Finding ‘Funny Girl.’ Finally.
The New York Times
After nearly six decades and many false starts, the musical is returning to Broadway, with Beanie Feldstein taking on the role that made Barbra Streisand a star.
Michael Mayer had one eye on his “Funny Girl” cast and one eye on his phone. The cast was rehearsing “His Love Makes Me Beautiful,” a comic song from the musical’s first act. And the phone was humming with texts from Harvey Fierstein, on board to fine-tune the script, under Mayer’s direction.
The number finds Fanny Brice, the title character, getting her big shot, leaving behind a dinky music hall for a featured role in the grand Ziegfeld Follies. She’s there as the butt of the joke, surrounded by leggy showgirls, each a bride-to-be staring admiringly into a hand mirror.
But Fanny turns the joke inside out, secretly stuffing her bridal gown so that when the audience and the dancers see her, she’s hugely pregnant.
