Barbara Tirrell Makes FUNNY GIRL Debut One Day After She Was Hired as Off Stage Cover

According to a post on her Facebook account, Barbara Tirrell made her debut as Mrs. Meeker just one day after she was hired as an offstage cover for Mrs. Brice, Mrs. Strakosh, and Mrs. Meeker.

Tirell writes, "Yesterday, Friday, afternoon out of the blue I got a phone call from my agent with an offer to be the offstage cover for three roles in the Broadway production of Funny Girl: Mrs. Brice, Mrs. Strakosh and Mrs. Meeker. I was driving to my mothers in Massachusetts when the call came in. I accepted, they negotiated, and then they asked if I could come back today, Saturday and watch the matinee. So I left Massachusetts this morning at 7 AM to arrive in New York by noon and attend the matinee at 2 PM. But at 10 am, while I was at a rest stop in Connecticut, the Funny Girl stage manager called me and asked if I would be willing to go on in the show today in one of those roles with the book in hand! Because they had nine understudies on and simply didn't have anybody else to play the part. (I would learn that if I had said no, they would have had to cancel two sold out performances!) Of course I said yes! I arrived at the theater at noon, did a quick fitting of another person's costume and wig, quickly ran through the scenes to know where I was to stand and move, fudged my way through the music that I didn't know. And at 2:15 pm while carrying the script, I played my Broadway opening performance as Mrs. Meeker, in Funny Girl. This is the theater. You just can't make this stuff up!!!"

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As previously reported, Lea Michele is out of Funny Girl for 10 days following a positive Covid test. BroadwayWorld celebrates the understudies and standbys who make sure the show goes on!

Tony Award winner Michael Mayer directs this brand-new Funny Girl, featuring the classic score by Tony, Grammy and Academy Award winner Jule Styne and lyrics by Tony Award nominee and Grammy Award winner Bob Merrill, (comprising additional songs from Styne & Merrill). The original book by Isobel Lennart, from an original story by Miss Lennart, is revised by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein.

This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she'd never be a star, but then something funny happened-she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.