Barbra Streisand info

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 1:59am

Just in case some of you have been living under a rock, or are just not as big of a Barbra fan as me, some news:

Barbra will be in Chicago and New York very soon to film some interviews: Oprah, and Inside the Actor's Studio. What I wouldn't give to be in the audience for either show.

Makes me think Barbra may check out "Bounce" while in Chicago...considering she's a fan of Sondheim. And most likely will see a Broadway show or 2 while in NYC.....my money's on Gypsy since every celebrity goes to that one.

[etoile]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 2:03am

Oh, heart be still. Don't tease me.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 2:54am

I wonder if she'll go to GYPSY. It may re-kindle her thoughts of when she turned down the TV version.

And wouldn't it be nice if she announced a return to films (she'll never return to Broadway)!

At least we'll all see how her face-lift came out.

[babsdude]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 7:48am

Barbra fans will be happy ... she'll be doing LOTS of promotion for THE MOVIE ALBUM, including (it's rumored) some live singing on some of the talk shows.

Cool stuff! From Barbra-famine to Barbra-feast!

- Matt :)

http://barbra-archives.com

Updated On: 9/5/03 at 07:48 AM

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:09am

I hope Lipton focuses on the early years...her training...the village days…. the Broadway years...that remains the most interesting part of the whole Barbra saga…after 1975 or so. …. after she achieved everything a person and performer could hope for ..well.. the story gets a little less thrilling…

My mother (a Brooklyn gal herself) was a hopeless Barbra nut and the house was filled with the pre-1972 albums…...

and she always told the story of how her family used to be glued to the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday nights.. One night he introduced a Barbra Streisand…...my mother took one look at her and shrugged and said to herself “Oh, another female comedian”…and began to walk away..

Then the first notes of “My Coloring Book” came out of Barbra’s throat..

My mother stopped in her tracks…

..and two minutes later my mother was crying.

From then on, there was only one singer for her: Barbra!
Updated On: 9/5/03 at 09:09 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:24am

I love that story! Remember the first time Linda Richmond revealed the Barbra obsession on Coffee Talk on SNL? It was an episode hosted by Kirstie Alley and Kirstie's character had a little speech about how Barbra represented hope to her because, "She got out." She captured a major niche of Barbra fandom.

[babsdude]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:26am

Wow, that's a great story about the Sullivan show, voiceanth.

I love hearing stories about how her voice won a new fan.

I, too, love the early stuff best. Those early years in NYC and the early appearances on PM EAST and SULLIVAN ... ahhh.

- Matt :)
http://barbra-archives.com

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:28am

Re: Barbra -- my one and only Barbra story..of sorts

My college piano professor told me one day that he saw her in FUNNY GIRL on Broadway. Naturally, I quizzed him on the fine details of the experience, queen that I am.

Interesting. The main impression he had was that watching her was like watching a tennis match. During "Don't Rain On My Parade", she paced back and forth from SR to SL and back again. He said it was like she was nervous, or bored, or both.

As far as her recordings go, I like her early stuff the best. Once she found her way around a recording studio and started to attempt to be a rock star, it all sounds too manufactured to me. Give me those Peter Matz arrangements anytime! Again, queen that I am. :)

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:35am

have you ever gone to the Village Station (I think it's called that) on 9th street...it was the old "Lion"...the gay bar where Barbra made her debut...

A bit of the place is still intact downstairs (tile work, ceiling looks original)..although they knocked down a wall to make the place twice as big...

and ya can sorta figure out where the stage area was...

However...you go upstairs to the men's room..

NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN 45 YEARS!! I MEAN NOTHING! Even The LADIES ROOM...it is very, very weird...and cool!

I mean god knows what went on in that men's room after Barb's set..ya know...

Barbra's early days are fascinating...there is almost this energy...this sense that all these forces combined to make this girl a legend....

and talk about grass roots buzz...gay men spread it like wildfire about her and without the internet...she had no money for PR ..for anything really....

That whole era of cabaret..of New York itself..fascinates me...
Updated On: 9/5/03 at 09:35 AM

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:36am

Oh, Rlb.... NOBODY knew how to frame Barbras voice the way Matz did (though I do love the ultra-Cheesy-RatPack-esque Don Costa arrangement of "You Wanna Bet?"). Since then, she's tended to overwhelm herself in goo. This includes the godawful Bergmans.

That said, Johnathan Schwartz had amazing things to say about THE MOVIE ALBUM, which he deemed her finest since the first BROADWAY ALBUM, so I'm pretty excited. And it's been a long time since a new Barbra recording did "IT" for me! Can't wait to hear "But Beautiful", "I'm In THe Mood For Love", "The Second Time Around" and "You're Gonna Hear From Me" from INSIDE DAISY CLOVER which sounds like the sort of instant gay classic she would have recorded in the mid-60s.

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:49am

"You wanna bet" is a great song for her and I actually like the Costa charts...a lot!

it sounds like he wrote it for Sinatra or Peggy Lee...meaning..the chart supports her ..it does not overwhelm her...and it gives her a bounce ....gives her rhythm to play off of…....

Sinatra had a mid size voice at best and Lee didn’t even have that, so an arranger had to write with their sound in mind…

I think arrangers for Barbra thought she could sing her way through anything….some of her stuff sounds like she's fighting her way vocally in a mound of goo...

