BRUNSWICK, Maine — Kenny Ingram, a veteran of musical theatre, was hired to direct and choreograph “Funny Girl” at Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick this summer. He had watched the movie starring Barbra Streisand but had never seen a production of the musical, which didn't bother him at all.
“Because then I can bring my own energy to it,” he told me. “I can just make it happen, make it ours, make it Maine’s.”
Even people who aren’t familiar with “Funny Girl” know one thing about it—the song “People.” (“People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world….”) The Streisand version is arguably as famous as any song from American musical theatre in the last 60 years.
When a song is so well-known, I asked Ingram, how he will bring freshness to it.
“Oh, I brought freshness to it,” he said emphatically. “But I don’t want to give it away.”
He paused a moment before continuing to talk about the way the song is performed.
"It’s really beautiful, like tying a bow on the top of the gift at the end of the show. I think what we’ve done with it is very honest—and it’s going to leave the audience with hope," he said.