There have been two elephants in the room when it comes to putting Funny Girl on stage, says Stephen Mark Lukas, who’s about to play the Nick Arstein role when Broadway at the Hobby brings the 2022 revival production to Houston.
First, there’s Barbra Streisand — her singing and portrayal of Fanny Brice. Even if you never saw the musical or the movie, you’ve heard her sing those iconic songs (“People,” “Don’t Rain on my Parade”)
“And because it’s a big show. It’s an expensive show,” says Lukas who has never seen a production of it before the call went out for the cast for the 2022 Broadway revival. He got hired as an understudy for the Arnstein role and when it went out on tour, he got the role full time.
According to Lukas, the revival is top notch with its singing, dancing and updated book by Harvey Fierstein. Sixty years after its premiere on Broadway it still retains the score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and much of the book by Isobel Lennart.
And Lukas has nothing but accolades for Katerina McCrimmon who has taken on the role of Fanny Brice, a young entertainer determined to become a star. “The show is the story of her journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of the biggest stars on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies. She is absolutely ambitious and driven and unwilling to take no for an answer. This character of a world where she’s told she doesn’t have the ability to succeed, she’s able to push through that. And redefine the conversation around her and what it means to be a comedian, what it means to be a leading lady,” Lukas says.
He describes his character as “a very charming gambler, conman. He is very much a romantic too. He has a great sense of humor in the script. In some ways Nick is sort of the antagonist. He serves sort of as a foil to Fanny.
“Where Fanny is sort of scrappy and up and coming when we first meet the characters, Nick is really established and has a status over her. As the show progresses that dynamic sort of flips.”
Growing up with parents who took him on an annual trip to New York City to see Broadway shows and who bought and listened to cast albums, Lukas was well acquainted with top musicals like The Phantom of the Opera, but missed seeing Funny Girl on stage.
However when he went to New York University his very first voice teacher there told him “‘You’re going to play Nicky Arnstein some day.'” And her prediction wasn’t off the mark because as things turned out, Funny Girl fits right in to the parts he was usually offered, Lukas says.
“Most of my career has been doing revivals of these big old fashion classic musicals,” he says. “I love musicals. Especially old classic musicals. I think there’s just something about the golden era of Broadway that people connect with today.
“The songs, at the time they were written, they were popular songs. Broadway music really was popular music. They’re written to be accessible and leave you humming on the way home. There’s just something about these old shows that really resonated with people.”
Another common thread to the parts he gets, Lukas says, (he played Gaston in Beauty and the Beast) is that while they always aren’t villains per se, they do have their comeuppances. “In all the characters I play in that they start off the show and they have it all figured out. They’re sort of on top of the world. And as show goes on have to contend with a lot of their demons.”
He believes his character in Funny Girl really loves Fanny and wants to make their relationship work.
“In Funny Girl that romance just pours out of the score.”
Asked why people whould buy tickets to the show, Lukas says: “Because it’s the first full-scale production in 60 years.”
Performances are scheduled for August 20-25 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 800-982-2787 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $19-$120.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