Lee and Sinatra rarely had that happen because people wrote much more thoughtfully for them..knowing they had limits…

What limits did pre 1970 Barbra have?

[babsdude]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 10:17am

Who's Jonathan Schwartz?

And, yes, next time I'm in New York I'm gonna check out the "old" Lion . Wow!!!!

- Matt
http://barbra-archives.com

Posted: 9/5/03 at 10:25am

Hey babsdude...Would you know was the address of her first apartment over the fish store..I can't remember if it was West or east Village?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 10:40am

Lipton is an *ss kisser. He won't get anything good out of her. He'll just fawn all over her.

I remember several years ago, there was an interview with BS where they took her back to an apartment she lived in on Third Avenue. She got all emotional about it.

[babsdude]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 10:40am

Hey, voiceanth ...

Her apartment over the fish store was on Third Avenue. It's the same apartment that Mike Wallace & Barbra visited on that 60 Minutes interview ... with the window that looks out to a brick wall.

- Matt
http://barbra-archives.com

Posted: 9/5/03 at 10:49am

Thanks guys..!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 11:01am

Jonathan Schwartz (son of composer Arthur Schwartz of THE BANDWAGON fame) is a DJ on WNEW who worshipped Sinatra, the Big Bands and 'classic' pop singing back when Michael Feinstien was still in short pants. Like me, He likes Barbra (or should I say, the 'classic' Barbra) but believes she is not about healthy criticism. I heard from a fellow Datalounger that he was raving (unusual for him) about THE MOVIE ALBUM a few days ago, saying that Barbra was up to top form on it.

[babsdude]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 11:36am

Wooooow!!!! Good news. I can't wait for the album. Thanks, MasterLcZ!!!

- Matt
http://barbra-archives.com

[Starlight]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 12:23pm

She won't "Check out" BOUNCE in Chicago because it isn't playing in Chicago right now. It closed in Chicago in the middle of August. It opens at the Kennedy Center next month.

[Ron Pulliam]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 12:24pm

When I was a kid (even into my teens), it was hit or miss whether I'd get to see something really interesting (i.e., cultural vs. the everpresent western TV series).

But when Streisand's first TV special aired (was that "My Name is Barbra"?) I would never have believed I'd be sitting with both my parents watching this show.

We always watched "Ed Sullivan." And when it was on, we always watched "Your Hit Parade." So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that my C/W-loving father would also have watched a musical special featuring a new singer.

My father's assessment was that she had a good voice, but she was kind of ugly. It always surprises me to hear anyone say that. I have always thought her extraordinarily beautiful.

Some of you may find it interesting that the next day, at school, I heard a classmate named Marjorie Rothman gushing over the show and thanking God that someone Jewish could make such an impact on TV.

Until I heard that, I never gave a thought to her being Jewish. I was a South Carolinian and had only known a few folks who were Jewish (South Carolina in the 1960s was not a bastion of Jewish communities), but I had no idea that they would perceive themselves to be different from me or that I might be expected to perceive myself different from them. After all, I was raised a Southern Baptist, and we read the Bible in Sunday School and the preacher preached from the Bible...and everyone in the Bible were Jewish, so what was the big deal?

I was naive...but I learned that some folks in this world don't like people who are different. And that got me to thinking about other folks who I WAS taught were different...

But then the Civil Rights movement arrived and that settled that for me.

...and I had all these revelations -- and achieved heightened awareness of the ills of society -- because Barbara Streisand starred in a landmark TV special in the 1960s.

Color MY world some more, Barbra.....

Ron

Posted: 9/5/03 at 2:51pm

Anyone get a preview of the album or is it totally under wraps. And anyone a betting man? Do you think it will be in the top 20 the 1st week out?

[Hello Gorgeous]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 3:35pm

Haha Christine, well just incase she does go to GYPSY, we need to go see the show every day that she's going to be in NYC

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/5/03 at 9:13pm

Contrary to what you might expect, Streisand does not have a big (as in loud) voice. It is no surprise that she found her medium in the recording studio, her Broadway roots notwithstanding. Arrangers have to be as judicious arranging for her as the other vocalists mentioned above.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 9/6/03 at 2:40am

I agree that Lipton will most likely gush over her rather than grill her. She's the one guest he's always wanted but was never able to get.
I hope they show A LOT of old photos from her Brooklyn and Village days. I love when she admits to hitch-hiking to get to her shows on time.

I was listening to "Ballad of the Garment Trade" from I Can Get it for you Wholesale the other day, and my friend had no idea it was Barbra singing until I told her. What a voice! She's so used to her newer stuff that she did a double take when I said it was Barbra. Nothing beats pre-movie days.

And her concerts back then. Man! I love watching A Happening in Central Park and then commparing it to Timeless or even The '94 Concert. Thank God they recorded the Central Park concert. :) Now if only they would release all of those old tv specials on DVD with some Barbra commentary

I can't wait to see the face lift either. If she's willing to go on a bunch of shows, and sing live, they must have done one hell of a job. Maybe she'll even let us see her from her right side.

[tailwagon]

Posted: 9/6/03 at 3:39am

can't wait for the new album. thanks for the info.