Nobody might accuse Beanie Feldstein of taking part in it protected.
Starring within the first Broadway revival of “Humorous Woman,” within the function that catapulted Barbra Streisand into the stratosphere, the charming star of “Booksmart” has not let the concern of being in comparison with her idol stand in the way in which of her theatrical goals.
Feldstein not too long ago performed Monica Lewinsky within the FX sequence “Impeachment: American Crime Story.” That function actually has its share of luggage, however tackling Fanny Brice threatens accusations of sacrilege.
For Broadway theatergoers of a sure classic, “Humorous Woman” was the gateway drug that led to a lifetime behavior of musical comedy. Recollections of the unique 1964 Broadway manufacturing have pale, however solid albums stay ceaselessly, and VHS recordings of William Wyler’s 1968 film allowed for repeat viewings of Streisand’s Oscar-winning efficiency in the course of the pre-digital age.
Discovering a Fanny after Streisand hasn’t been the one factor holding again a Broadway revival of “Humorous Woman.” The present, which has an intermittently fantastic rating by composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill, is a degree under “Gypsy” (for which Styne additionally wrote the music) and “Kiss Me, Kate” (one other backstage musical with extra chunk).
At its greatest, “Humorous Woman” distills the sound of Broadway’s late golden age. Two hits from the present, “Folks” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” have a everlasting place within the American songbook. However tune and story aren’t completely in sync.
For all of the ups and downs on this musical saga concerning the lifetime of legendary Jewish vaudeville star Fanny Brice, “Humorous Woman” usually leaves an impression of marking time. The draggy e-book by Isobel Lennart falls into lots of the cliches of showbiz biography. Think about “Gypsy” crossed with “A Star Is Born,” solely with extra sluggish pacing and sentimentality.
This new Broadway manufacturing of “Humorous Woman,” directed by Michael Mayer on the August Wilson Theatre, includes a retooled e-book by Harvey Fierstein. Mayer and Fierstein teamed up for the London manufacturing of “Humorous Woman,” which starred Sheridan Smith in a revival that started on the Menier Chocolate Manufacturing facility earlier than shifting to the West Finish.
There’s solely a lot reconstruction that may occur with a present constructed round such a well known rating. Fierstein’s most important intervention is to shift the marital steadiness of energy between Fanny and her dashing and rakish gambler husband, Nick Arnstein (Ramin Karimloo).
When the couple first meet, Nick is a classy man of the world, and Fanny is hustling to get her foot within the door of showbiz. However as soon as Fanny’s profession takes off, she begins performing like a boss, not simply on the Ziegfeld Follies, the place she’s now a headliner, however at dwelling, the place she controls the purse strings.
Nick begins feeling emasculated, which ought to come as no shock for a man who prefaces his seduction of Fanny with the quantity “You Are Lady, I Am Man.” Fierstein isn’t importing something that isn’t within the unique materials, however his revision clarifies the function Fanny has within the collapse of her marriage.
Feldstein’s Fanny is most convincing as a Lengthy Island matriarch who needs every part to run based on her plan. As a spouse, she’s as domineering as she is insecure, lovingly beneficiant but with the understanding that the buck stops together with her.
The acquire in prosaic realism comes at a loss in fairy story magic. The character’s dazzle is diminished. Even Fanny’s bravura can appear workmanlike.
I fell in love with Beanie Feldstein within the 2017 Broadway revival of “Whats up, Dolly!” with Bette Midler. That very same yr, the Harvard-Westlake graduate stole scenes and hearts in “Woman Chook.” After being dazzled by her comedian grit in “Booksmart,” I tweeted that I wished to turn into head of the Beanie Feldstein fan membership.
All of that is to say I recognize Feldstein’s distinctive self and haven't any need to carry her up towards Streisand’s inconceivable customary. However “Humorous Woman” is a huge haul, and although she bravely acquits herself, she by no means makes the function her personal.
Fanny Brice was a bodily comic of genius. She might additionally sing, not like Streisand, however in a method that made the songs as participating because the shtick.
Feldstein has a cellular face and a knack for pratfalls, however she’s not but a grasp clown. And her singing is a combined blessing. She will be able to belt “Don’t Rain on My Parade” with sufficient energy to deliver the viewers ecstatically to its ft on the finish of the primary act, however her nonbelting voice hardly ever features traction.
When Karimloo affords a quick reprise of “Folks” within the second act, the wealthy resonance of his singing reveals what we’ve been lacking. Omar Sharif, who starred reverse Streisand within the film, didn’t have the Broadway pipes that Karimloo possesses. He may not even have had the peerlessly sculpted abs that Karimloo exposes in a shirtless scene by which he’s carrying solely pajama bottoms.
Karimloo doesn’t attempt to match Sharif’s elegant mystique, however the gratuitous flaunting of his male magnificence solely throws into reduction the distinction with Feldstein’s zaftig Fanny. Why couldn’t Nick have been reconceived with a contact extra realism too?
A lot fuss is revamped Fanny not being conventionally lovely. Nobody want remind this “bagel on a plate stuffed with onion rolls,” as she places it, that she’s no Follies showgirl.
When Florenz Ziegfeld (Peter Francis James) casts her in his present, she turns the finale right into a sight gag by singing “His Love Makes Me Stunning” with a pillow underneath her wedding ceremony robe to make it appear like she’s pregnant. If audiences are going to chuckle, she needs to be the one telling the joke.
Feldstein’s Fanny is normally good for fun, however extra within the vein of a humorous sidekick. The expertise behind the character’s meteoric rise is one thing now we have to tackle report. Granted, the humor of Fanny Brice’s act could also be misplaced within the sands of time. However Feldstein doesn’t fairly have the theatrical confidence to persuade us that this hoary music corridor enterprise might actually kill.
Mayer’s manufacturing is most alive in these moments when Broadway virtuosity breaks out within the supporting solid. The faucet-dancing of Jared Grimes, who performs Eddie Ryan, the dance coach who raises Fanny’s recreation, injects the revival with a resuscitating dose of theatrical pleasure.
As Fanny’s saloon-owner mom, Jane Lynch doesn’t all the time appear to belong to this hardscrabble New York Jewish milieu, however she performs up the feminine solidarity with Fanny, one robust impartial lady to a different. Toni DiBuono as Mrs. Strakosh and Debra Cardona as Mrs. Meeker assist deliver the Henry Road neighborhood to life with their gossipy curiosity in each flip in Fanny’s fortunes. In his portrayal of Florenz Ziegfeld, the impresario who rapidly acknowledges the gold mine he has in Fanny, James exudes a sublime authority.
David Zinn’s scenic design transitions with brisk effectivity from city tenement to suburban mansion, with colourful street tour stops alongside the way in which. Susan Hilferty’s costumes go to extremes of glamour and bagel-adorned zaniness, so it’s virtually a reduction when Fanny is given one thing flatteringly easy to put on.
Feldstein’s Fanny is at her greatest when most vulnerably herself. “You suppose lovely ladies are gonna keep in model ceaselessly?” she says to one in all her early naysayers. “I ought to say not! Any minute now, they’ll be out! Completed! After which it’ll be my flip!”
Her prediction proves appropriate in her case, however Feldstein deserves a giant Broadway break higher tailor-made to her items. What she deserves is a brand-new musical comedy that may do for her what “Humorous Woman” did for Streisand.
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