Barbra Streisand To Make ‘Gypsy’
Barbra Streisand may be back on the silver screen soon both in front of and behind the camera. According to Entertainment Weekly, movements are being made toward a big screen adaptation of the musical Gypsy, starring Streisand as Mama Rose and directed by none other than Barbra Streisand.
The movement includes hiring Richard LaGravenese to write a new script based on the musical. You may know LaGravenese from the critically acclaimed Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra which aired on HBO in 2013. Long-time Streisand fans may also recognize LaGravenese as the writer behind the 1996 Streisand film The Mirror Has Two Faces.
At 72, Barbra Streisand is more than 20 years older than stage legend Ethel Merman was when she originated the role of Rose on Broadway in 1951. Gypsy tells the story of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee and her mother, Rose Havoc, generally described as the ultimate stage mother. The role of Rose has been played by Bette Midler and Rosalind Russell, so Streisand is certainly in good company.
On this day in 1963, Barbra is announced to play the role of Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical “Funny Girl.” pic.twitter.com/iaD523sPAJ
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) July 26, 2014
Streisand, who originated the role of Fanny Brice on Broadway in 1963, is no stranger to musical theater or musical film, and the work may bring a welcome distraction from her recent celebrity news column stints.
As The Inquisitr recently reported, Streisand has been linked to former President Bill Clinton, but not merely for their well publicized friendship. In his book Clinton, Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine, Daniel Halper provides a list of women who allegedly had affairs with Clinton, and Barbra Streisand’s name is on that list. The book also claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a hold of information on Clinton’s extramarital affairs and used the information to blackmail Clinton into releasing Jonathan Pollard, a convicted spy. No word on if a potential affair with Streisand was part of that blackmail.
That isn’t the only allegedly muddy relationship plaguing Barbra Streisand. Radar Online reports that Jason Gould, Streisand’s only child, was asked to write a tell-all book about his superstar mother. According to The Enquirer, the book was going to be a “take that” to Streisand, who is reportedly estranged from her son with former husband Elliott Gould. Jason Gould, 47, simply said that he is not writing a book about his mother, but did not clarify whether he never intended to so or simply just changed his mind.
