Funny Girl Indefinitely Postpones Broadway and Los Angeles Engagements

The planned revival of Funny Girl, which was scheduled to play at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from January 15 through February 26 and then open on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in April 2012, has been indefinitely postponed.

Speaking on behalf of the producing team, Bob Boyett said in a statement: “We have made the extremely difficult decision today to postpone our production of Funny Girl. 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. 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.”

As previously reported, the show was set to star Lauren Ambrose as Fanny Brice and Bobby Cannavale as Nick Arnstein. The production was to be directed by Bartlett Sher.

With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and a book by Isobel Lennart, the show charts the real life story of Fanny Brice, who, heralding from the streets of New York’s Lower East Side, became a toast of the Ziegfeld Follies.