(Susan King’s article appeared in the LA Times, 3/17; via Pam Green/Patricia N. Saffran.)

Lainie Kazan went from understudy to star — and it wasn't by accident.

Kazan was the understudy five decades ago for Barbra Streisand in her well-known Broadway role as Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl." Though she had a part in the musical as a Ziegfeld showgirl, Kazan waited 18 months to play the lead.

"Barbra didn't want me to go on," Kazan recalled. "I can't blame her. It was her part, her everything."

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86244763/

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