- For the film of the same name, see Funny Girl.
| Funny Girl | |
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| Original Cast Album | |
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| Music | Jule Styne |
| Lyrics | Bob Merrill |
| Book | Isobel Lennart |
| Basis | The life of Fanny Brice |
| Productions | 1964 Broadway 1966 West End 1968 Film |
Funny Girl is a musical with a book by Isobel Lennart, music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The semi-biographical plot is based on the life and career of Broadway, film star and comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. Its original title was My Man.
The musical was produced by Ray Stark, who was Brice's son-in-law via his marriage to her daughter Frances, and starred Barbra Streisand. The production was nominated for eight Tony Awards but, facing tough competition from Hello, Dolly!, it failed to win in any categories.
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Background
Ray Stark had commissioned an authorized biography of Brice, based on taped recollections she had dictated, but was unhappy with the result. It eventually cost him $50,000 to stop publication of The Fabulous Fanny, as it had been titled by the author. Stark then turned to Ben Hecht to write the screenplay for a biopic, but neither Hecht nor the ten writers who succeeded him were able to produce a version that satisfied Stark. Finally, Isobel Lennart submitted My Man, which pleased both Stark and Columbia Pictures executives, who offered Stark $400,000 plus a percentage of the gross for the property. By now, Stark had decided to produce a stage musical instead of a film based on Brice's life, and he asked Jule Styne and Bob Merrill to supplement the Lennart script with a score.[1]
Synopsis
The musical is set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I. Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, awaiting the return of husband, Nick Arnstein, from prison, reflects on their life together, and their story is told as a flashback.
Fanny is shown as a stage-struck teen who gets her first job in vaudeville. Her success as both a comedian and a singer leads her to meeting the sophisticated Nick Arnstein. They soon become romantically involved and marry. As Fanny becomes a major star with Ziegfield, Nick's business ventures fail and he is arrested for embezzlement.
The musical ends where it started: Nick arrives, and he and Fanny decide to separate.
Productions
Before Barbra Streisand won the lead role, those considered for it included Mary Martin, Anne Bancroft, Carol Burnett and Eydie Gorme. After seventeen previews, the Broadway production, directed by Garson Kanin and choreographed by Carol Haney under the supervision of Jerome Robbins, opened on March 26, 1964 at the Winter Garden Theatre, subsequently transferring to the Majestic Theatre and The Broadway Theatre to complete its total run of 1,348 performances.
In addition to Streisand, the original cast included Sydney Chaplin, Kay Medford, Danny Meehan, Jean Stapleton, and Lainie Kazan, who also served as Streisand's understudy. Later in the run, Streisand and Chaplin were replaced by Mimi Hines and Johnny Desmond, and Hines' husband and comedy partner Phil Ford also joined the cast.
Streisand reprised her role in the 1966 West End production at the Prince of Wales Theatre directed by Lawrence Kasha.
On September 23, 2002, a concert version for the benefit of the Actors' Fund was staged at the New Amsterdam Theatre. Performers included Carolee Carmello, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Ana Gasteyer, Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Krakowski, Judy Kuhn, LaChanze, Ricki Lake, Andrea Martin, Idina Menzel, Bebe Neuwirth, Alice Playten, Lillias White, Len Cariou, Peter Gallagher, Gary Beach, and The Rockettes.
Cast album
Streisand's label, Columbia Records, passed on making the cast album, so Capitol Records released it. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and achieved gold record status. The recording was issued on CD in 1987 on Capitol and then in 1992 on EMI's Broadway Angel label.
Song list
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Tony Award nominations
- Tony Award for Best Musical
- Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (Jule Styne and Bob Merrill)
- Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Barbra Streisand)
- Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Sydney Chaplin)
- Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Danny Mehan)
- Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Kay Medford)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (Carol Haney)
- Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (Ray Stark)
Film adaptation
The 1968 screen adaptation, directed by William Wyler, paired Streisand with Omar Sharif in the role of Arnstein. Medford repeated her stage role, and Walter Pidgeon was cast as Flo Ziegfeld. The film won Streisand the Academy Award for Best Actress, an honor she shared with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter, as well as the Golden Globe. The film, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and several other awards, was the top grossing film of 1968.
References
- ^ Herman, Jan, A Talent for Trouble: The Life of Hollywood's Most Acclaimed Director. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1995. ISBN 0-399-14012-3, pp. 442
External links
- Funny Girl at the Internet Broadway Database
- Barbra Archives: Comparison of the Broadway production to the film version
- Gallery of Fanny Brice images
- Tams-Witmark synopsis and production information
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