One of the rare RU-vid musical theatre clips I want to be longer. The introductory verse "I just put the kids to sleep and swept the shack..." is missing but wow! What a performance - I loved the vocal intensity of the half-time tempo drag after the dance break. It might be my favorite song from "Funny Girl" and this is the first time I liked a version other than La La La Streisand. I am now a Christine Bianco fan! 🙌🏾
I had just listened to the clips of Streisand and Mimi Hines performing "Cornet Man" on stage and it felt like Hines and the orchestra were really rushing through it (the performance was on closing night, in case that was a factor). Streisand also performed it much faster than Bianco, but I have to say that for one, I liked Bianco's version better., though it might have benefited by tweaking to slightly faster. I could see the dance numbers being performed in the teens of the 2oth century on in a vaudeville-style review. However, the choreographer didn't have her dancing quite as much as Streisand (and her number a bit more risque at the end when she bends over and exposes her bloomers to the cornet man). Bianco at times appeared as if she'd been left to walk around the stage while others danced. All that said, she can really belt out the song (and other's I've heard from her Funny Girl performance in Paris). Too bad she wasn't the actor playing Brice in the Funny Girl revival on Broadway!
