Barbara Streisand To Star In Legendary Musical

Iconic singer/actress/director Barbra Streisand will both star and produce a new version of the legendary Broadway musical GYPSY. Streisand, who has long wanted to make a second big screen version of the musical (the first in 1962 was poorly received, with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood in the starring roles), has joined forces with an unlikely partner, action producer Joel Silver. The producers have hired Oscar-winning writer Jullian Fellowes to pen the screenplay adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ Tony Award winning musical. Fellowes won his Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Robert Altman’s period film GOSFORD PARK and recently won an Emmy Award for his celebrated public television mini-series DOWNTOWN ABBEY. This will mark Streisand’s return to films after a several year hiatus and also her first musical since her self-directed YENTL. The film adaptation of GYPSY is producer Joel Silver’s first foray into Broadway movie musicals after a career of producing several commercially-successful action films including the LETHAL WEAPON, MATRIX and SHERLOCK HOLMES franchises. The highly anticipated musical, which stars Streisand in the iconic role of “Mama Rose”, the pushy backstage mother, will debut in 2013.

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