Simply Barbra

So it is true! After you see a Barbra Streisand concert you really DO feel like one of the luckiest people! (at least that's how I felt last night when exiting the Garden). I've always enjoyed making fun of Barbra and her fans (and believe me, there were some sites to see there last night!). But when it comes right down to it, what it's really about is the music - and Barbra proved that she is truly worthy of all of the praise that people give her.

The show felt very intimate. A minimal set - a stage shaped like a sideways 8 with a 50-piece orchestra in the 2 middle spaces - and the icon herself in a spotlight. Throughout the 3 hour show Barbra commanded the audience. Everyone sat in their seats intensely listening to every word she sang and then would errupt into a roar and standing ovation at the end of EVERY song. I can't go into detail on the set list. From what I am told a lot of the songs were ones rarely played that only die-hard fans would know. I will say that my favorite, though, was "Don't Rain on My Parade" - and I was actually really happy that she played it twice - once during the show and again during the encore. Of course "The Way We Were" was great as well. And I enjoyed the verse she did from "Stony End" - a song not on the rehersed set list but a request that came from an audience member during the Q&A portion of the show.

I only have one complaint about the show. I wanted MORE Barbra! Yes, there, I said it! I'm not sure what quite made her incorporate the 4 tenors from Il Divo into the show, but for me it didn't work AT ALL - to the point of being annoying. They accompanied her on "Evergreen" and "Somewhere" (from West Side Story) and in the middle of the show performed 3 of their own songs (including the sappy "Unbreak My Heart"). It all really made me cringe. Barbra more than held her own over the 4 overpowering voices but I wish she had thought better of including them and had filled that time with a few more of her own songs. And then of course there was the Bush "skit" where the impersonator came out and exchanged banter with her. I realize she had to get the politics in there somewhere, but honestly I would have rather listened to a speech than this embarrassing display. I guess in the end it just shows that Barbra really is human and a bit dorky.

Enough about the bad stuff. The rest was amazing and well worth every penny. She sounded virtually flawless and looked AMAZING for 64. And in the end, I now recognize Barbra for the true legend that she is.

One last note to close on. Of course any Barbra concert wouldn't be complete without a room chock full of celebrities and last night was no exception. My sightings included: Fran Drescher, Rosie O' Donnell, Hugh Jackman, Katie Couric (who was chatting with former beau Chris Botti during intermission), Sting & Trudie, Bill & Hill, Regis & Joy, Bebe Neuwirth, Sarah Jessica Parker, S. Epetha Merckson and the most distinguised Stephen Sondheim. There were definitely more, but that's all I can remember. I was too busy singing "Don't Rain On My Parade" as I ran out into the torrential rains on 7th Avenue.