Isaac Bashevis Singer, the writer who created the story of “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy” was not publicly supportive of Barbra Streisand’s movie. In a January 29, 1984 piece for the New York Times (in which he interviewed himself), he had this to say:
I did not find artistic merit neither in the adaptation, nor in the directing. I did not think that Miss Streisand was at her best in the part of Yentl. I must say that Miss Tovah Feldshuh, who played Yentl on Broadway, was much better.
My story, “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy,” was in no way material for a musical, certainly not the kind Miss Streisand has given us. Let me say: one cannot cover up with songs the shortcomings of the direction and acting.
As for the ending, in which Streisand as Yentl sings “A Piece of Sky” on a boat bound for America, Singer wrote: “Why would she decide to go to America? Weren't there enough yeshivas in Poland or in Lithuania where she could continue to study? Was going to America Miss Streisand's idea of a happy ending for Yentl? What would Yentl have done in America? Worked in a sweatshop 12 hours a day where there is no time for learning?”
Streisand responded: “In Singer’s story Yentl continues living as a man and presumedly goes off to another school. But I saw it differently. I wanted her to leave her old world behind and find a new world where women can hopefully be all that they can be. I thought that was a more positive way to end the story and there was no better place for her to go, in my opinion, other than America.”
The New York Times published several responses to Singer’s stinging piece in its February 12th “Film Mailbag” section. Interestingly, it was “Mrs. Walter Matthau” (Carol, wife of Streisand’s Hello, Dolly! costar) who wrote: “When Mr. Singer interviewed himself wasn’t he doing the very thing he objected to Barbra Streisand’s doing — ‘everything’? It isn’t very brave to interview yourself particularly when you omit these questions: Why did you sell it to the movies?”
