Funny Girl Film Review: Magical Live Theatre

With powerful vocals, beautiful songs, and incredible performances, Funny Girl is a beautiful adaptation of a beloved musical.

Funny Girl – The Musical does exactly that by bringing this iconic musical into the cinema for the 10th anniversary of its production.

Starting in the Lower East Side of New York just before the First World War, Funny Girl – The Musical is a semi-autobiographical musical about comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, played in this version by a sensational Sheridan Smith. The film follows Fanny’s rise to fame: despite facing rejections in the show business due to her looks not adhering to the traditional beauty standard of the time, Fanny perseveres and is determined to become the greatest star. Thanks to her witty humour, she is given a chance by producer Florenz Ziegfield (Nigel Barber). It also portrays Fanny’s personal life, with a particular focus on her complicated relationship with Nicky Arnstein (Darius Campbell), an entrepreneur and gambler. 

The version portrayed in Funny Girl – The Musical is the 2016 West End revival, directed for the stage by Michael Mayer, that was performed at the Savoy Theatre and later toured the UK. This film joins the few but notable collection of filmed stage performances, which includes Disney’s Hamilton and the upcoming Hadestown. It is not a movie musical but, instead, a way for audiences to experience live theatre through the cinema screen. The film never shies away from this, but instead embraces and honours it by including key aspects of live theatre, such as the intermission between the two acts and the bows at the end of the performance. 

The performances are the most impressive element of Funny Girl – The Musical. The ensemble cast works really well together and brilliantly creates the world and setting in which Fanny’s story takes place. Darious Campbell is an excellent Nicky Arnstein, making us gain an inside look into the character’s inner turmoil and feelings. The cast is led by a wonderful Sheridan Smith, who delivers the performance of a lifetime as Fanny Brice. She is funny, emotional, heartbroken, and all the emotions in between, making the audience laugh and cry with her throughout the two hour and a half musical.

Smith is also a very expressive performer and Funny Girl – The Musical can allow the audience to appreciate this even more. Thanks to the many close-ups on her face, viewers can witness her choices and nuances in terms of facial expressions, which often goes unnoticed in big theatres. Therefore, the extensive use of close-up and medium close-up shots in the movie is understandable. However, I do wish that we could have seen more establishing and long shots throughout the musical to appreciate the entire scenography and choreography for the ensemble cast in certain scenes. 

Overall, Funny Girl – The Musical is a tribute to the magic of live theatre. This version does not aim to replace live theatre, but instead wants to make this experience more accessible for those in the audience who might not be able to afford or access live theatre. The latter was important when the musical was on the West End, but it becomes even more pivotal now, when there is no way for viewers to see the musical live on stage, since all the revivals in the United Kingdom and North America have closed a few years ago.

Funny Girl: The Musical will be re-released in UK and Irish cinemas on 30 April 2026.