NewsPhoto Special: Celebrating Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl DaysCelebrating its anniversary today, Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand in her star-making turn, opened on March 26, 1964. The musical production played 1,348 performances and received eight Tony nominations. Playbill.com takes a look back at her work as Broadway's original Funny Girl.
By
Matthew Blank, Joseph Marzullo
March 26, 2015
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Look Back at Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl on Broadway
Look Back at Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl on Broadway
24 PHOTOS
Streisand and Sydney Chaplin during rehearsals
Funny Girl Broadway poster art
Streisand and Sydney Chaplin, January 1964 Playbill, Shubert Theatre, Boston
In rehearsal: Sydney Chaplin, Streisand, Bob Merrill and Jule Styne
May 1964 Playbill, Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway
New York Times reviewer Howard Taubman praised Streisand's star turn. "Since Fanny herself cannot be brought back," he wrote, "the next best thing is to get Barbra Streisand to sing and strut and go through comic routines à la Brice."
The Jule Styne/Bob Merrill musical earned eight Tony nominations but faced stiff competition from Jerry Herman's new musical Hello, Dolly!, which swept the 1964 awards. Streisand received a nomination for Best Actress in a Musical but lost to Carol Channing's performance as Dolly Levi.
Streisand won an Oscar for her role in the 1968 film version of Funny Girl, and the following year brought Dolly Levi to the big screen in the 1969 film adaptation of Hello, Dolly.
