LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – When you think of Funny Girl, you think of the humorous wit and big voice of Fanny Brice. You also think of Barbara Streisand. Streisand, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Fanny in the 1968 film after playing the character on stage for several years.
Streisand is considered the gold standard in playing that role. Anyone else attempting to portray Fanny is likely to be measured up against Streisand’s unreal vocals and her irresistible charm.
That’s because Streisand is a one-in-generation talent. There are not too many people on the face of this planet who possess Streisand’s vocal range and remarkable talent to deliver humorous barbs.
Well, let me introduce you to the new Fanny Brice performing on the current national tour of Funny Girl. Now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles through April 28 and coming to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts from May 28 to June 9, this version of Funny Girl has a performer by the name of Katerina McCrimmon who is called to play Fanny.
No one can do Barbara Streisand but Barbara Streisand. But my goodness. After seeing and listening to McCrimmon imitate Fanny, the longtime Ziegfeld Follies singer and comedienne, the immediate impression left by McCrimmon is that she is a star.
People use the word star loosely, especially as it pertains to film and stage. This is not one of those times.
McCrimmon stamps her world-class voice when she closes out Act One of Funny Girl with the popular Don’t Rain on My Parade. McCrimmon doesn’t just sing Don’t Rain on My Parade, she owns it. McCrimmon belts out the song with the power of a lawn blower moving loose debris out of the way.
Don’t Rain on My Parade is the signature song in Funny Girl. However, there are other great songs throughout the production that McCrommon carries with ease. Fanny Brice is a life-of-the-party persona.
Her personality spells out big. She’s crass. She can deliver one-liners with the best of them. And she can sing. McCrimmon can check all of those boxes and more.
For those unfamiliar with either the movie or the longtime musical, Funny Girl is largely about what starts as a promising relationship that Fanny has with entrepreneurial spirit Nick Arnstein winds up in heartbreak alley.
That’s because Arnstein can’t help himself. He’s a gambler. While Fanny’s love is strong, the gambling pull for Arnstein is stronger. In the end, gambling pulls its trump card for Arnstein and in the process, he winds up losing Fanny. When they say that the show must go on, the show goes on for Fanny.
But before we go knee-deep into the Fanny-Arnstein pairing, let’s get back to the basics. Fanny is trying to make her way in show business and is just getting her career feet wet when she is introduced to the charming Arnstein (Stephen Mark Lukas).
As Fanny’s career picks up steam, she and Arnstein start to become an item. Act Two of the production formalizes the structure of the couple’s relationship where they settle and try to be normal.
But during all this love and bliss, Arnstein’s shady business dealings backfire. His relationship with Fanny eventually pays the ultimate price. The backdrop of vaudeville, the era in which Fanny becomes a stage star, makes Funny Girl an intriguing story.
Sometimes fairytales don’t always work out well. In the case of Fanny and Arnstein, love didn’t have anything to do with the couple’s relationship taking a hit and eventually crumbling underneath the enormous weight of Nick’s wayward ways.
The musical shows the good, the bad, the flaws, and the humanness in both lead characters. Funny Girl is a cautionary tale that tells us that love is not always the sustainable force that allows us to stay together to fight against the odds.
It’s also a reminder that self-need or self-greed can prove to be catastrophic to love birds. As the drama unfolds, McCrimmon doesn’t miss a step in making Fanny the heroine. She manages to belt out songs like the moving People, effortlessly. Without question, McCrimmon is the star of Funny Girl.
But she has plenty of help to make this production a success. The tap-dancing talents of Izaiah Montaque Harris, who plays Eddie Ryan, and the delightful Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice, Fanny’s mother, have their show-stopping moments. Veteran actor Walter Coppage (Florenz Ziegfeld) is also a strong presence on the stage.
Funny Girl is funny. It is also sad. That’s life. You fall down. You get back up. That’s what Fanny Brice would want us to do.
Top Image Caption: Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice in the National Tour of Funny Girl. Photo by Evan-Zimmerman for MurphyMade
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com