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.