Something to Look Forward to Dept: Lucille Ball’s birthday is today; had she lived, that madcap comedienne would’ve been 100. But another redhead’s stealing her thunder this week. The season of Lauren Ambrose is upon us; I was elated to see she’s appearing as a rabid press agent on the new season of my favorite show, Torchwood. But now it’s been announced that Ambrose (so brilliant as Claire on the sorely missed Six Feet Under) will star in the first revival of the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill classic Funny Girl under the direction of Bartlett Sher. After the awkwardness of last season’s Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sher gets his shot at redemption. I’m optimistic–the recent revivals of South Pacific and Awake and Sing proved Sher is an expert at revitalizing theater classics we thought we knew by heart. With Ambrose front and center, this Girl could well be the event of season.
