It’s funny when you think about it, but when actors sing during a Broadway musical production, the music itself becomes a character in that play.
And making sure the music is entertaining and yet fulfills its role in keeping the narrative alive sometimes falls to people like Elaine Davidson, one of the few female music conductors working in theater today.
Davidson will be in Costa Mesa this week as the Broadway hit “Funny Girl” opens at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Davidson is a veteran of tours that include: Annie, Phantom of the Opera, Wizard of Oz, Catch Me If You Can, Mamma Mia!, Sound of Music (China), and more. She has worked with directors Cameron Mackintosh, Hal Prince, Billy Porter, Dan Knechtges, Jeffrey Seller, Baayork Lee, and Gabe Barre.
In an interview with ENE this week, Davidson said she grew up in a musical household where gender never figured into the discussion, nor has it been as she’s climbed the ranks over her musical career.
“It’s been sort of a slow climb up the stairs, you know, over the many years where I came from being a rehearsal pianist, and then moved into music directing, and eventually conducting and I haven’t felt any pushback,” said Davidson.
“As far as just being a different gender than the traditional conductor, I get a lot of people who will come down to the orchestra pit in you know, either at intermission or after the show, and chat with me,” she said.
“Inevitably, most of them say, is wonderful to see a female conducting. And we we did I never mean to distract, you know, when I’m doing my job because I’m just there to make music happen,” said Davidson.
But people do notice.
The touring production cast of FUNNY GIRL features Grammy Award®-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice, rising star Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice, above. The production opened Tuesday in Costa Mesa.
“But they say, we love watching you conduct and we love the job that you’re doing. People do notice,” she said, “and there are a few of us females that conduct, but many more than there used to be.
She said her biggest challenges are getting used to various orchestras that vary from city to city. Davidson said the shows generally open on Tuesday, so she gets four hours with the orchestra to go over the show, a break for lunch, then a soundcheck before the show opens in the evening.
‘It’s not a lot, but with all the advanced material that they’re given, they are very professional. Ninety percent of the time, musicians never get a chance to see the show,” said Davidson, because they sit in the orchestra pit below the stage.
“I try to explain to them what’s happening in the scene with the music we are playing, I give them a little history and things I’ve learned to let them know what’s going on stage so they can kind of get an idea of the character.”
This, she says, enhances the music and gives the actors a perfect mood to allow t heir songs to continue the narrative of the play.
Funny Girl, which has been remade for the current national tour, includes iconic music such as the song “People,” made super famous by Barabara Streisand.
Davidson said she has now worked on about 250 Broadway shows throughout her career in one way or another.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have been able to do so many shows and some with some really, really extraordinary people and talent. And I mean, when you see this show, you’ll see we have we have a stellar leading lady. All the shows that I have done, I have never seen anybody with well, I shouldn’t discount other people’s potential.”
Newcomer Katerina McCrimmon plays Fanny Brice in the current iteration of Funny Girl. McCrimmon was recently seen in the ensemble of The Light in the Piazza at New York City Center Encores! and was an understudy in Broadway’s The Rose Tattoo in 2019.
McCrimmon was also heavily featured in a recent edition of Playbill’s Songwriter Series.
Recording artist Melissa Manchester has a role in Funny Girl, and Davidson said she is honored to work with her and the entire cast.
“Fans have adored Melissa throughout her 50-year musical career, and Katerina is a star in the making who embodies the rising stardom of Fanny,” says production director Michael Mayer. “We could not be more thrilled to have this dynamic and talented duo lead the Funny Girl tour.”
Funny Girl, which premiered on Broadway in 1964, features a score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill and a book by Isobel Lennart, newly adapted by Tony winner Harvey Fierstein for this revival.
The original production propelled a young Barbra Streisand to international fame; she would reprise her stage performance in the 1968 film adaptation, winning an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in the process.
The biomusical tracks real-life singer and comic Fanny Brice from her humble beginnings in Brooklyn, New York, to fame and fortune onstage in the Ziegfeld Follies and as a radio and screen performer, according to producers.
If you attend the show, you will find Davidson conducting and don’t be afraid to say hello after the show.
“I’ve found such joy in being able to share my experience with our young people because somebody was kind enough to do that to me when I was young. “I am definitely in theright place doing the right thing,” said Davidson
Tickets for Funny Girl start at $39 and are available for purchase online at scfta.org, in person at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, and by phone at (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts of 10 or more, call the Group Services offices at (714)755-0236.