Barbra Streisand
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Terence Lee
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Who will get you there?
Will you brave those steep steps for Johnny Mathis?
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Lena & Harry Smith
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A Nice article. Barbra Streisand talks exclusively to "Yours "magazine.
and says at 65 she's happier than ever. and married to James Brolin.
He kept bringing her cups of tea in the studio. (whoever said that romance is dead) She met him in 1996 when she was mixing the music for " The Mirror Has Two Faces," the film that she directed and in which she starred alongside Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall.
She said anyone who's been through a failed relationship will appreciate the lyrics of Love is lovelier the second time around.
She is described as a truly evergreen star.
She is the first person to receive a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony and an Oscar.
The legendary Barbra is truly on song with her millions of fans.
and says at 65 she's happier than ever. and married to James Brolin.
He kept bringing her cups of tea in the studio. (whoever said that romance is dead) She met him in 1996 when she was mixing the music for " The Mirror Has Two Faces," the film that she directed and in which she starred alongside Jeff Bridges and Lauren Bacall.
She said anyone who's been through a failed relationship will appreciate the lyrics of Love is lovelier the second time around.
She is described as a truly evergreen star.
She is the first person to receive a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony and an Oscar.
The legendary Barbra is truly on song with her millions of fans.
Apparently they had already "nearly" met several times before, as she remarked on the album notes, on her album that she made after their wedding, one of the songs was "Isnt it a Pity"------------
"Isnt it a pity, we never met before "
Lovely song--and a brilliant album-one of my favourites from Barbra.
"Isnt it a pity, we never met before "
Lovely song--and a brilliant album-one of my favourites from Barbra.
Mariana
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Terence Lee
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Barbra on the radio
Next week on BBC Radio 2, there is a Barbra Special on the Elaine Paige radio programme. Here is the link :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/paige/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/paige/
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Terence Lee
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some interesting reviews
Below are some interesting comments from reviews posted in the papers :
Stardom is a two-way process. I have never seen an audience so excited as the one that entered the MEN Arena last night. It was like being among a classroom of hyperactive children or amid a troop of horses with the wind in their nostrils.
She made the lyrics of "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" sound as though they were words she was spontaneously inventing and speaking to a single person in a private place.
Having conquered her nerves and stepped into the spotlight, Streisand perhaps would not have expected to be booed -- but then mention Manchester United without paying homage to Manchester City, and what do you expect? Luckily, it was all good-natured.
On the way into the arena, fans had been given a postcard to fill in, with their name and seat number and "A Question for Barbra". Why hasn't she released a perfume, asked one? "Because then you get remembered for your scent, not your songs," she said.
Stardom is a two-way process. I have never seen an audience so excited as the one that entered the MEN Arena last night. It was like being among a classroom of hyperactive children or amid a troop of horses with the wind in their nostrils.
She made the lyrics of "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" sound as though they were words she was spontaneously inventing and speaking to a single person in a private place.
Having conquered her nerves and stepped into the spotlight, Streisand perhaps would not have expected to be booed -- but then mention Manchester United without paying homage to Manchester City, and what do you expect? Luckily, it was all good-natured.
On the way into the arena, fans had been given a postcard to fill in, with their name and seat number and "A Question for Barbra". Why hasn't she released a perfume, asked one? "Because then you get remembered for your scent, not your songs," she said.
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Terence Lee
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Bab's demands
The stage at Manchester's MEN arena, on which she was going to croon classics such as The Way We Were and Evergreen last night, was strewn with roses.
The arena had been swept by police dog teams trained to sniff out explosives and there were metal detectors on the doors.
Waiting for her backstage were five fabric-upholstered furniture suites, 60 tables and 120 bath-sized towels.
Even the security staff were immaculate in the 'dark jackets, blazers or sweaters with no T-shirts' that she requested.
The diva herself would be ferried around in a limousine accompanied by her entourage in 13 tractor-style trailer trucks, before being whisked to London on her private jet after the two-and-ahalf-hour concert.
The arena had been swept by police dog teams trained to sniff out explosives and there were metal detectors on the doors.
