(upbeat music)
- It's the first-ever Broadway revival of "Funny Girl"
since it debuted nearly 60 years ago.
Paul Wontorek caught up
with one of the stars of "Funny Girl,"
five-time Emmy award-winner, Jane Lynch.
- Thanks, Tamsen.
After wowing at-home audiences
in hit shows like "Glee"
and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,"
Jane Lynch is back on the boards
playing Mrs. Rosie Brice
in one of her all-time favorite musicals.
We sat down at the Renaissance Hotel to talk all about it.
(cast singing show's final note)
Welcome back to Broadway. - [Jane] Thank you.
- [Paul] How's it going?
- It's going great. I'm so glad to be here.
I was here last in 2013 when I did "Annie."
- [Paul] Yes.
- It was, I was like, oh my God,
the Broadway actor life is for me.
And so I was very determined to get something else
at some point.
I, of course, didn't know it would be this,
and it would be such an important show to me
when I was a kid.
And so I'm just thrilled.
- Tell me about that.
You do, you love "Funny Girl."
- I do. I was brought up on that album, the cast album.
My mother loved musicals,
and we used to sing this stuff together.
I used to go into the basement
and listen to it by myself
and perform "I'm the Greatest Star."
And anytime I did something well in my career,
like I would get a good job,
my mother would leave an answering-machine message of:
♪ Who taught her everything she knows? ♪
Which is the song I'm singing!
So thank you, Mama, for that.
- So you're playing Rosie Brice.
- [Jane] Right.
- You are the mom who taught her everything she knows.
- Indeed.
- You get to be mom to Beanie Feldstein.
- [Jane] Yeah.
- You get to do an amazing number with Jared Grimes.
- [Jane] Right!
- [Paul] Dancing with Jared Grimes.
- [Jane] Oh my gosh. Yes.
- What has it been like as a musical-theater fan,
like you are, putting this together?
- Well, I mean, working with Jared Grimes is transcendent.
He is not only an amazing dancer, tap-dancer,
and human being, but he brings so much joy.
Watching him tap is like going into pure bliss,
because he is.
He's so happy, and he, ah!
(Paul chuckling) And he changes it a little bit all day.
I mean, it's basically set,
but then you'll see him do something
and go, oh my God, this man!
(Paul chuckling) What a gift!
♪ Henry Street ♪
♪ No, it ain't Broadway ♪
♪ It's Henry Street ♪
- As a true Broadway fan,
and a "Funny Girl" fan,
you are obviously aware this show
has not been around on Broadway for 60-plus years.
- Right.
- [Paul] It's a big moment for fans of this musical.
- [Jane] Yeah.
- So tell everyone who is a fan about this new version,
because it really is different and new,
and there's a new book and...
- There is, but it's still the story.
Like, someone asked me, you know,
how is it updated for 2022?
And I said, a good story is a good story.
I think we can all relate to it.
We all feel we have something deeply special
about all of us.
And we feel that there's something that we can give
to the world.
And that's what Fanny feels.
She's got this talent,
but she's not "a standard size that fits a standard dress,"
which is a line from a song that we sing.
She's not "pretty like a Miss Atlantic City."
She's her own thing.
And her mother is ferocious in her support of her,
saying, don't you worry about it.
You are the best. You are the greatest.
And she believes she's the greatest as well.
And, you know, finally people catch up to her.
So I think everybody out there
who feels they have something inside
that they're just dying to show people
and wanna be seen for
will really feel Fanny's journey as she comes into her own
in this story.
- It's also fantastic for "Glee" fans
to see Sue Sylvester turn into this musical comedy queen.
(Jane laughing)
I mean, it's so great.
- That was such a great experience, such a great role,
because it opened up the doors for so much for me.
It really kind of was a game changer, very much so.
- I have fallen in love with Sophie Lennon
on "Mrs Maisel," the last two seasons.
What a, what a great character arc that you were given.
- Oh, my god, yeah.
- I mean, it's just fantastic work.
- Yeah. Yeah.
First of all, I knew Mrs. Maisel was, you know,
this big hit.
And I thought to myself, I wanna be on that show,
and I don't know how, but it happened, like, within a week.
I thought, oh my God, I'm so powerful!
But, uh, so I, I, you know, I read the script,
and I saw the dichotomy of the character,
who she is as Sophie from Queens,
who is kind of joyful and funny and raucous
to this very insecure, kind of bitter, brittle...
- [Paul] Yeah.
- You know, she thinks she's erudite and elite
and, you know, just kind of riddled with stuff
that you feel so sorry for her.
And yet she's so joyful and so, like,
in her element when she's Sophie Lennon,
but she would never, you know, on stage
as Sophie from Queens,
but she could never allow herself to live that way,
which is kind of sad.
- When I look at your resume,
you've done so many amazing things
from the Christopher Guest movies,
which are iconic, to "Glee,"
to the game-show career, which is a whole other career,
to this Broadway career.
Is this the goal?
To sort of get to do so many different things?
- Well, it wasn't.
It wasn't something I set out to do, but boy, do I love it.
I get to do a lot of different things.
And you know, when I was younger, I said yes to everything.
I remember I went to an audition
where they wanted us to roller skate,
and I didn't roller skate.
I bought a pair of roller skates,
and I showed up, and I roller-skated.
- Do it.
- Yeah, and it was, and I was terrible,
and I didn't get cast.
(Paul chuckling)
But I never said no, 'cause I wanted so badly
to be in the game, invited to the party.
And so I was like, yeah, I can do anything. Just, you know,
kind of like Fanny Brice.
(upbeat music)