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) Finally, Isobel Lennart submitted "My Man", which pleased both Stark and Columbia Pictures executives, who offered Stark $400,000 plus a percentage of the gross for the property. After reading the screenplay, Mary Martin contacted Stark and proposed it be adapted for a stage musical. Stark discussed the possibility with producer David Merrick, who suggested Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim compose the score. Sondheim told Styne, "I don't want to do the life of Fanny Brice with Mary Martin. She's not Jewish. You need someone ethnic for the part." Shortly after, Martin lost interest in the project and backed out. Merrick