Can’t Rain on Her Parade
Fanny Brice’s star shines in Funny Girl, performing now through Sunday at the Paramount Theatre, on the Broadway revival’s first national tour.
There are three things you should know about Funny Girl, the 60-year-old musical on now at the Paramount Theatre, on the revival’s first national tour:
1. It’s not a comedy, despite the name.
2. Melissa Manchester performs in this show — which will no doubt excite lots of music fans, but perhaps none more so than fans of the cult classic film Drop Dead Gorgeous. (As Kirstie Alley’s Gladys Leeman observes, “Who could forget [the previous year’s pageant winner] lip-syncing to ‘Don’t Cry Out Loud’, by Melissa Manchester?” Bonus: “Through the Eyes of Love,” which another Mount Rose contestant delivers through expressive sign language on the DDG stage, is another Manchester hit.)
3. Hannah Shankman, Funny Girl‘s title performer on whose shoulders much of the show’s heft and vigor rests, is absolutely phenomenal in the role.
The rise of singer-actor-comedian Fanny Brice is center stage in Funny Girl, so named because of Brice’s non-traditional everything; most notably having the audacity to prioritize stage presence, comedy, and gumption over traditional feminine looks and charm, and to be damn good and successful at it. She debuted on the Ziegfelt Follies in 1910, a decade before women were entrusted with the right to cast a ballot; this wasn’t exactly a gender-liberated era.
To its detriment, the show focuses less on her era than it does on a decidedly uninspiring romance between Brice and professional gambler (slash entrepreneur slash con artist) Nick Arnstein. Arnstein got a remarkably flat performance from understudy Travis Ward-Osborne on the night I saw, which couldn’t have helped; but even the best performance would be hard-pressed to make an endearing couple out of these two, a romance that consumes entirely too much stage time.
It’s the show-biz razzle-dazzle around a big star that makes the show. Dance numbers feature loads of twirling and tap-dancing, led by the exuberant Izaiah Montaque Harris; that, ever-changing costuming, and rapid-fire scene changes make for a lively second act (which clips along much faster than the first, despite some big bright spots in each). Brice is surrounded by a quality ensemble; a supportive anchor in Harris; and the endearing motherly kvetching from Manchester.
But they never compete for Brice’s light, and that’s a good thing. With pure gumption in the face of old (albeit persistent) gender norms, Shankman’s Brice dares them all to underestimate her. Shankman is stellar from the start, her unassuming manner as inviting as her giant voice is mind-blowing, with particular highlights in the bravado-filled “I’m the Greatest Star,” the iconic act-closer “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” a transcendent lead-in to the finale. Funny Girl is the Fanny show, and Shankman won’t let you forget it.
‘Funny Girl’ music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, book by Isobel Lennart, revised book by Harvey Fierstein. Directed by Michael Mayer; choreographed by Ellenore Scott and Ayodele Casel (tap).
Funny Girl runs through 9/29 at the Paramount Theatre, in Downtown Seattle. Tickets here. Accessibility notes: main restrooms downstairs and upstairs are gendered and multi-stall, with gender-neutral, single-stall restroom on the main floor. Theatre and some common areas are wheelchair accessible. ASL-interpreted and audio described performance at 9/29 matinee; open-captioned performance 9/29 evening.
Run time: 2 hours 45 minutes, with intermission.
Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.