Barbra's Oscar

[emmettjordan]

What is the rumour that Barbra paid for her Oscar? How did this talk end up happening?

[The Other One]

This is the first I have heard of that rumor.

What is believed to be true is that Barbra's having been asked to join the Academy despite the fact that she'd only shot one film, due to the fact that she was already a bona fide superstar thanks to Broadway, her recordings and her TV specials, ended up earning her an Oscar -- assuming, of course, that she voted for herself.

[gypsy101]

she has 2

plus if she voted for herself who could blame her (considering the Funny Girl win was a tie, without her own vote she wouldn’t have won)

[Jazzman714]

She totally deserved both.

[BWAY Baby2]

Amen.

[BrodyFosse123]

She totally deserved both.

I totally agree with this.  Even though she was already a global superstar by the time she made her film debut in FUNNY GIRL, that performance still holds up today.  

Rewatching the film you’ll see how confidant she carries that film.  All the TV work she did prior taught her how to perform to cameras so by the time she made her first film, she already honed her performing skills.  She’s even admitted to this.  Working on TV taught her to reduce her movements (the waving arms stopped) and having performed FUNNY GIRL on stage for years helped her know where the laughs would come in so she was performed her scenes with added pauses, etc.  Director William Wyler trusted she knew how to play the scenes that were also in the stage version.   

[Tag]

Has there ever been / why hasn't there ever been a stage musical adaptation of Yentl?

[bwayboy22]

Tag said: "Has there ever been / why hasn't there ever been astage musical adaptation of Yentl?"

I would love to see this happen, especially if Barbra directed it! I think both Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller could make great Yentls. 

[David10086]

Tag said: "Has there ever been / why hasn't there ever been astage musical adaptation of Yentl?"

Streisand had mentioned this about ten-plus years ago (2006?) that she was interested in producing such a Broadway musical, and I believe she wanted Marvin Hamlisch to write the music. I think she may have lost interest once he passed away.

 

I'm surprised the 1975 play has never been revived, though - especially in the 80s after the film was released. I can see it now: A too-old Laurie Metcalf will star as YENTL, and take home the Tony. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Tovah Feldshuh starred as YENTL in the original 1975 Broadway production which played the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

[bwayboy22]

David10086 said: "Streisand had mentioned this about ten-plus years ago (2006?) that she was interested in producing such a Broadway musical, and I believe she wanted Marvin Hamlisch to write the music. I think she may have lost interest once he passed away."

This doesn't make any sense to me. The music from Yentl was written by Michael Legrand with lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, all of whom I believe are still alive and working even though they are in their late eighties/early nineties. If Barbra wanted to do a stage musical of Yentl wouldn't it make the most sense to have the original composers add to their existing score, especially since she is still close friends with all of them. It would've been a bit odd to have Hamlisch adapt it.

Do you have a source for Barbra mentioning this? I have never seen anything about her mentioning it before and would love to hear about it.

[GavestonPS]

^^^ Oh, I don't know. She apparently can't sing a Sondheim song without asking him to rewrite the lyrics.

Why wouldn't she f**k around with a mediocrity like YENTL? It's called "pissing randomly to mark your territory."

***

As for her Oscar, damn right she deserved it! And how did it hurt either winner to have a tie? It's not like somebody needed a win to get to the playoffs.

[devonian.t]

Gaveston that made me chuckle!

[BrodyFosse123]

Don’t know where this so called speculated rumor of Streisand’s thinking of adapting YENTL as a Broadway musical came from as I asked several Streisand pros (and had a friend text her son Jason) and no one ever heard this.  

We can let this go now. 

[NoName3]

rodyFosse123 said: "Director William Wyler trusted she knew how to play the scenes that were also in the stage version."

Wyler and Streisand had a famously adversarial relationship during the filming and ended up detesting each other.  When asked about it later, he said that Streisand should be excused for her behavior because it was the first film she had ever tried to direct.