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There is no doubt that Ms. Streisand steals the show here, and rightfully so. I'll never forget the positive audience reaction to her strong final number, "My Man." This was during a Sunday matinée showing of "Funny Girl" at a fancy cinema in Dublin, Ireland, in the summer of 1969. Women shoppers wearing hats and white gloves thought it was a show-stopper, and so did I, a teenage American boy sitting next to a young Jewish-American princess from Somerville, New Jersey. Gee, I felt like my girlfriend was up on the screen!I liked Omar Sharif very much in "Dr. Zhivago" but I had to ask myself why a zany lady like Fanny Bryce would be so interested in the Nick Arnstein character that Sharif played. He almost put me to sleep. Perhaps I was simply not keyed into his suave, masculine charms.As good as Barbra Streisand is in this film, I think she uses her natural comedic talent even better in "Hello, Dolly" (a film with even nicer musical numbers). "Funny Girl" does slow down in the second half, and I think the blame is with the screenplay more than the director or actors. I get the distinct impression that "Funny Girl" just managed to get the nomination for Best Picture at the last second. Another vote or two would probably have ranked it sixth and, therefore, out of the running in the Best Picture category. However, I fully agree that Barbra Streisand deserved her Oscar in this film, and Katharine Hepburn was slightly less deserving for her 50% of the take.Our local community theater group in Reston, Virginia, performed "Funny Girl" this past year. I was surprised to see that the wonderful song, "Second Hand Rose," was not in the stage version. You mean the Broadway version did not have it either?
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