Waiting for her backstage were five fabric-upholstered furniture suites, 60 tables and 120 bath-sized towels.
Even the security staff were immaculate in the 'dark jackets, blazers or sweaters with no T-shirts' that she requested.
The diva herself would be ferried around in a limousine accompanied by her entourage in 13 tractor-style trailer trucks, before being whisked to London on her private jet after the two-and-ahalf-hour concert.
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Terence Lee
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From The Observer
Here is a psycho-economic riddle. Do people enjoy things more if they have paid a lot of money for them? The marketing of luxury goods pivots on this principle. It isn't, however, a principle that has traditionally affected mass-market gigs, the kind usually staged at Manchester's MEN Arena. Upcoming attractions here include Donny Osmond, Disney on Ice and Babyshambles, and you can bet none of them are charging £550 per bum on seat.
This audience take their diva's every liberty with good grace. The show lasts an hour-and-a-half but there is a substantial interval and a great deal of overture. Much of Streisand's patter is scripted, too; identical to that on the live CD which hit the shops last Monday. Her teleprompter, suspended from the rafters, is the largest I've ever seen. When Barbra is looking dreamily into the distance, as though pondering the emotional weight of songs such as 'Evergreen', she's probably cribbing lines.
Morphing from minor key thoughtfulness to jaunty romp, 'A Cockeyed Optimist' lays bare Streisand's roots in musical theatre yet further - it's from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific - but it remains a hoot. By the end, she is doing barefoot high-kicks to 'Don't Rain on my Parade' to the delight of the crowd. And if a great many of Streisand's interjections are pre-planned - down to fumbling for her glasses, then joshing about a 'senior moment' - her charm is genuine and her brain engaged. Her get-ups are sublime, part Grecian urn, part Cleopatra. The show's lasting image, however, is provided by the cameraman. The giant screens that bookend the stage show a shot of her abandoned shoes in the foreground, with Streisand singing away in the distance. It's as close as this strange evening gets to an actual epiphany
This audience take their diva's every liberty with good grace. The show lasts an hour-and-a-half but there is a substantial interval and a great deal of overture. Much of Streisand's patter is scripted, too; identical to that on the live CD which hit the shops last Monday. Her teleprompter, suspended from the rafters, is the largest I've ever seen. When Barbra is looking dreamily into the distance, as though pondering the emotional weight of songs such as 'Evergreen', she's probably cribbing lines.
Morphing from minor key thoughtfulness to jaunty romp, 'A Cockeyed Optimist' lays bare Streisand's roots in musical theatre yet further - it's from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific - but it remains a hoot. By the end, she is doing barefoot high-kicks to 'Don't Rain on my Parade' to the delight of the crowd. And if a great many of Streisand's interjections are pre-planned - down to fumbling for her glasses, then joshing about a 'senior moment' - her charm is genuine and her brain engaged. Her get-ups are sublime, part Grecian urn, part Cleopatra. The show's lasting image, however, is provided by the cameraman. The giant screens that bookend the stage show a shot of her abandoned shoes in the foreground, with Streisand singing away in the distance. It's as close as this strange evening gets to an actual epiphany
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Lena & Harry Smith
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Thanks for these reports Terence. 
Do people enjoy things more if they have paid a lot of money for them.?
Well let's hope that the real fans got the tickets and seats that they wanted. In Barbra's case as in many it is... pay it whatever the cost not only the showbiz celebs but to the nuisance hangers on who have just got to be there among these people for photo shots etc. but others perhaps do enjoy it more when they have paid ridiculous prices that we saw, as in this case.
We are happy to pay a fair price which is the norm now but good or bad, at least we haven't paid an arm and a leg for it.
Do people enjoy things more if they have paid a lot of money for them.?Well let's hope that the real fans got the tickets and seats that they wanted. In Barbra's case as in many it is... pay it whatever the cost not only the showbiz celebs but to the nuisance hangers on who have just got to be there among these people for photo shots etc. but others perhaps do enjoy it more when they have paid ridiculous prices that we saw, as in this case.
We are happy to pay a fair price which is the norm now but good or bad, at least we haven't paid an arm and a leg for it.
