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.
The Great Ziegfeld of the performers of the earlier Broadway version of the Ziegfeld Follies were cast in the film as themselves, including Fanny Brice and Harriet Hoctor, the ballet dancer and contortionist. "The Great Ziegfeld" marked Rainer's second Hollywood film role after "Escapade" (also with Powell). Fanny Brice appears as a comedian in the abridged song sequence "My Man" and played an effective version of herself in addition to her routine comic role as the funny girl. Nat Pendleton, a freestyle wrestler who had won the silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp and had appeared alongside Powell in "The