Funny Lady (soundtrack) that it was "not nearly as well-produced" as the soundtrack for the predecessor, "Funny Girl" (1968). Allison J. Waldman predicted that the commercial success of the soundtrack was due to Streisand's previous role and performance in the original film, "Funny Girl". In the United States, the album debuted at number 75 on the "Billboard" 200 chart for the week ending March 29, 1975. It continued to climb the chart in that country for several weeks before peaking at number six on May 10. It spent four weeks within the top ten of chart, and a total of 25 weeks altogether.
Funny Girl (musical) from prison, and he and Fanny decide to separate. She is heartbroken, but resolves to pick up her life again ("Don't Rain on My Parade, Reprise"). Ray Stark had commissioned an authorized biography of Brice, based on taped recollections she had dictated, but was unhappy with the result. It eventually cost him $50,000 to stop publication of "The Fabulous Fanny", as it had been titled by the author. Stark then turned to Ben Hecht to write the screenplay for a biopic, but neither Hecht nor the ten writers who succeeded him were able to produce a version that satisfied Stark.