Musicals Blog

Funny Girl

by Claire J Rottenberg


"Funny Girl" had a stormy start with part of the screenplay actually coming before the play. Originally, in the early 1960s, Stephen Sondheim was hired as lyricist, with Jule Styne as composer of the score. Jerome Robbins was the first director, later replaced by Bob Fosse. Well-known actresses, including Mary Martin, Anne Bancroft and Carol Burnett, were approached to play Fanny Brice before mostly unknown Barbra Streisand was hired for the role that launched her career.

"Funny Girl" opened on Broadway on March 26, 1964 after 17 previews. It starred the newcomer Streisand and, except for the author of the book, Isobel Lennert, and the composer, Jule Styne, the production had all new creators. Bob Merrill was the new lyricist and the production was directed by Garson Kanin with choreography by Carol Haney. The play was a huge hit, in large part to Streisand's perfect performance and a memorable score that included "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade." "Funny Girl" ran on Broadway for three years and 1,348 performances.

The movie version of "Funny Girl" was released in September, 1968, starring Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice. Kay Medford, who played Fanny's mother, was the only other performer to appear in both the Broadway and film versions. The screenplay for "Funny Girl," like the play's book, was written by Isobel Lennert and it stayed close to the original Broadway version, but the score differed significantly. Eight songs from the Broadway show were eliminated and four new songs were written by Styne and Merrill. An additional older song, "My Man," was added as Streisand's/Fanny's film ending song.

The movie version of "Funny Girl," like the stage version, was a success both financially and critically. As the top grossing film of 1968, "Funny Girl" made $58.5 million, a $44 million profit over its costs. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a nomination for Best Picture. Barbra Streisand won the coveted award as Best Actress for her performance as Fanny Brice.

"Funny Girl" is the story of the early years of Fanny Brice's career and her love relationship with Nicky Arnstein. The story follows Fanny from her first start to joining the Ziegfield Follies to attaining stardom. Parallel to the story of her career is the story of her rocky romance with Nicky Arnstein.

Although "Funny Girl" is a good movie, it does not come close to the quality of the top movie musicals of the 1960s. It lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to "Oliver," a far superior film, perhaps not in musical score, but certainly in plot, choreography and acting. Streisand's performance was excellent, but Omar Shariff's performance was stiff and certainly not one of his best. The plot for "Funny Girl" was loosely based on the life of Fanny Brice and the story is, at best, mildly to moderately interesting.

The score from "Funny Girl" is good and Streisand's renditions of the songs, particularly "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade," are memorable. However, compared to other movie musicals of the 1960s, such as "West Side Story," "My Fair Lady," "The Sound of Music," and "Oliver," "Funny Girl" is merely an average film.