Booking the right actress key to Drury Lane's 'Funny Girl'

Say the words "Funny Girl" and most music theater fans will think immediately of Barbra Streisand. The association is natural. After all, the 1966 musical, currently being revived by Drury Lane Oakbrook, made Streisand a star.

This fact presented a challenge to Drury Lane Oakbrook Artistic Director William Osetek and his colleague Drury Lane Associate Producer Gary Griffin, both of whom are codirecting the current production.

"We have been wanting to produce 'Funny Girl' for some time," Osetek says, "As a house that specializes in reviving musicals predominantly, the big titles will always have their allure, and the fact that we have never produced this show made it an obvious choice for quite some time."

Their fear, however, was whomever was cast as Fanny Brice would be compared in the audience's mind with Streisand. "Anyone who thinks about Streisand when casting this show is setting themselves up for heartbreak," Osetek says. So for three years Osetek and Griffin put the idea of doing "Funny Girl" on the back burner.

"We at first believed that until we had a Fanny Brice in mind, there was no point in pursuing it," Osetek says. But eventually Osetek and Griffin decided on a "build it and she will come" strategy. "We decided that our leading lady would materialize if we committed to the show."

Osetek is no stranger to the odd combination of careful planning and hoped-for miracles that is American theater. From an early age, he loved theater.

"We had always been a theater family," Osetek says. "(I remember) seeing shows together from a very young age." A self-proclaimed "Navy brat," Osetek grew up in various places across the country - California, Maryland, South Carolina and the state of Washington - until his father retired when Osetek was in high school and returned the family to Chicago where his folks had grown up. But wherever the Oseteks moved, they made going to the theater part of their lives.

"While still in grade school, I saw 'The Wiz' at the Shubert and 'Godspell' at Ford's Theatre," Osetek says. "Both shows enlightened me. I saw that even recognizable stories could be told many different ways."

Watching those shows also lead Osetek to his life's work, directing.

He first began working at Drury Lane Oakbrook in 1988, when he was an assistant director. He came back to Drury Lane in 1996, when he directed a kid's version of "Beauty and the Beast." He has been artistic director there since 2003.

Osetek's ascension to artistic director coincided with the beginning of something of an artistic renaissance for the theater. Productions were always well done at Drury Lane Oakbrook, if sometimes on the garish side. But over the past few seasons, the suburban dinner theater has been turning out intelligent, high-quality, but still-entertaining revivals of shows like "Sweet Charity" and "Cabaret" that rival work being done in Chicago.

"Funny Girl" may be one more artistic and popular success for the company. But first Osetek and company had to find a Fanny Brice.

"What was clear was that we needed a star," Osetek says. "The trick is to find a Fanny that is somewhat aligned with the historical Fanny Brice, but brings their own quality to the role."

Brice was one of the big stars of her time, the early decades of the last century. First in Ziegfeld's famous stage shows and later on radio, Brice - Osetek says - "became a star at a time when the idea of celebrity was just coming into public consciousness."

"Funny Girl" deals with both the public and private sides of Brice, including her difficult love affair with Nick Arnstein.

The actress Osetek and Griffin found to play Brice is Sara Sheperd. She appeared on Broadway in "Cry-Baby" and was in the first national tour of "Legally Blonde."

"What is so exciting about Sara Sheperd," Osetek says, "is that she is a bona fide triple-threat. She has a serious set of pipes, she moves like a polished Fosse dancer, and she is a terrific actor with a natural instinct for comedy."

How does Sheperd feel? "This role is a dream role," she says. "Fanny Brice attracted me to this show, the character specifically. Her drive and determination to make it to the top no matter how many people told her otherwise. Her humor, her wit, and intelligence. The beautiful love story between Fanny and Nick. The struggle between career and love, and the hope that we can have both because that is when we as human beings are truly fulfilled. All of that attracts me to this piece. Also this show has one of the most fantastic scores."

This leads us back to the show itself, and the shadow of Barbra Streisand. Perhaps the Streisand effect is overstated. After directing Sheperd for the past few weeks, Osetek thinks so.

"While we appreciate the genius of Barbra Streisand, (Griffin and I) wanted our production to concentrate on honoring Fanny Brice and the amazing star she became despite opposition that the theater world at large gave her for being... plain. We can't wait to share ('Funny Girl') with our audiences."

• "Funny Girl" is currently running in previews. It opens Jan. 7 and runs through March 7 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. For reservations, phone (630) 530-0111 or (312) 559-1212. You may also visit tickemaster.com or drurylaneoakbrook.com.