MIDWEST — Stephen Mark Lukas said once he found out “Funny Girl” was headed back to Broadway, he wanted to be a part of it.
“I saw they were doing the Broadway revival in 2022 and I thought, 'Wow, this is really something I think I'd be right for,' so I submitted a tape and got cast in the Broadway production,” he said. .
On Broadway, he acted in the entire show and was Nick Arnstein's assistant.
But when “Funny Girl” closed on Broadway, his time with the show didn't end. Lucas is now portraying Nick Arnstein in the North American tour of the show.
Stephen Mark Lukas in the National Tour of “Funny Girl.” (MurphyMade/Matthew Murphy)
We spoke with Lucas ahead of the show's Midwest run, which includes stops at Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee (9 – 14 Jan.) and Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio (February 20 – March 10).
Spectrum News 1: How was the transition from understanding your character on Broadway to taking on the role full-time on tour?
Steven Mark Lucas: When you're under suspicion, there's a little part of you that always follows the path laid out for you by the actor who does it every night. Just because of the nature of how the productions are put together, there are certain things that you have to honor in this show, even though you go ahead and put your own spin on it, you're always following the path that another actor has blazed.
So rehearsing for the tour, it was really exciting to forge my own path and put my own spin on it and make choices that really came from my interpretation of the character that maybe were a little different from the Broadway production but again honoring the material.
Stephen Mark Lukas and Company in the National Tour of “Funny Girl.” (MurphyMade/Matthew Murphy)
Spectrum News: How did working in the Broadway production help you prepare for the tour?
Luke: [“Funny Girl”] occupies a really interesting place in Broadway history, with Barbra Streisand in the 60s, and then our revival is the first in 60 years. I worked with Michael Rafter, who is the music supervisor, who was actually an apprentice of Julie Styne — who wrote the music. So I think I just really got to know the material and got to know the track.
Jackson Grove, Katerina McCrimmon and Rodney Thompson in the First National Touring Company of “Funny Girl.” (MurphyMade/Matthew Murphy)
Spectrum News: You have worked on many revival shows. What do you like about working on revivals?
Luke: There is something about looking to the past and telling stories that are familiar to us, but looking at them through the lens of today. I think, in some ways, we learn a lot about ourselves and our society today through the lens of where we come from.
I think some of these shows, yes, exist in a different time, in a different place, and they were written in a different time and in a different place — social norms and gender dynamics and all of that were very different when these shows were written. But the characters in these stories, the motivations of the characters… don't change overtime. So I think it's really interesting to dig into these stories from the past and shows from the past, and look at them through a modern lens and see how far we've come as a society, and the ways in which they're still to be the same.
Katerina McCrimmon and Stephen Mark Lukas in the National Tour of “Funny Girl.” (MurphyMade/Matthew Murphy)
Spectrum News: If you had to describe “Funny Girl” to someone who knew nothing about the show, what would you say?
Luke: It's a quintessential, big, old-fashioned Broadway musical. It has an incredible score by Julie Styne… It has some fantastic dancing in it. We have an incredible ensemble doing incredible tap numbers, choreographed by Ayodele Casel who is an amazing, amazing artist.
It's a very long, coming-of-age story of two people who are in love. It is, at its core, a romance. I would also say that the show is a love letter to Broadway. Fanny Brice was a comedian and a Broadway star… It's a story about show business and it's a story about a woman who is a performer, and all the highs and all the lows of that.
Spectrum News: What do you hope audiences take away from “Funny Girl?”
Luke: It's a story, at its core, about a woman who has something very special and knows it. [She] she's unwilling to take no for an answer in the face of a society that tells her she'll never make it and tells her she's not the right guy for what she wants to do. And she kind of forges her own path and does it anyway. I think it's very inspiring. We all relate to these stories about people who have that special thing inside of them and they know it and they honor it and they're able to tune out all the noise and they can follow their heart and find their own way.
