It’s the wrong name. Funny Girl is a good title for sure.  But … this production, this production, is really A Star is Born.  Producers Theatre & Company and Director Adam Haynes are star makers in the little show that could and Brittanie Shipway, who already has a stellar resume, is the real deal in a role that that she has gracefully eased from celluloid to make her own.  There are just some roles where the years of hard graft, the exhaustion of dance classes, the rigour of detailed text study, the sacrifices which preserve the instrument, simply pay off.  FUNNY GIRL THE MUSICAL is a show which is built for a star turn and damn does this production deliver!

It is the 1968 movie that most audience members will think of when they hear Funny Girl, though there has been a prestigious and well acclaimed Australian stage show in the last few years.   It was a stage musical before it was filmed and it was Streisand who originated the theatre role which is loosely based on the career and marriage of Ziegfeld headliner, Fanny Brice.  The songs are famous, People was a radio hit well before the opening night and the soaring soprano, comic timing and grand persona of Barbra Streisand are inevitably stamped upon it.

Haynes and Shipway have interrogated that legend, treated it with respect, paid homage where such is due and then gone their own way.  This is its own work and this is an owned performance.  Beginning with the bedrock of a clearly created character.

Shipway is vibrant as the young Fanny with brass and brash to spare in those early scenes but as the mature artist arrives, she foregrounds the underlying warmth and insecurity in Brice, culminating in a wrenching decision of bravado and love.  She has presence and charisma to burn, and Haynes’ direction gives Shipway leave to work her magic on the audience before her.  Often downstage, she will embrace and include us when she stands to belt or will lift up toward the back rows with a crushed face or a comic expression.  And she value-adds in every piece of business from sherry-face to taking Nicky’s arm and all with that natural and seductive laugh.

Shipway’s voice is jubilant and joyous to hear. With superb orchestration from Musical Director Craig M Wood, Shipway makes such exciting use of her lower register, listen for “there is whiskey, gamblin’” in Cornet Man.  There is no lack of thrilling top notes though, held and floated, “Nicki Arnstein” and “my Parade”.  Technically she has the ability to pause within a phrase for that catch of emotion even in the comic songs.  You are Woman is one of those scenes which pays tribute to its originator, we see deference paid within the hilarious and life-affirming.

In that scene Shipway is well matched by Simon Thompson as a smooth and charming Nick Arnstein, for this is a show, not a concert and the title character is encircled by an ensemble of detail and skill.  These pair have a lovely rapport displayed with a tempered improbability engendered by their unsuitability for each other, however, that first kiss brought a little tear and lots of oohs. Thompson brings real heart and a gentleness of manner that is very un-Sharif like to his character.  He can fire up, though, but the arguments never lose the love that weaves through the production.  Love personified in Janina Hamerlok as Fanny’s mother Rose who gives such a full, genuine performance, both when being motherly and when displaying the loquacious strength of personality that her daughter has inherited.

The role of Emma, dresser and confidante to the star, as played by Sarah Dolan, is just part of that loving circle.  It’s an understated role brought with empathy and soft care by Dolan as is the really terrific work of yearning hoofer Eddie by Brent Dolahenty.  What a beautiful character he puts on that stage.  Sensitive, supportive and sincere, his Eddie is sweet and sad with a killer softshoe.  Vastly different to the marvellous scenery chewing of bigger than life Jewish matron Mrs Strakosh, hurled at us in a wonderful comic creation by Courtney Powell.  The ensemble and minor characters bring everything a musical like this needs:  strong dancing, absolute commitment and the telling of little stories within the scenes.  The railway sequence is chock full of little extra moments which give detail and depth to the whole.

It has to be said that there are elements of production in FUNNY GIRL THE MUSICAL which would benefit from a more concentrated effort to manage the minutia, there are noticeable Am-root aspects.  You will see them as we did but that’s not it kid, that’s not it!  There is way too much to enjoy about the production to get niggardly.  The costumes, jewellery and wigs keep on coming with class, style and an evident and intelligent understanding of palette and the intricacies of mic wearing.  Look for the black and white scene … delicious. (Costume Design: Chris Pitcairn, Costume Assistant: Rosanna Haynes)

The lighting (Designer: Mitchell Kroll) is simple but evokes and strengthens the emotion appropriately.  The audio mix is very good and the orchestra under Wood’s baton is tight, with individual instruments utilised in a complex score with build and discretion.  Kudos to the drummer whose brushwork in People and hand struck percussion in Don’t rain on My Parade were exceptionally good.  They are all obviously fine musicians even down to the very nice woodblock action for Greatest Star and the very interesting inclusion of a guitar in the mix which really rounds out the big numbers. The choreography from Melissa Ayers is placed with skill on the wide, shallow stage.  Some of those ensemble numbers are great fun.  I loved the army sequence … I know just how fraught it is to be working at speed with long pointed sticks and there was not a step out of place!

Riverside Theatres at Parramatta are just an half hour on the train from the city, there is a huge range of eats on the same street as the theatre and … there is a star in the house.  The almost sold out house so book now!

FUNNY GIRL! THE MUSICAL [Facebook Event] from Theatre & Company [Facebook] will play Riverside Theatres 28th September – 6th October.