Review: Funny Girl at Birmingham Hippodrome

The character of Fanny Brice is one we have fallen in love with before. After all, it was the role that projected ‎Barbra Streisand to stardom back in 1968. Heading to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see Funny Girl? Get ready to fall in love all over again.

This time though the object of your affection will be no less than national treasure and The Greatest Star herself – Sheridan Smith.

We have had the pleasure of seeing Sheridan Smith grow up on TV, thanks to her early days on The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, right through to her memorable roles in Cilla and Mrs Biggs. We have seen her tackling the difficult roles in The C Word and Moorside, as well as her hilarious stint in Gavin and Stacey.

Funny Girl offers the actress the very best of both worlds; it is a comedy that had the audience at the Birmingham Hippodrome in fits of laughter, but also has heart-breaking moments that saw members of the crowd reaching for their tissues.

Funny Girl is based on the true story of Broadway star Fanny Brice, who secures her first job in vaudeville before becoming a success with Ziegfeld Follies. Despite not being the typical theatre beauty, Fanny uses her cracking sense of humour to get in with Florenz Ziegfeld and soon meets professional gambler Nick Arnstein.

Whilst becoming the biggest star on Broadway, Fanny falls in love with Nick and she even leaves her current show to run away with him. However, their relationship soon turns messy with money problems, which eventually sees Nick getting involved in a deal which lands him in prison.

The show is simply sensational and captivates the audience in such a way that I have never seen before. Sheridan, along with fellow stars Darius Campbell who plays Nick Arnstein, Rachel Izen, who plays Fanny’s mother and Joshua Lay, who plays talented dancer and hopeless romantic Eddie Ryan, all help to put on a thoroughly entertaining production.

The show has also been practiced to absolute perfection, from the clever use of mirrors and the smoothness of scene changes to the ensemble and beautiful dancing.

All this is helped of course with the musical numbers in the show, with the exciting ‘If A Girl Isn’t Pretty’ and ‘Henry Street’ showcasing the whole company on stage, together with a number of stunning duets between Sheridan and Darius, including ‘You Are Woman, I Am Man’ and ‘Who Are You Now?’.

Sheridan’s performance of the absolute classic ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’, left the audience in complete awe.

With her beautiful voice, perfect comedic timing and snappy one liners, Sheridan Smith has undoubted star quality in Funny Girl. With her natural tears and laughter, you would be fooled into thinking that it was the first time that she had ever played the role, despite being in the job for well over a year.

Not only did the show give me the opportunity to see one of my favourite actresses, it allowed the audience to see her, once again, take on a character and write her name all over it and make it a huge success. Her standing ovation from every audience member at the end was the very least that she deserved.

Funny Girl should not be missed. It is on at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday, May 13. It returns to the Midlands at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in July.

Funny Girl rating: 10/10

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close