This musical, which made its world premiere in the West End in 2013, deserved a much longer run than it received.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
The toast of the West End has been celebrated in Wolverhampton this evening as Natasha J Barnes (Understudy for Sheridan Smith in the show last year) gave a performance to remember as Fanny Brice. It’s easy to see why audiences took Barnes to their hearts last year and long may she reign, what an incredible find she is.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
Opening on Broadway in 1964 and more often known for the 1968 motion picture starring Barbara Streisand and Omar Sharif, Funny Girl is a biographical show based on the book of the same name written by Isobel Lennart.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
As Barbra Streisand celebrated her 75th Birthday on the 24th April, it seemed appropriate to watch her most iconic role performed on stage by a performer who is equally as talented – Natasha J Barnes.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
This version from Chocolate Factory Productions returns to the original – with some updates – and is now touring after an acclaimed West End run. Much of the publicity has centred on Sheridan Smith in the central role, and she surely deserves all of the praise that continues to come her way.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
Revisiting Funny Girl, now on tour after its tumultuous (but always impressive) London run that had started at the Menier Chocolate Factory, it’s almost impossible to believe how Michael Mayer had managed to stage it in that tiny space south of the river.
FUNNY GIRL – Touring
Revisiting Funny Girl, now on tour after its tumultuous (but always impressive) London run that had started at the Menier Chocolate Factory, it’s almost impossible to believe how Michael Mayer had managed to stage it in that tiny space south of the river.
NEWS: Chris Peluso stars opposite Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl tour, Full cast announced
Full casting is announced today for the tour of Funny Girl which enjoyed critically acclaimed and record-breaking sold-out runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Savoy Theatre. Playing opposite Sheridan Smith is Chris Peluso as Nick Arnstein.
LISTEN: Sheridan Smith stars on new Funny Girl cast recording, out 5 Aug
Sheridan Smith brings her unique vocals and phenomenal performance as Fanny Brice to the London cast
recording of the critically-acclaimed West End production of Funny Girl, to be released on Decca Records on
5 August 2016. Listen to a sample here…
FUNNY GIRL – West End
“People”, who didn’t manage to nab their seats fast enough for the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Funny Girl can most definitely rest easy in the knowledge that this acclaimed and triumphant revival is an even bigger and better show following its transfer across the river to the Savoy. Sheridan Smith’s Fanny Brice simply oozes star quality.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
People, people who need people are, allegedly, the luckiest people in the world. I’d argue that those who are emotionally and financially self-sufficient have a hell of a bigger reason to feel lucky than those who depend needily on others for their wellbeing. But I’m not a character in a musical – and neither, really are the people who need people who appear in Funny Girl a narrative so far removed from the actual history of kooky kosher comedienne Fanny Brice and her deeply dodgy gangster hubby Julius ‘Nicky’ Arnstein as to be a complete fiction.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
Fanny Brice may sing the song but it is Sheridan Smith who is the greatest star, leading a long overdue, sassy revival of Broadway classic Funny Girl.
NEWS: Funny Girl extends West End season until Sep 2016
Following a critically acclaimed opening at the Menier Chocolate Factory this week, the smash hit production of Funny Girl extends its booking period at the Savoy Theatre due to popular demand. Michael Mayer’s “exhilarating embrace of a production – Independent” will now run until 10 September 2016 – marking the musical’s 50th anniversary year. Tickets for the extended booking period production starring Olivier and BAFTA award-winning actress and “phenomenal talent – Independent” Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice go on sale today.
Press pass: All the reviews and pics of Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl
In musical theatre happenings, the big news last night was London’s first major revival of Jule Styne’s Broadway classic Funny Girl. The big question: could Sheridan Smith lay to rest the ghost of Barbra Streisand, who originated the role of Fanny Brice on stage and (Oscar-winning) screen? And the big answer: a resounding yes.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
It’s hard not to invoke the B word – Barbra, that is, not Brice – and I speak as one who bunked off school to catch her at a mid-week matinee. It was standing room only at the Prince of Wales but by then she was pretty much phoning in her performance and only the thrill of that voice (smaller than one expected but laser intense) carried her through.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
For half a generation there has been a truism in the musical theatre world that nobody can do Jule Style and Bob Merrill’s Funny Girl, because Streisand played the 1920’s eccentrically comic Ziegfeld star and nobody can beat her. So why try? Thus not many have done so: one Broadway revival got “postponed”. But nothing daunts the Menier, fount of daring musical revivals. Michael Meyer from New York directs, the Savoy transfer is already in the bag, and the starring role is our secret weapon: Britain’s own high-voltage electric waif, Sheridan Smith.
FUNNY GIRL – Menier Chocolate Factory
Imelda Staunton may have just wowed in Styne and Sondheim’s Gypsy, but hard on her heels is Sheridan Smith’s take on Fanny Brice. In a role that famously demands an unconventional beauty – and which, from both Broadway and Hollywood launch pads Barbra Streisand was rocketed into the highest of stellar orbits – Smith has enormously famous shoes to fill.
NEWS: Darius Campbell joins Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl, Full cast
The Menier Chocolate Factory today announces full casting for their production of Funny Girl. Joining Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice are Valda Aviks (Mrs O’Malley), Natasha J Barnes (Emma/Mrs Meeker), Darius Campbell (Nick), Marilyn Cutts (Mrs Brice), Maurice Lane (Mr Keeney), Bruce Montague (Ziegfeld), Joel Montague (Eddie), Gay Soper (Mrs Strakosh); with Emma Caffrey, Matthew Croke, Joelle Dyson, Rebecca Fennelly, Luke Fetherston, Leah Harris, Kelly Homewood, Sammy Kelly and Stuart Ramsay completing the ensemble.