Does This Touring 'Funny Girl' Make the Grade?

That it took a half-century for "Funny Girl" to receive a major revival has much to do with the fact that the show just could never quit Barbra Streisand, who shot to stardom in 1964 when the show landed on Broadway. How could anyone come close to her performance as Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice? It is ironic that in the singing department, Brice couldn't have either, in part because much of the score (music by Jule Styne; lyrics by Bob Merrill) were written for the pure, distinct voice that was Streisand. It is a demanding role – some 11 songs plus reprises – and the young Barbra slayed it. Some have called the show's original cast album the greatest one-woman show in the history of Broadway cast recordings.

Yet, "Funny Girl" had a healthy life after Streisand left the cast, running another year and a half, for a total of 1,348 performances. It was the longest-running of Styne's hits, which include "Gypsy"; but after the successful film version (for which Streisand won an Oscar) and a sequel, "Funny Lady," the musical languished until this century, when a London production under the direction of Michael Mayer brought renewed interest.

Then, in 2022, producers decided to bring it back to Broadway in a bigger production, with Mayer directing. This time they took the title literally, seeking out an actress – Beanie Feldstein, better known for comedy than singing. She had made a splash in a pair of independent comedies ("Booksmart" and "Lady Bird"), as well as a scene-stealing role in Bette Midler's "Hello, Dolly!" That she was closer in spirit to the real Fanny Brice made little difference when the revival opened and she was lambasted for not being able to sing the songs convincingly.

Enter Lea Michele, the "Glee" actress who had been auditioning for the role her entire career. She replaced Feldstein and gave an impeccable performance, and turned the revival's fortunes around. Then, adding insult to injury for Feldstein, she recorded the new cast album. She didn't tour with it, but helped guarantee that other actresses could.

For the tour there have been two: Katerina McCrimmon, who started the tour in 2023, getting some spectacular reviews during her 14-month tenure. She was replaced last November with Hannah Shankman, who deserves some spectacular reviews of her own. She possesses a voice as big as the Citizens Opera House, where the show is playing through February 16. It has such depth that even when she's belting "Don't Rain on My Parade," you sense she's holding something back. She may pour the comic shtick on a bit too thick, but it seems that most everyone else does as well, leaning into the numerous stereotypes in Isobel Lennart's backstage narrative in order to put these mostly one-dimensional characters across. But it hardly matters – this is a "Funny Girl" that sings with uniformly strong vocals that play up its best asset – that Styne/Merrill score.

They were said to have written more than 50 songs for the show, and what's here is pedigree classic Broadway. The score is one of the last Broadway shows that had a hit song, "People," before the show opened. And there are winners throughout – from the aforementioned "Don't Rain on my Parade," and "I'm the Greatest Star" to the less-well-known but worthy "I Want to Be Seen With You," "Who Are You Know?," and the positively spine-chilling "The Music That Makes Me Dance."

But one song that should have received the axe is the Trumpian, "You Are Woman. I Am Man," which includes such lines as, "You are woman, I am man/You are smaller, so I can be taller than/You are softer to the touch/It's a feeling I like feeling very much." Having the glib Nick Arnstein express his gender dominance over Fanny makes him even less appealing, and leaves you to wonder why the street-smart star didn't leave him on the spot.

Not that there is much to Arnstein's character to begin with, which points to "Funny Girl"'s leading problem: A second act that focuses on Fanny's tortured marriage to this handsome, smooth-talking gambler who exists in the play to fawn over Fanny, then be the source of her misery. Though in his reworked book Harvey Fierstein attempts to give him a bit more depth by restoring a song that defines the transitory way he see things ("A Temporary Arrangement"), it is more of distracting than enlightening.

Nor is the problem Stephen Mark Lukas, the dapper, six-packed hunk with a most agreeable manner and a voice to die for; rather it is with a thankless role and a dead-end final scene when Fanny reunites with Nick after his prison stint. Making matters worse is that the show builds to a moment for Fanny to sum everything up in a song; but instead she leans into a reprise of "Don't Rain on My Parade." It's effective enough, though it leaves Fanny and the show in an emotional limbo. (Apparently Styne and Merrill did write a song for that moment, "I Tried," but Streisand didn't like it and they went for this makeshift finale.)

So the question remains: Is this flawed musical worth such attention? For the most, part, yes. Michael Mayer's production moves along swiftly with handsome, if far from lavish, sets by David Zinn, and splendid period costumes by Susan Hilferty. It also boasts an appealing, if a bit overwrought, supporting cast, who include 1980s pop songstress Mellisa Manchester as Fanny's loving mom and scene-stealing tapping provided by Izaiah Montaque Harris as Fanny's vaudeville partner, Eddie Ryan. That tap choreography is by Ayodele Casel, who recently brought her own work to the ART with "Diary of a Tap Dancer," with much acclaim.

In his new book, Fierstein marginally improves the second half, notably with "Who Are You Now?" reworked as a duet between Fanny and Nick. But the biggest problem with "Funny Girl" is no one could figure out how to end the damn thing convincingly. Still, with a singer as strong as Shankman at its helm, this "Funny Girl" soars with Broadway chutzpah.

"Funny Girl" continues through February 16 at the Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston, MA. For more information, visit The Broadway in Boston website.