MovieChat Forums > Funny Girl (1968) Discussion > Score Alterations

Score Alterations

posted 19 years ago by ijones-9
7 replies | jump to latest

After seeing the movie, I managed to get hold of the Broadway version of the show and learned that the score had been severely altered for the movie. I was wondering how people familiar with both works felt about the changes in the score. Personally, I would have preferred "Cornet Man" to "I'd Rather Be Blue" and I think I would have preferred "The Music that Makes Me Dance" to "My Man". I do think they were smart to cut "Henry Street", "Who Taught her Everything" and "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat".

[–] adumb4ever 19 years ago

I agree with Cornet Man. I love that song, and it shows Streisand's voice much more. I also love "Music that Makes Me Dance", but I also love "My Man". That's a tough one.

"With all there is, why settle for just a piece of sky?" -Barbra Streisand/Yentl

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

I think the film suffers from the changes. A score tells a story from a musical point of view, and musical mish-mashes like STAR! and this version of FUNNY GIRL just don't get the job done properly, especially in this film's second act. We get too much of Fanny and Nick's bad times first-hand when "Who Are You Now", would have been more palatable, even if it would give Omar Sharif less screen time (which was proboably the main concern). Ending the film with "My Man" rather than "The Music That Makes Me Dance" and Fanny's final, determined "Don't Rain On My Parade" reprise was a BIG mistake in my book.

[–] Mikurtis 18 years ago

I didnt mind them using some of Fanny Brice's actual songs. I loved Streisand's renditions of "I'd Rather Be Blue" and "My Man". The only thing I don't like in the movie was that cutting the "Dont Rain on My Parade" reprise kind of gives the film an anti-climactic feel at the end... it's sorely missed. I also would have liked them to use "Who Are You Now?" The part of the movie where it would have been was dragging because there was a huge gap between songs there... as much as I love the Swan Lake scene (and, I WAY prefer that song to "Rat-Tat-Tat"), I dont see it as a song scene.

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

"Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat" works in that deep in an unhappy Act 2 we're reminded of Brice's (and Striesand's) comic talents. The show IS called FUNNY GIRL.

[–] murph24 18 years ago

I also think the filmmakers made a big mistake by eliminating "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat." The second half of FUNNY GIRL needed a Follies number that was funny, rousing, and period specific - unfortunately, "The Swan" was none of these. Streisand looked great in a tutu, but that wasn't enough to make the number work.

[–] sdgresham 18 years ago

Keep in mind that many of the songs cut were done "in one." This means that they were done on a small, easily removed set downstage before a curtain, and their only purpose was to fill the time it took to put up a large and complicated set piece. They weren't needed for the film, and, considering how much theatre technology has evolved since the original production of Funny Girl, wouldn't be needed in a revival (though they would most likely be left in).

A good example of a scene done in-one is the scene between Raoul and Mme. Giry right after Masquerade in The Phantom of the Opera. The scene is done downstage before a black curtain to obscure the crew guys removing the dummies from the staircase and wheeling the thing away. Some have said that you can sometimes hear the stair rolling away during the scene. The scene is relatively useless, and is only there to cover a very big set change.

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S.D.G.
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[–] Harold_Robbins 18 years ago

FUNNY GIRL as film became more of a "drama with songs" as opposed to a "musical," and several of the "book" songs were cut as well (CABARET underwent a more or less similar change). Columbia Pictures could afford to buy the rights to use "My Man," "I'd Rather Be Blue" and a snippet of "Second-Hand Rose".

"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker