{"id":86520,"date":"2025-03-11T17:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T22:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=86520"},"modified":"2025-03-13T04:24:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T09:24:24","slug":"cheryl-stern-enjoys-multiple-roles-in-funny-girl-opening-tonight-at-the-saenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/cheryl-stern-enjoys-multiple-roles-in-funny-girl-opening-tonight-at-the-saenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheryl Stern enjoys multiple roles in &#8216;Funny Girl&#8217; opening tonight at the Saenger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON, <em>Exclusive to the CCJN<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Cheryl Stern may not be a household name, but she is a veteran of stage and screen for four decades and one of the solid cast members of the national tour of &#8220;<em>Funny Girl<\/em>,&#8221; making its national tour here at the Saenger Theater through Sunday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86521\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86521\" class=\"wp-image-86521 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-300x248.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"248\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-300x248.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-1024x846.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-768x635.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl.png 1134w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/248;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86521\" class=\"wp-image-86521 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-300x248.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-300x248.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-1024x846.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl-768x635.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cheryl_Stern_Funny_Girl.png 1134w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Stern stars as Mrs. Strakosh Tuesday through Saturday and plays Rose Brice (Fanny&#8217;s mother) on Sunday evening. (Photo courtesy Cheryl Stern)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Stern is an actor&#8217;s actor and, in fact, teaches private acting to would-be stars in New York when not engaged playing the role of Mrs. Strakosh, the nosy neighbor who plays poker with Fanny Brice&#8217;s mother Rose played by celebrated singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester.<\/p>\n<p>She often fills in for Manchester. &#8220;Often on Sunday nights,&#8221; she told the CCJN in a phone interview &#8220;I go on for Melissa so she can travel to the next city. So, I\u2019ll be (Rose Brice) on Sunday evening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having to remember multiple roles and effortlessly switch between them is part of the demanding skill set for cast members of this national tour that began its cross-country circuit nearly two years ago and concludes its run in April.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Funny Girl&#8221; is the musical story of the life of Fanny Brice that made Barbra Streisand a star with memorable songs like &#8220;People&#8221; and &#8220;Don&#8217;t Rain on My Parade.&#8221; For those that saw the original cast or the 1968 film of the musical that won Streisand an Oscar, the role of Mrs. Strakosh was memorably played by Mae Questel, the actress who was the voice of animated stars Betty Boop and Olive Oyl from the &#8220;Popeye the Sailor&#8221; films. But the role was very small.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Award winning book writer and actor Harvey Fierstein (&#8220;Kinky Boots&#8221; and &#8220;Torch Song Trilogy&#8221;) was given the nod to work on the book originally written and based on a story by Isobel Lennart and update it and enhance the Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics) musical that had never been revived on Broadway since its original run.<\/p>\n<p>Stern, who worked with Fierstein in the 2012 revival of &#8220;<em>La Cage au Folles<\/em>,&#8221; can&#8217;t thank him enough. &#8220;It\u2019s beautiful,&#8221; she boasted. &#8220;He\u2019s done such a wonderful revision and really fleshed out so much for Nick Arnstein and for Mrs. Brice and the beautiful scene work for Mrs. Brice. I think it\u2019s extraordinary.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stern, who has won writing awards herself \u2013 she is a recipient of a coveted Larson Award \u2013 for &#8220;<em>Normal<\/em>,&#8221; which she wrote with her composer husband, Emmy Award winner Tom Kochan (&#8220;<em>Almost Maine<\/em>&#8220;), appreciated the extra lengths Fierstein went with the musical&#8217;s new book.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He\u2019s so smart and he\u2019s rounded out the story so we understand the back story of the characters and what leads Fanny to be who she is,&#8221; she noted.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86522\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86522\" class=\"wp-image-86522 size-large lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86522\" class=\"wp-image-86522 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FunnyGirl_Melissa_Hannah.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86522\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Manchester, left, co-stars as Rose Brice, while Hannah Shankman stars as her daughter Fanny. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In working on those characters, he also made additional room to broaden her role for Mrs. Strakosh. &#8220;In this version of the show, Mrs. Strakosh is a much bigger role than in the film and much bigger than it originally was on Broadway in 1964,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s a great role. We have a lot of scenes with Mrs. Meeker, the other poker player,&nbsp; and Melissa (Fanny&#8217;s mother Rose),&#8221; Stern elaborated. &#8220;I just have a blast doing it.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to performing in many Broadway, off-Broadway and national tours like &#8220;<em>Les Miserables<\/em>,&#8221; &#8220;<em>Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>,&#8221; &#8220;<em>The Women<\/em>&#8221; with Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Coolidge&nbsp; and &#8220;<em>I Love You, You&#8217;re Perfect, Now Change,<\/em>&#8221; she also starred in and co-wrote &#8220;<em>A Letter to Harvey Milk<\/em>.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some may recognize her as Ida, a recurring role in &#8220;The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel&#8221; series or from a number of other TV roles on prime time shows like &#8220;Law and Order: Criminal Intent&#8221; or daytime dramas such as &#8220;All My Children,&#8221; &#8220;As the World Turns&#8221; and &#8220;Guiding Light.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not one to rest on her laurels, Stern has been busy even when the industry was shuttered during the COVID pandemic. Last week, the premiere of a new film, &#8220;Can&#8217;t Let It Go,&#8221; produced by James Ivory of Merchant Ivory Productions was released. Stern stars in the film along with her longtime friend Mario Cantone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I play Mario\u2019s mother even though he\u2019s about two years younger than me,&#8221; she admitted, bemoaning the length of time it took for the film to see the light of day. She said they shot it while masking during the COVID pandemic in 2021 or 2022. The film is now available for rental through the Amazon network.<\/p>\n<p>Stern is also working on a new project, &#8220;<em>Rita<\/em>,&#8221; a musical about the life of tragic film star Rita Hayworth, who died of early onset Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease at 68. Stern and her writing partner, Bettina Covo, are making sure to incorporate a number of dance sequences because Hayworth hailed from a Spanish Flamenco family and dance was central to her life.<\/p>\n<p>While on the road with the national tour of &#8220;<em>Funny Girl<\/em>,&#8221; Stern manages to hold Zoom conferences with her creative team to hone the musical even further.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The revival of &#8220;<em>Funny Girl<\/em>&#8221; bowed on Broadway just after the COVID pandemic in March of 2022 and originally starred Beanie Feldstein in the role of Fanny Brice, the celebrated star of stage and screen, who went on to become one of the biggest female stars of her era. Feldstein left the role early as fans clamored for Lea Michele to take over the role. In the meantime, Julie Benko filled in and received rave notices for her performances and worked as Michele&#8217;s understudy and replacement for the duration of the Broadway run.<\/p>\n<p><em>The first national tour of <strong>&#8220;Funny Girl&#8221;<\/strong> starring Hannah Shankman as Fanny Brice and part of the Broadway Across New Orleans series opens tonight, Tuesday, March 11 and continues through Sunday, March 16, at the Saenger Theater, 1111 Canal Street. For tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saengernola.com\/events\/funny-girl\/calendar\/2025-03-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a> or call 504-287-0351.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Cheryl%20Stern%20enjoys%20multiple%20roles%20in%20%27Funny%20Girl%27%20opening%20tonight%20at%20the%20Saenger\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14467,14466,9690,8790,8795,14468,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86520"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86546,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520\/revisions\/86546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}