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MSU Theatre performs 'Funny Girl' at Wharton

April 23, 2013
	<p>The cast of &#8220;Funny Girl&#8221; acts out a scene of <span class="caps">MSU</span> Department of Theatre&#8217;s newest play. They will be performing at Wharton Center starting Friday. </p>

The cast of “Funny Girl” acts out a scene of MSU Department of Theatre’s newest play. They will be performing at Wharton Center starting Friday.

Originally from Birmingham, Ala., graduate student Jacqueline Wheeler swore up and down she would never move anywhere without warm weather to follow her dream of the theater.

But Wheeler said she found herself falling in love with the MSU Department of Theatre and decided to come to Michigan.

She now plays Mrs. Brice, the mother of main lead character Fanny Brice, in the department’s production of “Funny Girl,” which is being performed at Wharton Center until Sunday.

“(Mrs. Brice) is a tough cookie,” Wheeler said. “She is very supportive, but in a tough way, so she kinda tells Fanny like it is.”

The musical, which first came to Broadway in 1964, depicts the relationship between model, comedian and singer Fanny Brice and entrepreneur Nick Arnstein. In the musical’s kickoff year, Brice was played by singer and actress Barbra Streisand.

Rob Roznowski, the department’s head of acting and directing, said auditions for “Funny Girl” were held in November, and the cast has been training ever since. Wheeler said the large-scale production isn’t typical anymore, especially involving students.

“(They) don’t do musicals like this anymore — big, hulking musicals,” she said. “(There’s) so many people, and that’s the reason why they’re not really done anymore … (There are so) many types of people, that kinda drew me in.”

Roznowski said the crew brought in New York City director Devanand Janki to direct and choreograph the musical and provide a new experience for students.

“It’s really important to us as teachers in classes, and it’s just as important to have new eyes looking at your work and giving you a different experience,” Roznowski said.

As the assistant director, theatre senior Dennis Corsi said the guest director was an essential learning process for him.

“Getting to experience that and see the way that he works gave a really good insight into what it’s gonna be like when we leave school and go into the professional acting world,” Corsi said.

With commencement just around the corner, that reality isn’t too far off for Corsi.

“It’s a complicated emotion,” he said. “I’ve been with them for so long and I’m sad to be leaving, but I’m also excited to be moving on to the next part of my life.”

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