<P> 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 . </P> <P> Merrick discussed the project with Jerome Robbins, who gave the screenplay to Anne Bancroft . She agreed to play Brice if she could handle the score . Merrick suggested Styne collaborate with Dorothy Fields, but the composer was not interested . He went to Palm Beach, Florida for a month and composed music he thought Bancroft would be able to sing . While he was there, he met Bob Merrill, and he played the five melodies he already had written for him . Merrill agreed to write lyrics for them; these included "Who Are You Now?" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance ." Styne was happy with the results and the two men completed the rest of the score, then flew to Los Angeles to play it for Stark, Robbins, and Bancroft, who was at odds with Merrill because of an earlier personal conflict . She listened to the score, then stated, "I want no part of this . It's not for me ." </P> <P> With Bancroft out of the picture, Eydie Gormé was considered, but she agreed to play Brice only if her husband Steve Lawrence was cast as Nick Arnstein . Since they thought he was wrong for the role, Stark and Robbins approached Carol Burnett, who said, "I'd love to do it but what you need is a Jewish girl ." With options running out, Styne thought Barbra Streisand, whom he remembered from I Can Get It for You Wholesale, would be perfect . She was performing at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village and Styne urged Robbins to see her . He was impressed and asked her to audition . Styne later recalled, "She looked awful...All her clothes were out of thrift shops . I saw Fran Stark staring at her, obvious distaste on her face ." Despite his wife's objections, Stark hired Streisand on the spot . </P> <P> Robbins had an argument with Lennart and told Stark he wanted her replaced because he thought she was not capable of adapting her screenplay into a viable book for a stage musical . Stark refused and Robbins quit the project . </P>

Who played fanny brice in funny girl on broadway