'Very Excited' Bobby Cannavale on Funny Girl, Lauren Ambrose and the Legacy of Sydney Chaplin

With his musical theater experience limited to a bit part in the Encores! production of Bells Are Ringing, Bobby Cannavale wasn’t the most obvious choice to play Nicky Arnstein in the upcoming revival of Funny Girl. But he’s certainly an exciting choice, thanks to his risk-taking reputation and recently acclaimed Tony-nominated work in The Motherf**ker with the Hat.

“I’m very excited,” Cannavale told Broadway.com. “I hope that I can do some justice to the memory of [original Funny Girl star] Sydney Chaplin. And we’re all excited cause it’s a show that hasn’t been seen in so long.”

The musical theater novice admitted he’s taken a shine to Chaplin’s performance opposite Barbra Streisand on the original cast recording, although he’s stopped listening to it to prepare for rehearsals. “It’s not really helping me,” he laughed. “I’m just going to my voice teacher and doing what she says and listening to my director.”

Although he worked opposite Funny Girl star Lauren Ambrose for “like two seconds” on an episode of HBO’s Six Feet Under, Cannavale didn’t audition opposite the new Fanny to land the role. “But I’ve seen all of her works onstage,” he said. “In a very short time, she’s turned in some of the great performances. As soon as I heard she was announced, I got very excited about it!”

Directed by Tony winner Barlett Sher, Funny Girl is scheduled to play the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles beginning on January 15, 2012, before transferring to Broadway in the spring.