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Funny Girl (musical)

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For the film of the same name, see Funny Girl.
Funny Girl
Original Cast Album
MusicJule Styne
LyricsBob Merrill
BookIsobel Lennart
BasisThe life of Fanny Brice
Productions1964 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.

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.

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.[1]

After reading the screenplay, Mary Martin contacted Stark and proposed it be adapted for a stage musical. Stark discussed the possibility with producer David Merrick, who suggested Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim compose the score. Sondheim told Styne, "I don't want to do the life of Fanny Brice with Mary Martin. She's not Jewish. You need someone ethnic for the part." Shortly after, Martin lost interest in the project and backed out.[2]

Merrick discussed the project with Jerome Robbins, who gave the screenplay to Anne Bancroft. She agreed to play Brice if she could handle the score. Merrick suggested Styne collaborate with Dorothy Fields, but the composer was not interested. He went to Palm Beach, Florida for a month and composed music he thought Bancroft would be able to sing. While he was there, he met Bob Merrill, and he played the five melodies he already had written for him. Merrill agreed to write lyrics for them; these included "Who Are You Now?" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance." Styne was happy with the results and the two men completed the rest of the score, then flew to Los Angeles to play it for Stark, Robbins, and Bancroft, who was at odds with Merrill because of a fight the two had years before. She listened to the score, then stated, "I want no part of this. It's not for me."[2]

With Bancroft out of the picture, Eydie Gormé was considered, but she agreed to play Brice only if her husband Steve Lawrence was cast as Nicky Arnstein. Since they thought he was wrong for the role, Stark and Robbins approached Carol Burnett, who said, "I'd love to do it but what you need is a Jewish girl." With options running out, Styne thought Barbra Streisand, whom he remembered from I Can Get It for You Wholesale, would be perfect. She was performing at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village and Styne urged Robbins to see her. He was impressed and asked her to audition. Styne later recalled, "She looked awful ... All her clothes were out of thrift shops. I saw Fran Stark staring at her, obvious distaste on her face." Despite his wife's objections, Stark hired Streisand on the spot.[2]

Robbins had an argument with Lennart and told Stark he wanted her replaced because he thought she was not capable of adapting her screenplay into a viable book for a stage musical. Stark refused and Robbins quit the project.[2]

Funny Girl temporarily was shelved, and Styne moved on to other projects, including Fade Out - Fade In for Carol Burnett. Then Merrick signed Bob Fosse to direct Funny Girl, and work began on it again, until Fosse quit and the show went into limbo for several months. Then Merrick suggested Stark hire Garson Kanin. It was Merrick's last contribution to the production; shortly after he bowed out, and Stark became sole producer.[2]

Streisand was not enthusiastic about Kanin as a director and insisted she wanted Robbins back, especially after Kanin suggested "People" be cut from the score because it didn't fit the character. Streisand already had recorded the song for a single release, and Merrill insisted, "It has to be in the show because it's the greatest thing she's ever done." Kanin agreed to let it remain based on audience reaction to it. By the time the show opened in Boston, people were so familiar with "People" they applauded it during the overture.[2]

There were problems with the script and score throughout rehearsals, and when Funny Girl opened in Boston it was too long, even though thirty minutes already had been cut. The critics praised Streisand but disliked the show. Lennart continued to edit her book and deleted another thirty minutes before the show moved to Philadelphia, where critics though the show could be a hit if the libretto problems were rectified.[2]

The New York opening was postponed five times while extra weeks were played out of town. Five songs were cut, and "You Are Woman," a solo for Sydney Chaplin, was rewritten as a counterpoint duet. Streisand was still unhappy with Kanin and was pleased when Robbins returned to oversee the choreography by Carol Haney.[2]

Productions

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

Tony Award nominations

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

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Taylor, Theodore, "Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne. New York: Random House 1979. ISBN 0-394-41296-6, pp. 226-249


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