The musical 'Funny Girl' is one of those works that is inextricably linked with a specific artist. In this case Barbra Streisand. I have never seen a stage version of it previously and all my memories and images of the work are of the film version with Streisand's Academy Award winning (sharing, in fact) performance.
This was also the first time I have seen a show staged by 'The Production Company'. That company presents three musical works each year for limited performances (ten for each show, I believe) and I was interested to see the quality of their presentations.
Their productions are more than a concert version but not quite a full staging. Although the orchestra (of about twenty six musicians) remains on stage throughout the performance I was fully engrossed in what was as close as you could get to a fully staged show.
The three principals, Caroline O'Connor, David Hobson and the veteran Nancye Hayes were all superb in this story of the rise to stardom and personal life of Fanny Brice. The entire ensemble and the orchestra were as professional in standard as you could wish for.
I was very impressed, so much so that immediately after the performance I booked for the next production in August.
★★★★
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