Movie Musicals

Funny Girl

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. [read more...]

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

In 1970, my favorite Barbra Steisand movie musical, "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," was released. Like her two previous films, "Funny Girl" and "Hello, Dolly!," "On a Clear Day" was based on a Broadway musical. However, unlike the other two musicals, neither the film nor the Broadway musical of "On a Clear Day" was successful. [read more...]

Hello, Dolly!

The movie version of "Hello, Dolly!" was released in 1969. It was directed by Gene Kelly with choreography by Michael Kidd. The lead roles were oddly cast, with a 27-year-old Barbra Streisand playing a middle-aged widow and actor Walter Matthau, with no singing ability, acting and singing in his first and only musical. The supporting cast, on the other hand, consisted of musically talented unknowns, including Michael Crawford and Tommy Tune, both of whom would later make their marks on Broadway in musicals. [read more...]

Funny Lady

"Funny Lady," released in 1975, was a sequel to the very successful "Funny Girl." In this film, Barbra Streisand again played Fanny Brice, but this time around her male lead was James Caan as Billy Rose. The screenplay, written by Jay Presson Allen and Arnold Schulman, is very loosely based on Brice's relationship with Rose. "Funny Lady" had a strong supporting cast, including Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen. Omar Sharif repeated his role as Nicky Arnstein, but he only had a few short scenes in the film. [read more...]

Yentl

Barbra Streisand's last movie musical was "Yentl" in 1983. Based on a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer and a non-musical Broadway play, the movie version of "Yentl" was a complete Barbra Streisand project. Not only did she star in the film, she also directed it and co-wrote the screenplay with Jack Rosenthal. The musical score of "Yentl" was composed by Michel Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Streisand's co-stars in "Yentl" were primarily established Broadway and movie actors, including Mandy Patinkin, Nehemiah Persoff and Steven Hill. [read more...]

Girl Crazy

"Girl Crazy" was made into three different films. The first version, in 1932, retained the score but that is where the resemblance to the Broadway version ended. [read more...]

Oklahoma

It took 12 years to bring "Oklahoma" to film audiences, but in 1955, a movie version, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, was released. Just as the play broke with traditions, so, too, did the movie. Unlike earlier movie musicals that usually ran for two hours or less, "Oklahoma" lasted for 2-1/2 hours. It stayed true to the play, retaining almost the entire Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein score. It also included the long ballet dream sequence, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, that accompanied "Out of My Dreams." [read more...]

State Fair

After composing the scores for two successful Broadway musicals, "Oklahoma" and "Carousel," and while both shows were still playing on Broadway, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the score for a movie musical, "State Fair." The 1945 film score was the only one they ever wrote specifically for a movie. [read more...]

South Pacific

The movie version of "South Pacific" was made in 1958 and it was directed by Joshua Logan. The cast for the film was a mixture of Broadway and film actors. Rossano Brazzi was the only big-name film actor hired for the movie, but Mitzi Gaynor had a successful film career before "South Pacific" and John Kerr had achieved some fame with his earlier role in "Tea and Sympathy." Most of the supporting roles went to Broadway performers, such as Ray Walston. [read more...]

The King and I

In 1956, a movie version of "The King and I" was released, with Yul Brynner recreating his Tony award winning performance. Deborah Kerr played Anna and a then unknown Rita Moreno co-starred as Tuptim. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and Yul Brynner won the award for Best Actor. [read more...]