Two Fanny Brices to Share the Stage 9/08-13

Theater-goers may be seeing double in the coming week as two different actresses-one in her 60s, the other in her teens-offer radically different interpretations of the same role, portraying legendary singing comedienne Fanny Brice. Both seasoned pro Patricia Dell, 63, and rising newcomer Chloe Brooks, 17, will appear in productions of ASCAP award-winning writer Chip Deffaa's musical play "One Night with Fanny Brice." And each will be appearing in a version of the play that's been subtly altered to suit the particular performer's strengths.

Dell, who starred in "One Night with Fanny Brice" this past summer at the Open-Eye Theater in the Catskills, will appear in the play in New York City on Monday, September 8th, at the Actors Institute, 150 W. 30th Street. (For more info, go to: http://www.theopeneyetheater.org.) Meanwhile, Chloe Brooks is performing "One Night with Fanny Brice" in an ongoing run at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street); she resumes performances, after taking a brief summer vacation, on Saturday, September 13th. (For more info, go to: www.13thstreetrep.org.)
Deffaa says each performer brings different assets to the stage.

In a career spanning five decades, Dell has done national tours; starred in regional productions of countless classic musicals (from "Mame" to "42nd Street"); and teaches aspiring actors at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. "She understands particularly well the sarcasm, the hardness, the stubbornness of the older Brice, who's been battered a bit by life, but is gamely plugging away. She is particularly effective at some of the dramatic book scenes of the older Brice; her life-experience comes into play."

Brooks, who so astonished Deffaa-along with Edith O'Hara, the 97-year-old Artistic Director of the 13th Street Rep and Sandra Nordgren, the theater's Producing Artistic Director-when she auditioned for the show at age 15, was first hired to understudy Mary Cantoni Johnson in the role at the Rep, a year and a half ago. Last Spring, just before she turned 17, she took over the role. Deffaa, Nordgren, and O'Hara all praise her youthful spirit, comic sensibility, and the open-hearted joy she brings to early songs of Brice's.

"It's a very tough role," says Deffaa. "I've only met one other teenager I think I could entrust it to-Emily Bordonaro, whom I hope will play it someday. But both Books, at 17, and Dell, at 63,. create characterizations audiences care about. I'm glad industry will be getting a chance to see Dell in the role this week. And Brooks has been impressing audiences week after week at the 13th Street Rep." Brooks seems to have no bigger champion than Edith O'Hara, 97, who not only approved casting Brooks in the show--she has watched virtually every performance of hers.

While Dell and Brooks are both appearing in "One Night with Fanny Brice," each production is subtly different. There will be different sets, costumes, and slightly variant scripts. Deffaa notes: "I've given Amie Brockway Henson, Artistic Director of the Open-Eye Theater, with whom I always enjoy working-and in whom I have enormous trust--carte blanche to adapt the play as she feels best. I did the same when she presented my show 'Irving Berlin's America.'"

And the version of the play that Chloe Brooks performs is subtly different from both the version of Deffaa's script that is published by Leicester Bay Theatricals and the version performed by Mary Cantoni Johnson, when Johnson--one of several actresses to star in the show since it opened in New York in 2011--does the show.
Deffaa explains: "I like the idea of tweaking a production to best serve an individual performer. If one performer is better, for example, at belting torch songs than dancing, maybe I'd cut some dancing and add some singing. But I've done that with all of my shows. Jon Peterson starred in my show 'George M. Cohan Tonight!' Off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York seven years ago, and still tours with the show; but the version her performs, tailored to his unique gifts, has some lines and dances that I cut or modify when my next-favorite performer in the role does the show; not every bit is equally effective for every performer. I love seeing different performers interpret my shows."

Deffaa says he is cheering, in spirit, for both Dell and Brooks, but is not yet sure if he can get to either one's performances this week, since he has another show he's written and directed, in rehearsal, "Theater Boys." "But both of those performers are very much on my mind. I've written one short play, 'A Goddess Among Us,' which I hope the Open Eye Theater might do some day, with Patricia Dell in mind; and I wrote a role for Chloe Brooks in my forthcoming 'Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' opening at the 13th Street Rep later this season."
As for "One Night with Fanny Brice," Dell has noted: "My only real knowledge of Brice came from the film about her life, 'Funny Girl.' But when I read Deffaa's script, I said, 'Whoa! There's a lot more to Fanny Brice than was in 'Funny Girl.' And I could relate to her."

Brooks echoes those sentiments, saying she too has been fascinated to learn "there is so much more to Fanny Brice than was in 'Funny Girl.' The film wasn't always honest in telling the story of Fanny Brice and Nicky Arnstein." Brooks acknowledges that some might consider her, at the tender age of 17, awfully young to be portraying Fanny Brice. But Brice was beginning to make a name for herself at age 17, Brooks notes. And she adds: "In 'One Night with Fanny Brice,' I'm actually portraying the ghost of Fanny Brice, returning to the theater for just one night. And a ghost might appear to any age, right?"

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