Song:Don't Rain On My Parade
Album:The Essential Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand was already successful when she decided to return to Broadway to play Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. This turned out to be a great decision as Barbra won a Best Actress Oscar for the 1968 film of Funny Girl and she's still a star today. She already had a successful Broadway run in I Can Get It For You Wholesale which led to a Columbia Records contract. And she was appearing regularly on TV. Traditional thinking would have sent her to Hollywood. The man behind Funny Girl was Fanny Brice's son in law Ray Stark. He had a production deal with Columbia Pictures so he wanted to make a movie. After several unsuccessful screenplays, Mary Martin suggested turning it into a stage musical. Jule Styne and eventually Bob Merrill wrote the songs. The main suggestion from Stephen Sondheim and Carol Burnett was Stark needed a Jew to play Fanny Brice. And that of course led him to Barbra who he had seen in I Can Get It For You Wholesale. After the show was a hit on Broadway and Barbra scored her first top five hit with People, Stark turned Funny Girl into a movie in 1968. It was Barbra's film debut. Columbia wanted Shirley MacLaine for Funny Girl. But Stark told them there would be no movie without Barbra. Obviously Funny Girl was a success and it launched Barbra to stardom and an Oscar. Both the Funny Girl original cast and soundtrack albums are available. But I suggest this 2CD budget comp that covers Barbra's entire career. Here's Barbra Streisand performing Don't Rain On My Parade from the 1968 film Funny Girl.
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