Revival Called Off

The eagerly anticipated Broadway-bound revival of the 1964 musical Funny Girl to star Lauren Ambrose and Bobby Cannavale, has been indefinitely postponed due to financial difficulties.

Ambrose was set to headline as legendary entertainer Fanny Brice with Cannavale costarring as her philandering husband Nick Arnstein in a production that would open at the Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles next January before moving to New York's Imperial Theatre. The New York engagement would mark the first Broadway revival for the show that cemented superstar status for its original Fanny, gay icon Barbra Streisand.

"We have made the extremely difficult decision to postpone our production of Funny Girl," says Bob Boyett, one of the show's producers. "Given the current economic climate, many Broadway producing investors have found it impossible to maintain their standard level of financial commitment. Our desire to produce Funny Girl on the scale it deserves required a capitalization of $12 million, making it one of the most expensive revivals in Broadway history."

Michael Ritchie, CTG Artistic Director, says he's looking for a replacement show. "We're obviously disappointed by this news," Ritchie says. "But we're already hard at work to find a replacement for Funny Girl."

Boyett adds, "I am deeply saddened by this decision, but I, along with the finest group of co-producers I have ever had the pleasure to work with, Sonia Friedman, Jean Doumanian, Stacey Mindich and Tim Levy, determined that this was not the right time to bring Funny Girl to the stage."