Streisand Concert:
The show started off with a bit of “visual business” involving building the set and snippets of all the “A-Listers” in attendance – made enjoyable because it was backed-up with the glorious orchestral overture – staring with the overture to Funny Girl. And what an orchestra- no hidden musicians on the seventh floor, no keyboard fill-ins hiding under the apron, just lots and lots of real live instrumentalists filling the floor of the venue. There was a huge rectangular walk-way surrounding the pit and a center walk-way running across it. No matter where Barbra was positioned, you always got visuals of real-live musicians at work.
The numbers were:
“Starting Here/Starting Now”
“The Way We Were” (with a screen tag – In Memoriam Sydney Pollack”
“Evergreen” with Il Divo joining in multi-language duets with Babs
“Funny Girl”
“My man”
“When the Sun Comes Out” (her first single)
“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” seamlessly blending into “Children Will Listen”
“In a Very Unusual Way”
“Somewhere” with Il Divo joining in
“Don’t Rain On My Parade”
All the numbers had fresh arrangements and Barbra never let her trademark vocal flourishes interfere with the lyrical intents of a number.
I only found fault with one number – “Somewhere” where the addition of Il Divo just didn’t work for me.
No sets, minimal costuming, no choreography. no special effects, minimal chatter – just music brilliantly performed.
der Brucer
And, thankfully, no political posturing.
