Barbra Streisand

Funny Girl demonstrates how musical performance can itself be screen acting. Streisand's Fanny Brice uses wit and bravado as both attraction and defence, and the songs continue that character work rather than interrupting it. The comic timing is immediate, but the emotional changes inside a number are just as important. Start with this film for a performer bringing stage experience into a camera's more intimate view. Her inclusion rests on the relationship between the spoken scenes, physical comedy and sung emotion, not simply the force of the voice.