By JESSICA NEU
After we wrap up the holidays and have picked up all the bottles on New Year’s Day, the PNC Broadway series continues with the classic musical Funny Girl at the Benedum Center January 7th – 12th. Featuring a famously recognizable score, most notably the number “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” with an updated book by Harvey Fierstein, Funny Girl tells the story of the fierce Fanny Brice. Fanny grew up on the Lower East Side and dreamed of a successful career in theater despite everyone telling her dreams were unrealistic.
As anticipation swells for Funny Girl’s run in Pittsburgh, I spoke with Hannah Shankman, who is portraying Fannie on the current national tour. As art so often imitates real life, instead of growing up on the Lower East Side, Hannah grew up in the West Village, raised by parents who were both actors. Born with theater in her blood, Shankman recalled her first memories of the theater. “I distinctly remember seeing Peter Pan at a very young age,” Shankman explained. She described in earnest detail how she remembers Peter flying out over the audience. “It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Shankman exclaimed. “I remember seeing that and thinking, oh, this is a job and can make people feel this way. I want to do that!” Shankman’s love for theater flew even higher when she was fortunate enough to see her mother play the role of Peter in a regional production of Peter Pan in West Chester. A memory that she describes as “so special.”
It was as a child that Shankman also first saw Funny Girl. She was exposed to the movie version first as her family is still, to this day, an avid watcher of Turner Classic Movies. She fondly remembers watching Funny Girl with her sister. “The movie is so magnetic,” Shankman stated. “I wanted to be Barbara Streisand, but I actually did not realize that Funny Girlwas a musical until I was a teenager.”
As Shankman began living her dream of being an actress and building an impressive resume that includes credits in Rent, Wicked, Side Show, Hair, and The Band’s Visit, among many others, she was able to be in the audience for a production of Funny Girl on London’s West End nearly a decade ago. The London production was unique because it was the show’s first to run with the current updates to the book by theater legend Harvey Fierstein.
The updates ushered the 1964 musical into the 21st century, and soon after seeing the West End production, Shankman was cast in the role of Brice in a regional production of Funny Girl in Missouri. Shankman described this performance as “an incredible experience with a great company, but we only had 10 days to rehearse and 12 shows, so I left wanting more.” Shankman’s desire for “more” opportunities with Funny Girl came as she now gets to portray Fannie across the country in the current national tour. Her familiarity with the show made for a relatively easy adjustment, and two of the female cast members from the regional production in Missouri are also on the national tour, offering a full circle moment for Shankman. “To do [the show] on a national tour which is the same quality production as Broadway, just across the country…being able to do it at the highest level is absolutely humbling,” Shankman explained. “It is just so very fulfilling and rewarding.”
Shankman went on to discuss how helpful the updated reworkings of some of the songs in Funny Girl and Fierstein’s updates to the script have been to enhance the storyline and provide more nuanced character developments. We discussed how the current production of Funny Girl is an updated version of the original production, and not a reimagined production as some Broadway musicals have done (e.g. Oklahoma!).
Shankman calls this production an “improved, or elevated version” of Funny Girl. What is important to Shankman is that the show’s timeless messages about “self-love and societal pressures, love and relationships and the work that must go into them to succeed” are still at the forefront of the production.
Shankman approaches her portrayal of Brice with a sense of care and respect. As Brice strives for fame despite ongoing adversity, Shankman wants to connect with audiences to show them how “the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.”
“To me Fanny is just a real person who wants to do what she loves and find love at the same time,” Shankman explained. “She is a human just like anyone else, but happened to rise to fame. We think famous people are different from us but they are just like us. Fannie wanted to be love, give love and perform. This show is really her love letter to the theater, to herself, and to her husband, Nick.”
As for what she hopes audiences will take away from Funny Girl, Shankman reflected, “I hope the audiences will walk away smiling. While the show is called Funny Girl, it is a touching and emotional journey for Fannie, and I hope audiences will come on that journey with me.” She rises like the phoenix” and reminds us that through “dark times, we can always come back to a place of self-love and persevere through hardship.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh’s presentation of Funny Girl opens at The Benedum Center on January 7th, 2025 and runs through the 12th. For more information and tickets, visit: https://trustarts.org/production/94987/funny-girl
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh is a presentation of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Categories: Arts and Ideas
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