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Terence Lee
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Chaos in Dublin
Hi Marian, Lena & Harry
I am glad you enjoyed some of the reviews that I posted. Here's the latest one from Dublin and it was chaos there!
A MAJOR traffic snarl-up left Barbra Streisand fans fuming last night as severe delays led concert-goers to abandon their cars to make the event.
Many fans heading to Celbridge, where Ms Streisand performed her first-ever Irish concert at Castletown House, were still in their cars at 8pm when the diva was due to take the stage. The concert start was delayed till just before 9pm, allowing some extra time, but concert-goers told the Sunday Independent that cars had been left abandoned as fans rushed to make it to their seats in time.
Gardai said that while there was "serious traffic congestion", officers were on duty at junctions trying to deal with the situation, bringing in trucks to tow cars away.
One angry fan, Erica O'Neill, contacted the Sunday Independent to say she was leaving the concert because "my seat doesn't exist".
"There are hundreds of people here with no seats," she added.
Another fan, Dermot O'Shea, who paid €240 for his ticket, was still stuck in traffic at 8.30pm. He lambasted organisers for not planning the event better. Thousands of cars were left stranded, he said. "There are people just abandoning their cars and leaving them there on the motorway."
A flood of callers to the Sunday Independent said they were in slow-moving tail-backs of up to five miles. One caller, who had travelled from Limerick, described the situation as "a farce".
I am glad you enjoyed some of the reviews that I posted. Here's the latest one from Dublin and it was chaos there!
A MAJOR traffic snarl-up left Barbra Streisand fans fuming last night as severe delays led concert-goers to abandon their cars to make the event.
Many fans heading to Celbridge, where Ms Streisand performed her first-ever Irish concert at Castletown House, were still in their cars at 8pm when the diva was due to take the stage. The concert start was delayed till just before 9pm, allowing some extra time, but concert-goers told the Sunday Independent that cars had been left abandoned as fans rushed to make it to their seats in time.
Gardai said that while there was "serious traffic congestion", officers were on duty at junctions trying to deal with the situation, bringing in trucks to tow cars away.
One angry fan, Erica O'Neill, contacted the Sunday Independent to say she was leaving the concert because "my seat doesn't exist".
"There are hundreds of people here with no seats," she added.
Another fan, Dermot O'Shea, who paid €240 for his ticket, was still stuck in traffic at 8.30pm. He lambasted organisers for not planning the event better. Thousands of cars were left stranded, he said. "There are people just abandoning their cars and leaving them there on the motorway."
A flood of callers to the Sunday Independent said they were in slow-moving tail-backs of up to five miles. One caller, who had travelled from Limerick, described the situation as "a farce".
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Terence Lee
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here's a funny review!
I couldn't help laughing when I read this review!
For the pleasure of seeing the showbiz queen bee grace UK shores - you could buy 1375 chocolate bars, 797 McDonalds' burgers, 180 pints, 30 tickets to see The Killers, a holiday to Spain ... and a partridge in a pear tree. Get the picture?
Finding my seat, I'm amazed to find I'm not sitting on the stage.
For the price of my ticket I expect to be plonked right next to ol' Babsy as she sings - not the length of the Camden Barfly away.
She gets rapturous applause for simply moving from one side of the stage to the other. It is unfathomable.
But then ... I spot an autocue!
The bubble has burst, I have fallen out of love. For £550 I don't expect a glam karaoke show.
For the pleasure of seeing the showbiz queen bee grace UK shores - you could buy 1375 chocolate bars, 797 McDonalds' burgers, 180 pints, 30 tickets to see The Killers, a holiday to Spain ... and a partridge in a pear tree. Get the picture?
Finding my seat, I'm amazed to find I'm not sitting on the stage.
For the price of my ticket I expect to be plonked right next to ol' Babsy as she sings - not the length of the Camden Barfly away.
She gets rapturous applause for simply moving from one side of the stage to the other. It is unfathomable.
But then ... I spot an autocue!
The bubble has burst, I have fallen out of love. For £550 I don't expect a glam karaoke show.