Lauren Ambrose Named the Next ‘Funny Girl’
Image by Getty Images
The role that launched Barbra Streisand has been recast — and it didn’t go to the Jewish heir apparent.
The next Broadway production of “Funny Girl” will star Lauren Ambrose as Fanny Brice, the real-life Jewish comedian whom Streisand played during the show’s original 1964 Broadway run.
The role, which earned Streisand a Tony nomination and later an Oscar for the film version, has been the source of considerable speculation in recent months, as the search has intensified for the star of the new staging. Bartlett Sher, the Tony-winning director of the new show, has said he was looking for an “unforgettably thrilling voice… a once-in-a-generation talent [with] excellent comedic timing.”
#/news/lauren-ambrose-humbled-to-be-new-funny-girl-1005304782.story
That’s a tall order, even without the inevitable Streisand comparisons, and early talk focused on Lea Michele, the breakout “Glee” star who performed a signature “Funny Girl” number, “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” at the 2010 Tony Awards. But Sher, who invited wannabe Brices to submit audition tapes online, nixed that possibility, saying he couldn’t “see how [Michele] could possibly be available” because of her commitment to the TV show.
Ambrose, a two-time Emmy nominee for her work on “Six Feet Under,” made her Broadway debut in 2006 in “Awake and Sing!” which Sher directed. She indirectly acknowledged Streisand’s stamp on “Funny Girl” in a press release, saying she was “humbled and thrilled” to get the part.
The latest “Funny Girl” will open in Los Angeles in January 2012 before premiering in New York next spring.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
