JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The nominations for the 75th annual Tony Awards are giving us Jewish bankers. They’re giving us SNL alums. They’re giving us Billy Crystal, Paula Vogel and Bob Dylan – but not Beanie Feldstein or Fanny Brice. In a season packed with what feels like an above-average quotient of revivals, the nominees include a mix of…
Fanny Brice, the legendary comedienne and songstress immortalized by Barbra Streisand in the musical and film “Funny Girl,” would have been 125 years old today. Brice, born Fania Borach on the Lower East Side’s Forsythe Street, captured hearts as a star member of “The Ziegfeld Follies,” the character of Baby Snooks on the radio, and…
Forward Association Fanny Brice (born Fania Borach) of Forsyth Street, and later on, further uptown and even New Jersey, opened her career-making act as the Yiddish “Salome” with this line: “I’ve been a bad woman, but such good company, Nu?” Originally set up for her acclaimed Yiddish-accented comedy act by songwriter Irving Berlin, Brice caught…
Grimacing fiercely, muscular arms quivering, Adam Real Man slowly straightens a metal horseshoe as the crowd stares, grinning in disbelief. His feat of strength is spot-on entertainment at the opening night reception of ‘Topsy Turvy: Coney Island Artists and the Amusement Utopia” at the Deutsche Bank’s 60 Wall Gallery. His skills are improbable. Even more…
“I watch this movie maybe once every two weeks,” my friend Jamie said to me, giggling, as we found our seats for a screening of “Funny Girl.” The Museum of Jewish Heritage was screening the film as a part of their ongoing “Hello, Gorgeous!” Film Festival, in which they’re showing a different Barbra Streisand movie…
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…
