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I'm Ted Spurling. This will be my sixth performance at the Ninety Second Street
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Why Lyrics and nurses series. And this show is called Ziegfeld Girl, The Many Faces
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of Fannie Bryce. Fannie Bryce was a Ziegfeld's Folly star. She also went on to a very successful
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radio career and she made some appearances in film and television as well, but because of her
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unconventional looks, she never really had a starring career. in the movies
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I think Fannie Bryce remains an iconic figure today largely because of the Broadway musical
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and film Funny Girl. Well, in our evening, we're going to do three major takes on Fannie Bryce
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One is her own material that she made famous, a lot of which was written very specifically
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for her by her own writers. But I also wanted to show her influence and how people have riffed off of her over the years
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So we'll be doing songs from Funny Girl and also from Funny Lady, which is a sequel movie
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made about the second part of her life and her second marriage to songwriter and producer
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Billy Rose. I look away when I know I'll come back on my knees someday
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I was lucky enough in 2001 to appear in an incredible production of Funny Girl at the Paper Mill Playhouse
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It was a dream come true for me. I think she really paved the road for a lot of female singers comedians actresses that weren the stereotypical beautiful kind of girl People know her for her comedy of course but her most famous song is a tragic torch song
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You know, My Man, but she sang very seriously, very movingly. She even sort of dabbled in the gospel, believe it or not, so there's a pretty wide range of material
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but a lot of it is really fun. You know, she was rubbing elbows with male comedians who were up there doing their schick and their stuff
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Women weren't doing that at the time. She had an opinion. She had a point of view
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And she also could turn around and deliver a song like My Man so beautiful, but so much heart and so much depth
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There was really no one like that. Women didn't feel like they could be out of the box
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I don't know why I should. He isn't good. He isn't true
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He beats me too. What can I do? It's going to be a real evening that you're not going to forget, and I know one that I'm just really grateful to be a part of
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What's the difference if I say? Why you go away when I know I'll come back on my knees someday
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For wherever my man is, I am here
