NEW YORK—“People don’t change,” one character notes in the closing minutes of the first-ever Broadway revival of the 1964 musical “Funny Girl.” These words are a constant reality in this very charming and often bittersweet production.
Beginning and ending in 1924, with the bulk of the show taking place sometime earlier, “Funny Girl” is based on incidents from the life of musical comedy star Fanny Brice (Beanie Feldstein). Despite possessing immense talent, Fanny finds herself initially stymied on the New York stage as she does not fit the stereotypical image of a “beautiful girl.”
However, thanks to the help of a young tap dancer named Eddie Ryan (Jared Grimes), Fanny lands a job in a musical revue and, soon after, attracts the attention of famed impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (Peter Francis James)….