‘Funny Girl’ best enjoyed for what it is, not for what it was

BOSTON – It took nearly 60 years for “Funny Girl” to return to Broadway in revival, an astonishing length of time considering that the popular 1964 production earned eight Tony nominations and lasted 1,348 performances.

The primary reason for the delay was finding the right woman to play Fanny Brice – the legendary Jewish star of vaudeville’s Ziegfeld Follies at the turn-of-the-20^th century – once Barbra Streisand was done with her. It was Streisand’s Tony-nominated performance on stage (she lost to Carol Channing in “Hello, Dolly!”) and her Oscar-winning performance in the 1968 film version of “Funny Girl” that made the actor the perennial point of comparison for anyone daring to take on the role in subsequent productions.

The Broadway revival was tumultuous, due largely to the incessant Streisand comparisons. But it was successful enough to warrant a touring production that launched at the Providence Performing Arts Center in September 2023 just days after the musical’s final performance on Broadway.

The tour won’t be returning to Providence in the foreseeable future. It is, however, playing in nearly Boston at the magnificent Citizens Opera House. And the best way to enjoy the show is to sit back and accept it for what it is rather than what it was, which takes the whole Streisand thing out of the equation.

What it is is an old-fashioned musical from Broadway’s Golden Age (OK, technically, that Age ended in 1959), that is built as an homage to vaudeville and as delightful as it is dated.

“Funny Girl” serves up the simplistic, romantic, rags-to-riches story of Fanny Brice in a sentimental and sanitized book by Isobel Lennart. Harvey Fierstein was tasked with revising the revival by removing some of the tarnish, which entailed moving around musical numbers, making some ballads a tad more up-tempo and bolstering a weak Act 2. He was moderately successful, for there are still plot points and characters – particularly the old Jewish lady archetypes in Fannie’s life in Brooklyn (played affectionately but so broadly by Cheryl Stern, Christine Bunuan and Melissa Manchester) – that seem outdated. The second half still drags.

The story begins in the early 1920s at Manhattan’s New Amsterdam Theater, where vaudeville star Fanny is backstage awaiting her husband’s release from prison for embezzlement. The anticipation triggers a flood of memories, which play as an extended flashback until the timeline catches up late in the second act. We witness Fanny’s start as a clumsy chorus girl, watch her honing her off-stage gumption and on-stage persona, and see her meeting and marrying the charming gambler Nick Arnstein (a merely adequate Stephen Mark Lukas, whose handling of the character’s emasculation and eventual humbling is color-by-number).

The plot is most certainly predictable, but it’s the delightful journey that justifies the price of admission.

That journey is paved with remarkably hummable songs composed by Jule Styne, like the ballad “People” and the anthem “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” He’s the guy who also wrote the music for “Gypsy,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Peter Pan,” which have all become standards in the Great American Songbook. His writing partner, the lyricist Bob Merril, is responsible for corny yet catchy lines like “Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter/Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter.” All this is delivered with the support of a superb orchestra under Cameron Blake Kinnear’s music direction.

Like all Golden Age musicals, there’s lavish sets by David Zinn, extravagant costumes and headdresses courtesy of Susan Hilferty and dazzling pastiche production numbers set at the Ziegfeld Follies that are choreographed by Ellenore Scott and Ayodele Casel. They are performed by a terrific ensemble. And there’s no shortage of old-school tap dancing, featuring a wonderful Izaiah Montaque Harris as Fannie’s pal Eddie.

Amid all the razzle dazzle is Fannie, a star vehicle that requires a triple threat performer who can belt like nobody’s business, play the drama and be a natural comedian.

Hannah Shankman, whose considerable Broadway and touring credits include “Hair,” “Wicked,” “Side Show,” “The Band’s Visit,” “Rent” and “Les Misérables,” has been in the lead role of “Funny Girl” since last September and is a powerhouse with phenomenal stage presence. Her rich, robust rendition of the Act 1-ending “Don’t Rain on My Parade” is outstanding.

But comedy is not her strongest suit, which stands out when playing a world-class comedian in a musical titled “Funny Girl.” Her antics throughout the production, but particularly during the dated vaudeville number “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat,” seem studied rather than spontaneous.

Director Michael Mayer approaches this musical as the period piece it is, retaining the musical’s Overture and Entr’acte despite their faded popularity, routinely placing performers in front of a scrim curtain while set changes occur behind it and having those performers deliver punchlines and high notes directly at the audience and to the back of the house.

Roll with it. Your seats are in a vaudeville-era palace and everything taking place on stage seems right at home.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who also writes for The Boston Globe. Connect with him on Facebook.