Can Lauren Ambrose Sing? A Look at the Future Funny Girl Star's Musical Background

The entire theater world is talking about Lauren Ambrose, now that the red-headed actress will officially take on the role of Fanny Brice in Bartlett Sher's Broadway-bound revival of Funny Girl. The Emmy-nominated Six Feet Under star is already a stage veteran, thanks to Broadway turns in Exit the King and Awake and Sing! and Shakespeare performances in Central Park, but the question on everybody's mind is Can she sing? Click through the clips below tracing Ambrose's musical past and decide for yourself if she has what it takes to sing "People" and face the critics as "The Greatest Star" of Funny Girl.

"Dancing in the Streets" on Star Search, 1990
Here's a flashback to 1990 when a then-12 year-old Ambrose appeared on the TV talent contest Star Search. Ambrose's adorably perky performance of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" is a far cry from the dour onscreen personality of her Six Feet Under character, Claire Fisher. Skip ahead to the 1:45 mark when Ambrose makes her entrance after her competitor's performance. Love the purple blazer!



Parodying "You Light Up My Life" on Six Feet Under, 2005
By the final season of HBO's Emmy-nominated drama, Ambrose's character (the youngest child of the dysfunctional funeral home-owning family) was a bored art school dropout. During a dream sequence at her dull day job Claire imagines herself tearing into Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life." Instead of singing about God's love,  however, Claire replaces the song's original lyrics with new ones inspired by the uncomfortable feel of her pantyhose. Yes, you read that right.



"Brother Can You Spare a Dime?" Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class, Joe's Pub Concert, 2010
When she's not acting, Ambrose leads the jazzy ragtime group Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class. The band, which features musicians from The Two Man Gentleman Band, The Hunger Mountain Boys and the Blue Ribbon Boys, formed in 2009 and played several shows at Joe's Pub. The group covers many standards, including this take on the Depression-era ballad "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?"



"I Love a Piano," Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class, Charity Concert Event, 2010
Tackling yet another classic song with The Leisure Class, Ambrose performed Irving Berlin's "I Love a Piano" at an event sponsored by nonprofit volunteer service group Sing for Hope. One of America's most prolific songwriters, Berlin worked during Fanny Brice's heyday as a comedienne with the Ziegfeld Follies.



"My Man," Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class, Joe's Pub Concert, 2010
In case you haven't seen it already, here's Ambrose channeling Fanny Brice herself with "My Man," one of the star's most beloved songs and the finale of the 1968 film adaptation. (Barbra Streisand didn't sing it on Broadway.) Does her jazzy rendition do it justice?



Performances for Funny Girl begin January 15, 2012, at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre, with opening night set for February 1. The show will transfer to a yet-to-be determined Broadway theater in the spring of 2012.