Funny Girl: stage vs screen

Funny Girl reached Broadway in 1964 with Barbra Streisand as comedian Fanny Brice, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and a book by Isobel Lennart. William Wyler directed the 1968 film, which marked Streisand's film debut and cast Omar Sharif as Nick Arnstein. Lennart adapted her own stage book for the screen, so the story is the same, but the score and the ending were reworked. These are the biggest differences.

Stage

Broadway musical (1964)

Screen

Funny Girl (1968), directed by William Wyler

1. Streisand plays Fanny in both

Unlike many stage-to-screen pairs, the lead stays the same. Barbra Streisand originated Fanny at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1964 and repeated the role in London in 1966 before making her film debut in Wyler's 1968 movie. Omar Sharif plays Nick Arnstein on screen, in a part that Sydney Chaplin created on Broadway.

2. Real Fanny Brice songs are added

The film interpolates three songs the real Brice made famous that were not in the stage score: "My Man," "Second Hand Rose," and "I'd Rather Be Blue." They were credited to other writers, not to Styne and Merrill. The stage show's songs were written for the musical, so these additions give the film more of Brice's own repertoire.

3. New songs written for the film

Three new songs were composed for Streisand for the movie: "Rollerskate Rag," "The Swan," and the title song "Funny Girl," which has music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The title song earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. None of the three is in the original 1964 Broadway score, and none draws on Brice's own repertoire.

4. Several stage numbers are dropped

Much of the Broadway score did not make it to the screen. The film has no place for "Cornet Man," "Who Taught Her Everything?," "Henry Street," "Find Yourself a Man," "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat," "Who Are You Now?," or "The Music That Makes Me Dance." Styne complained that the studio dropped eight of his songs, and he also disliked the film's pop-style orchestrations. The interpolated Brice numbers fill some of the space.

5. The big songs stay

Most of the stage show's best-known numbers survive, including "I'm the Greatest Star," "If a Girl Isn't Pretty," "His Love Makes Me Beautiful," "You Are Woman, I Am Man," "Sadie, Sadie," and "Don't Rain on My Parade." "People" was re-recorded with a different tempo and extra lyrics, and Wyler staged "Don't Rain on My Parade" using a helicopter camera rig.

6. A new final song

Both versions use the same frame: Fanny waits in her dressing room for Nick's release from prison and looks back on their marriage, his gambling, and his downfall. On stage, the original production ends with the couple deciding to separate and Fanny resolving to go on, to a reprise of "Don't Rain on My Parade." The film keeps the separation but closes on Streisand singing "My Man," a song Brice made famous.

7. A bigger, longer production

The film runs about 149 minutes on a budget of roughly $14.1 million, and it ranked first among 1968 releases in North American rentals, ahead of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won one: Streisand's Best Actress award, shared in a tie with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter. It joined the National Film Registry in 2016.

Funny Girl movie vs musical: FAQs