Sheridan Smith FUNNY GIRL Cast Recording To Be Released July 8th

Amazon is now taking pre-orders for a new cast recording of Jule Styne and Robert Merrill's Funny Girl, starring Sheridan Smith. Visit amazon.co.uk.

Following a sold-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2015, Funny Girl returned to the West End for the first time in 50 years at The Savoy Theatre, in a production that opened on April 9th and is scheduled to run until October 8th,2016.

As reported by BroadwayWorld, the starring role of Fannie Brice is currently being played by Natasha J. Barnes, as Smith takes 2 - 4 weeks leave of absence from the production due to stress and exhaustion.

The new production is presented in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart, the Broadway smash skyrocketed Barbra Streisand to Broadway stardom in 1964, playing Fanny Brice, who rose from the Lower East Side of New York to become one of Broadway's biggest stars under producer Florenz Ziegfield. While she was cheered onstage as a great comedienne, offstage she faced a doomed relationship with the man she loved. With a score featuring now-classic songs such as "People", "You Are Woman, I Am Man" and "Don't Rain on My Parade", this brand new production promises to be a major theatrical event .

Sheridan Smith previously appeared in Little Shop of Horrors for the company (also Duke of York's Theatre). Her other theatre work includes A Midsummer Night's Dream (Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Old Vic), Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket - Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress, Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Actress), Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre - Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Tinderbox (Bush Theatre), The People are Friendly (Royal Court) and Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse). For television, her credits include Blackwork, The C Word, Cilla,The Widower, The 7.39, Dates, Mr Stink, Mrs Biggs (BAFTA Best Actress), Accused, Scapegoat, Little Crackers, Jonathan Creek, Gavin & Stacey, Larkrise to Candleford, Grown Ups, Love Soup, Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps, The Royale Family and Wives and Daughters; and for film, The Huntsman, Powder Room, Quartet, Tower Block and Hysteria.