You could say (and you wouldn’t be the first) that I was programmed to like Barbra Streisand.  Jewish?  Check.  Gay?  Check.  Raised in New York, with parents who played Barbra’s collaborations with the likes of Neil Diamond and Barry Gibb?  Check.  Check.  Check.

I’ve been fortunate – both as a pop-culturalist and a Streisand fan – to live in Las Vegas, because in the past decade I’ve had the privilege of seeing La Streisand perform as the “surprise guest” at the Grand Slam for Children benefitting the Andre Agassi Youth Foundation (2005) and the Grand Opening of Planet Hollywood (2007).

When I was asked to score some tickets for my stepmother and her friend, I asked if she wouldn’t mind my tagging along, and with her answer in the affirmative, I was off to the hear Ms. Streisand, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

We joined some friends for a delicious BAM! of a dinner, at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House (more on that in an upcoming post), and then made our way to the Arena.

The concert was really something, and pulled songs from all parts of her half-century of work.  She was joined onstage by the trio of teenaged tenors known as Il Vole, with whom she sang “Smile” (one of her many nods to Judy Garland through the evening – others included photos of the two of them together, and singing the Irving Berlin standard “What’ll I Do?” – referred to by Judy, simply as “Irving’s Song”).

She also gave a number of touching tributes to other friends and colleagues who had each put their own stink on her funk – from the legendary songwriter, Jule Styne (aka my friend Dina’s grandfather), from whose songbook she performed her first #1 single, “People” from Funny Girl, as well as a medley of “Rose’s Song” and “Some People” from Gypsy and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl; to the recently departed composer, Marvin Hamlisch (who, one time at Elaine’s, decided to “play” my folks’ table, as though it were a piano – ah, New York in the ‘80s…), Streisand’s longtime friend, collaborator, and musical director (for her tours in 1995 and 2001), and the man behind the music of The Way We Were – for which Streisand snatched her second #1 hit, ten years after her first.

At one point in the concert, Barbra pulled questions from audience members out of a box.  One person queried about Barbra’s interest in reality television.  Still up to her Donna Karan-clad elbows in Democratic politics, Streisand wittily answered “I prefer fantasy to reality; like Fox News.”  Upon hearing some boos from the audience, Streisand quipped that having seen the price of the tickets, she wasn’t surprised at the number of Republicans in the room.

Now, a number of people have inquired about her voice and her appearance.  First of all, the lady is seventy.  And she looks and sounds fabulous, seeing as she’s been at this for fifty or so years.  My one gripe was that – considering she was sitting for much of the show – couldn’t she have foregone the farkakt sandals for something more befitting a legend?  I mean, C’mon, Lady!  You’re there in gorgeous gowns and jewels, in front of 15,000 people who have paid hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of dollars to bask in your Barbra-ness, and you’re wearing what are basically Birkenstocks, with a small wedge?

My favorite parts of the evening were her shout-out to the late Donna Summer, Barbra’s son Jason Gould’s singing of the Leon Russell-penned “This Masquerade” (a hit for The Carpenters, Shirley Bassey, and George Benson, among others); and Barbra’s rendition of “What’ll I Do” accompanied by the incredibly talented Portland-born trumpeter, Chris Botti.

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