FUNNY GIRL

Emma Fielding’s performance of this gloriously entertaining novel makes for pure delight. The heroine, Barbara from Blackpool, starts life with a strong Lancashire accent. Starstruck, naïve, and beautiful, with a va-va-voom figure, she moves to London in the swinging ‘60’s, convinced she can become the next Lucille Ball. What could possibly go wrong? We know very well: everything. But Hornby’s brief here is that sometimes nice and talented people deserve what they want, and get it. What a concept! Fielding’s performance is so polished and lively and sympathetic that you barely notice what dazzling technique is on display. Indeed, when she voices the male characters, you lose track of the fact that it’s a woman doing it. This production is well-nigh irresistible. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2015]