-run for Fanny and Nick, the pleasure of Funny Girl comes to rest on its company’s more-than-capable shoulders, Ellenore Scott’s company choreography, and Ayodele Casel’s tap choreography, especially for the excellent Grimes. Lynch is fine as Fanny’s mother but not given enough for someone of her comic talents. You can hear the gears grinding scene to scene.

[...] Without a tangible relationship between Feldstein’s Fanny and Karimloo’s Nick, the show listlessly orbits the general idea of them not being such a great pairing for over two and a half hours. Fortunately, there is Grimes, and glitzy song-and-dance sequences to fill in what is otherwise a dreary relationship storyline that feels low on stakes, emotional import, and which we spy from the outset as inevitably doomed.

[...] The show feels like a series of rigorously executed set-pieces—with this person going there and that person going here, deep breaths, are we all standing in our places? Great!—rather than flowing story.

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In this 2022 revival, for the first few minutes of Funny Girl, and in one routine in particular, Feldstein’s shape is implicitly made out to be the same unspoken disqualifier, as she looks so different from the other (thinner) female dancers on stage, who at first sneer at her. However, as in Streisand’s Funny Girl, Feldstein’s Brice addresses herself right at the beginning: “Hello, gorgeous!” while looking into the mirror. She says it like she means it, as she should.

Yet the show is down on her looks. Despite the “Hello, gorgeous” self-affirmation, Fanny makes clear to Nick he makes her feel beautiful—which trumps all the negatives she’s imbibed over the years from others. This affirmation he offers seems huge for her, yet she also doesn’t seem that overtly tortured by her looks. Why is she so beholden to Nick affirming her looks if she affirms them herself? Perhaps men reassuring women of their own aesthetic value seemed charming in days of yore. In the context of Funny Girl staged for now, it sounds witless and cringing.

It’s not the only thing about Funny Girl that feels lost in time. It also seems odd that much of the second half centers on Nick’s shame over all his money-losing, as well as characters including Fanny herself remarking how she should accommodate his weaknesses (emotional and economical).

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/broadways-funny-girl-revival-rains-on-its-own-parade