“I’m killing myself for this tour because there’s a painting I want!”
– Barbra Streisand explains the impetus behind this latest concert tour.

Singers typically have a short professional life.  Beverly Sills sang her last opera at 51, while Callas was only 42.  When Judy Garland died at 47, she had already been in vocal decline for several years.  And let’s not even talk about Liza.  So my expectations were tempered walking into Barbra: The Music… The Mem’ries… The Magic.  After all, Streisand is 74.  And yet, what you get is roughly 85-90 percent of prime Babs.  Yes, there is a discernible roughness to anything above a B.  But rather than avoid these notes, she faces the challenge head-on and quite often, the risk pays off.  The set list includes a number of songs she’s never sung publicly before.  A highlight is the sequence from Funny Lady.  Her tackling of the breakdown scene of “How Lucky Can You Get” was staggering.  OK, the gratuitous “Fan-fucking-tastic” is questionable, but it got a cheer – as expletives often do.  Barbra also shares the stage for duets with a number of people who appear on her upcoming Encores CD.  In LA, she had Seth MacFarlane, Jamie Foxx, and Babyface (who sang with her on her 2014 CD, Partners).  I’m told various special guests will turn up in most cities.

The concert is longer than most of her outings, and she seems to be genuinely relaxed and enjoying herself – although that might be because I went to an exclusive pre-tour event that was solely for “Family & Friends”.  I was grateful to be counted amongst that elite group, which included people like Jane Fonda, Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Rob Lowe, Pierce Brosnan, David Duchovny, Kathy Griffin, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Melissa McCarthy, Jane Lynch, and Jenifer Lewis.  Since this was a dress rehearsal, there were some mishaps.  At one point, Barbra noticed something on the ground.  “What’s that?  It’s beads from my dress!”  Streisand scurried around, picking up beads and clutching them in her hand – undoubtedly ready to hand them off to her seamstress Anna (who was in the audience, but surely worked through the night).  And when she went to exit, the doors at the rear of the stage didn’t open.  She shrugged her shoulders, laughed, and walked back out for her encore (“Happy Days Are Here Again”, complete with words on the screen – it was like Sing Along with Streisand).

Personally, I could have done without the extended sequence in the first half by Israeli mentalist Lior Suchard (who performed at Streisand’s 70th birthday party).  Lior’s act isn’t a chance for Barbra to catch her breath or change gowns.  Nope, she stays onstage with him the whole time as he reads the minds of random people in the audience.  To ensure they are random, he hands Barbra three Frisbees to throw.  “Barbra, have you ever thrown a Frisbee before?” he asks.  “No, but I’ve seen them on TV!”  And before you can say “Oucha-ma-goucha”, Babs is tossing Frisbees into the audience like part of some insane act on America’s Got Talent.  Maybe I simply didn’t care for the trick.  I bet I would have gotten a kick out of seeing Barbra as a magician’s assistant being sawed in half!  But for me, it was all too schticky.  It proved without a doubt that while you can take the girl out of the Catskills, you can’t take the Catskills out of the girl.

It should have been a great week for Streisand.  The tour got raves.  She’s working on her autobiography (when asked when it will be out, she said, “Don’t hold your breath” – adding she was writing it now, “before my memory gets any more misty and water-colored”).  And it was announced that the script for her film remake of Gypsy was done and shooting would begin next year.  And then STX Entertainment dropped out as distributor and co-producer.  Days earlier, Barbra talked about the frustration of making this film and how so much depends on others.  “I’m at their mercy.  One day you’re going to do Gypsy, the next day it’s off.”