To celebrate its ten year anniversary the pro-shot of Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith has been re-released and is back in cinemas from the 30th April. I was lucky enough to see it live back in 2016 at the Savoy Theatre but had never seen the pro-shot so I was intrigued to see how it fared on the big screen and if the show was as good as I remembered 10 years on!

Funny Girl charts the rise of Fanny Brice, a performer repeatedly told she doesn’t have the looks to make it on stage, Armed instead with Razor sharp comic timing and unwavering determination, she rises through the ranks of Zeigfeld Follies, though her soaring career beings to clash with her turbulent ralationship with professional gambler Nick Arnstein.

Sheridan Smith takes on the role of Fanny Brice and it really allowed her comedy credentials to shine. Her performance is bursting with charm, vulnerability and impeccable comic timing. Her facial expressions often generated bigger laughs than the script itself and the pro-shots close-ups allowed every perfectly timed glance or flicker of self doubt to land. Despite this Smith never allowed Brice to become a caricature, beneath the bravado is a woman painfully aware of how the world perceives her.

Arnstein, Fanny Brice’s love interest was played by Darius Campbell, a touching reminder of a talent taken from the West End stage far too young. He was every inch the suave leading man, oozing charisma which made it incredibly easy to see how Brice fell for him so easily as well as just why she was so awkward around him. The rest of the cast enhanced the show. The trio of Rachel Izen, Myra Sands and Zoe Ann Brown as Brice’s mother and her friends frequently had me in stitches as did the unrequited love from Eddy Ryan, played by Joshua Lay.

Thankfully this release avoids the common pitfall of filmed theatre feeling distant and remote. It was captured beautifully and at times actually enhanced how I felt from seeing it live. There were plenty of opportunities to really capture intimate close ups, looks and moments that could be missed from the audience. It gave us the chance to see Sheridan Smith’s expressions up close and really appreciate how wonderful she is in the role. Despite the positives of the pro shot and the production largely holding up well the second act still suffers from pacing issues. Once Brice reaches the height of her fame the narrative momentum beings to stall slightly and the deterioration of her marriage to Nick feels slightly repetitive before reaching its inevitable conclusion.

The show has some musical theatre classics although you can’t mention Funny Girl without mentioning ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade,’ which Smith gave a masterclass in acting through song however it was a wonderful chance to remind myself of some of the other music in the show. The sound balance of the film was also spot on, with the orchestration sounding wonderfully full and well balanced with the casts vocals.

Ten years on, Funny Girl remains a hugely entertaining revival lead by a star turn that fully deserves to be preserved on screen. This beautifully filmed production captures everything that made th original run such a success; the humour, the heartbreak and of course Sheridan Smith herself. For those that missed it first time around this cinema release is well worth catching and for those who saw it live it is a joyful reminder of why Smith’s performance was such as West End success.

Funny Girl is showing at the cinema from 30th April onwards. You can find out more on Liberator Film Services Facebook page.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Hamilton Pro Shot, Behind The Curtain – the Stranger Things First Shadow Documentary and Bonnie & Clyde filmed live.