Greater Lansing Area Moms Meet a Mom Monday has gone Meet a Dad this week!
Funny Girl begins at Wharton Center February 6-11 and GLAMoms had a chance to chat with Tom Keeney about Fanny Brice’s big break!
Actually, we spoke with David Foley, Jr. who plays Mr.Keeney, the stubborn Irish theatre owner who reluctantly (and with some strong-arming) gives Fanny Brice her big break in showbiz!
David is the lone parent in this touring Broadway musical, Funny Girl! A musical that has not toured since the 1960s. Learn more about David, his family, navigating life on the road with a tween at home, and something he does to take in the local flare at each tour stop.
And fun fact, by the age of 8, David’s son has been to 42 states!
Welcome to Greater Lansing Area Moms, David! We are so excited you joined us as a Meet a DAD feature! 😊
We would love to know more about Funny Girl since it is not a well-known Broadway show and hear your version:
Well, that’s kind of a fun thing, that a lot of people don’t really know about this show. You know, Barbara Streisand was in the movie. Funny Girl is the story of Fannie Brice, who was a real person and in her day, she was the biggest star there was! She was a headliner for Ziegfeld Follies and the Vaudeville Circuit. And she did this at a time when women were not seen as comics.
She was a comic and a singer, and women were not supposed to be comics in those days, she didn’t look like other women on stage, but she broke a ton of glass ceilings by being super talented and being this indomitable and “can’t take no for an answer” spirit. And so that’s our story, it’s great.
There’s a love story in there as well that’s really beautiful. It’s really, just a very funny show about a very funny lady!
And you play the role of Tom Keeney. Tell us about your role!
Mr.Keeney owns the two-bit sort of review theater that gives Fannie her first break. And he does so pretty unwillingly. He sort of shares that opinion of what women should look like and act like on a stage. Fannie does not fit that mold for him, but she changes his mind pretty well.
And Mr Keeney is Irish?
Yes, he’s a stubborn cranky Irishman.
Is it challenging to perform in an Irish accent every night or do you just go right into the role?
Honestly, no, I have a lot of Irish family and a lot of Irish friends. I had some great dialect training on the show, but I came into it sort of knowing what Tom Keeney was going to sound like when I played him. (speaking in an Irish accent 😉 )
So that leads me to, what is your pre-show routine?
On a normal day, I’ll get to the show about an hour before it starts. I do a little self-care things like, I steam to get my voice going and things like that, but then usually it’s just settling into a cup of coffee with some of the other actors and crew people and just sort of getting ready for for the big moment when the curtain goes up!
And do you have to wear much makeup or spend time on your hair?
I always say a little bit of eyeliner lets the people in the far back row see your eyes and it makes you a little funnier, but not too heavy on the stage makeup. The women get to do all of that fun stuff!
And then after the show?
It’s always nice to settle down at the hotel bar or one of the local neighborhood places. And that’s a nice way to get to know the city that you’re in as well and get to know the local culture. I always enjoy getting out in the city a little bit after the show.
Have you ever been to East Lansing?
This will be my third time at the Wharton Center! I was there over ten years ago now with Shrek the Musical and I did Phantom of the Opera in 2015/16. So I’m very excited to come back. I love getting on campus, I think you guys have a great town!
Do you have a certain activity that you like to do locally in every city?
I do say that I eat my way across America, so if you have any suggestions for what I may need to eat before I leave Lansing, I am open to ideas!
You’re a dad! Do you have a daily routine with your wife and son to keep connected with them while you’re out on the road?
So that’s the big trick of being out on tour as a dad and as a husband is staying on top of family life! Family is always first. So that means, I talk to my wife all day long, we’re constantly in contact. That’s sort of the nice thing about technology in the current age, you’re never really away.
And this year we decided that when I would take this job on the road, we got our son, Davey, a phone. He is eleven years old, and we decided he was old enough to have a phone. And now we FaceTime almost every day when he gets home from school and we have a few video games that we play online together. We do this Lego game, so that’s another way that I can still be with them all the time without actually being there.
We’ve also determined for ourselves while I was on tour with Phantom of the Opera, we determined that three weeks is the most we’re ever going to be apart from each other. We know that as we start to approach that three-week mark, either they’re coming out to visit me, or I’m back home for a few days, and it works. The three of us are sort of in tune with each other and checking in and making sure that everybody’s okay.
Technology also can make it easier to talk to tweens/teens because while we’ll be playing a video game together, all of a sudden he comes up with “Hey, dad this happened at school today.” You’re getting this new avenue of input.
Where is home?
New York City, we live in Queens. I’ve been there for 20 years now and I have to say, having a kid really makes New York a different city. All of a sudden the neighborhood opens up to you, all the shop owners- they all know you, it’s really cool. All Davey knows is the City. Well, that and he knows the tour life. From the time he was two, I’ve been doing this kind of show. So he’s been to 42 states including Hawaii, at eleven years old! I think by eight he hit that number of states!
I remember in Kindergarten, his teacher pulled me aside and said, “You know, we were showing landmarks in the country, and in his little wispy kindergarten voice” Dayey said,” That’s the Arch.”
The life of being backstage with Dad is also kind of a cool thing, he’s been in a lot of America’s great stages and he’s around show people.
And do you think your son will be an actor?
Has he talked about it, he has a beautiful voice and I know he likes being on stage. I don’t know if he has what we call the bug or “you do it because you just don’t want to do anything else”. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried out high school theater.
Do you collect a souvenir in every city?
I did that for a while. We’re less about things these days, just trying to get quality time. But back in the day, every time it would be like a police car from that city or something like that. A toy rain was a big thing for a while.
Do you like to travel with certain items to help you keep your routine?
I keep little mementos on my workstation. Also, pictures from home and memories of the shows I’ve done. And my laptop so that I can keep up on Netflix, that’s another thing that my wife and I do while I am out on tour, we sync up a show on Netflix!
I also travel with a steamer to steam my throat before a show. I do REALLY appreciate when a hotel has coffee in the lobby because I’ll go down to it two or three times.
Do you have a favorite coffee order?
I am a medium black. It’s as simple as you can get, but it makes it easy. I had someone tell me very early on that if you learn to drink your coffee black, you’ll never be disappointed!
Last question, what do you hope people walk away when they see Funny Girl?
Oh, I really hope that they get to experience just what it is to be in a good old-fashioned Broadway show! As much as I love contemporary theater night, I do a ton of it and I love it. You just don’t see shows like Funny Girl anymore where there are these big tap dances, a full orchestra playing these big ol’ scores. I know they are going to come out laughing, but if they can also just come out experiencing a little bit of that joy of seeing an old-school show, that would mean the world to me!
Thank you for your time, David! We always love learning more about what life is on the road for actors who also happen to be parents. And we cannot wait to see the show next week, tickets are still available!
And a BIG thank you to Wharton Center for these incredible opportunities to chat with actors and get a glimpse of their life behind the scenes.
All photos courtesy of Wharton Center Media and davidfoleyjr.com
