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NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

WICKED, FUNNY GIRL, AN EX BECOMES A MENSCH

The PBS special Wicked in Concert premieres on Sunday, Aug. 29, at 9 p.m. There are encore showings the same evening and the following day. The title refers to the mega-hit musical that opened on Broadway in 2003. It tells the back-story of the Wicked Witch of the West.

The music and lyrics were written by Stephen Schwartz, now 73. The “book” (story/dialogue) was written by Winnie Holzman, now 67.

The PBS special will not be a restaging of the musical. Rather, a diverse group of singers from many genres will perform the Wicked songs. Two stars of the original Broadway production will co-host: Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (Frozen), 50.

In other musical news, it was announced that Beanie Feldstein, 28, will star in the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl since it premiered in 1964. Funny Girl was a semi-fictional biography of comedian Fanny Brice (18911951). As everyone knows, it made Barbra Streisand, now 79, a star.

When Feldstein got her first roles, I thought she was just “coasting” on the fame of her brother, Jonah Hill, 37. But she was very good in the hit comedy Booksmart (2019) and I’ve seen clips of her singing and she’s good (not Streisand, but who is?). Her voice was good enough to get her a co-starring role in the film version of Merrily We Roll Along, a Stephen Sondheim musical. It co-stars her lifelong friend Ben Platt, 27. Merrily has been shot, but no release date is yet set.

The second, eight-episode season of the Amazon Original series Modern Love premiered Aug. 13. The series is inspired by a N.Y. Times column of the same name. The columns are short, but almost always are good. The Amazon episodes are also short, no more than 35 minutes. However, unlike the columns, most Modern Love episodes are unsatisfying. Characters are underdeveloped and plot lines are “jerky.”

The first season got mixed reviews, and all but two of the episodes in the second season were panned. The good news is that the only episode with a Jewish thespian is one of the two. Sophie Okonedo, 53, co-stars in the eighth episode, titled Second Embrace, With Hearts and Eyes Open.

Okonedo and Tobias Menzies co-star as Elizabeth and Van, a long-divorced, middle-class couple who have two daughters, about 8 and 10. While the girls live primarily with Elizabeth, their father is very much in their lives. Early in the episode, Elizabeth notices how Van has morphed into a great father and a considerate, able co-parent. Well, you can guess from the title that they get together again.

The episode is set in London, Okonedo’s hometown. She is the daughter of a Nigerian father and a English Jewish mother. Okonedo was raised by her mother and firmly identifies as Jewish.

Beanie Feldstein

BY DANNYB PHOTOS/WIKIPEDIA

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