'Funny Girl' tour a dream for tap phenom who plays best buddy Eddie

Playing Eddie Ryan in "Funny Girl" is the perfect match for tapper Izaiah Montaque Harris, who's in Cleveland with the tour of the musical revival playing at Playhouse Square through March 10.

Harris, 26, has been tapping since he was 5, starting under the tutelage of his mother in Chicago. He studied tap and hip hop, and credits his mom, Florence Walker Harris, with keeping him involved with tap as a youngster.

"I actually didn't like tap dance at first," said Harris, calling last week from the tour stop in Buffalo, New York. "When I decided to make the best of the moment, I realized how expressive I could be through tap dancing and it showed me how I could give a voice to my emotions."

Now, he's so immersed in tap as a professional, he performed in the musical "The Tap Dance Kid" at New York City Center and as the Tap Mathematician character in the revue "After Midnight" on Norwegian Cruise Line. In another cool opportunity, he performed in "Riverdance" in Dublin in 2022.

"Funny Girl" is a big, classic musical full of dance that's rarely produced in Northeast Ohio. "Funny Girl" first toured to Cleveland's Hanna Theatre with its First National Tour in 1966. The 1996 tour starring Deborah Gibson was short-lived, touring just a month in five cities that didn't include Cleveland.

Now, Northeast Ohio audiences are getting the rare opportunity to see the musical comedy that follows the bittersweet story of the unstoppable Fanny Brice. She's a girl with big dreams from the Lower East Side who's told she's not pretty and will never be a star but through sheer willpower goes on to shine.

Tapper works on 'Funny Girl' choreo in its revival infancy

Harris has been intimately involved working with Broadway's "Funny Girl" revival since its early days. He worked with acclaimed tap choreographer Ayodele Casel in pre-production for the Broadway show, as an ensemble dancer in the studio with Casel as she was creating the choreography.

"I've known some of the tap dancing ensemble work for a while," Harris, a Columbia College Chicago grad, said of being involved with "Funny Girl's" infancy. "I learned it at its bare skeleton. When it got on stage it was completely different."

He auditioned for the Broadway show in 2022 and got a callback a year later for the role of Eddie Ryan, Fanny's best friend, for the current tour of "Funny Girl." At the time, he was working with Casel in her "Artists at the Center" show that was an homage to tap greats including Gregory Hines.

It turned out that the material for Eddie didn't include any of the things Harris had already learned during the tap dance development for the musical revival.

He got a second callback for the role that March and by April, found out he'd landed the role of Eddie. This character is a showman who choreographs all of Fanny's dances at the Keeney vaudeville house, where she starts out.

Eddie sees Fanny's "erratic charm" and believes in her, so he puts her in the front in rehearsal so she can be seen. What Fanny lacks in grace, she makes up for in humor.

"She just kind of moves her arms and smiles a bunch," Harris said.

In the number "Eddie's Tap," Harris spends about 2½ minutes in a tap solo, warming up the vaudeville theater crowd.

"Eddie Ryan is this character that is known for his charm, known for his tap dancing and can get the crowd going," Harris said.

Classic 'Funny Girl' full of dance

Eddie and Fanny have some similarities that Harris has taken to heart playing his role: "You should never give up, whatever you're doing, and people are gonna appreciate that, regardless."

"Funny Girl"'s North American Tour stars Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice, Stephen Mark Lukas as her love Nick Arnstein and Grammy Award-winning singer Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice. Harris sings a comical duet with Manchester, "Who Taught Her Everything She Knows," in which they bemoan Fanny moving on to stardom and forgetting them.

The original, 1964 show starred a 21-year-old Barbra Streisand in her Broadway debut. She recorded the popular single "People" before the show opened and went on to star in the "Funny Girl" film, opposite Omar Sharif in 1968.

New generation sees 'Funny Girl' revival

Now, nearly three decades later, a new generation of theatergoers across the country are being introduced to the classic musical. The Broadway revival, which opened in April 2022, and ran until September 2023, starred Beanie Feldstein and later Lea Michele as Fanny. Ramin Karimloo co-starred as Nick.

The musical features a score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merill and a book by Isobel Lennart. Harvey Fierstein revised the book for the revival.

The musical takes place in the years before and after World War I, from 1908 to 1927.

Harris relishes performing in this musical eight shows a week. He wears a fun mix of plaid vest and pants along with custom-made Capezio tap shoes in vintage-looking orange and black. Those just happen to be the performer's favorite colors.

Nothing beats being in this show, the performer said.

"I love it more than anything I've ever done in my whole entire life," Harris said of the chance to dance, act and sing as Eddie.

"Our characters are cast as loving and truthful. Our ensemble is incredible. And the character arcs are believable and truthful," he said. "Even without the song and the dance, this story is beautiful. And then we add the song and dance and it's just even more perfect.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Musical: "Funny Girl"

When: Tuesday through March 10, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays

Where: Connor Palace, Playhouse Square, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

Onstage: Starring Katerina McCrimmon, Melissa Manchester, Stephen Mark Lukas, Izaiah Montaque Harris, Barbara Tirrell, Walter Coppage

Offstage: Michael Mayer, director; Jule Styne, music; Bob Merrill, lyrics; Isobel Lennart, original book; Harvey Fierstein, revised book; Ellenore Scott, choreography; Ayodele Casel, tap choreography; David Zinn, scenic design; Susan Hilferty, costume design; Kevin Adams, lighting design; Brian Ronan and Cody Spencer, sound design; Campbell Young Associates, hair and wig design; Michael Rafter, music supervision; Chris Walker, orchestrations; Johanna McKeon, associate director; Jeffrey Gugliotti, associate choreographer; Torya Bear, assistant director; Dre Torres, assistant tap choreographer; Jovon Shuck, production stage manager; Stacy Taylor, stage manager; Mariah Young, assistant stage manager

Cost: $25-$115

Information: playhousesquare.org or 216-241-6000

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tapper having time of his life in 'Funny Girl', playing in Cleveland