I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Barbra Streisand, when I went to see Barbra: The Music... The Mem’ries... The Magic!, at the T-Mobile Arena, last Saturday night; but I certainly wasn’t expecting to see her interact so personally, with the audience – and it was a treat.

Whoever was writing the banter she delivered to the audience was worth every penny, because in addition to being warm and clever, some of it was laugh-out-loud funny.  For instance, while saying how massive the MGM Grand is, Streisand said the way she got to the concert was that she “turned on my Pokémon GO, and followed it to the T-Mobile Arena.”  Now stop for a moment, and imagine Barbra Streisand, clad in her custom Donna Karan finery; wandering about, while holding her iPhone in the air, in her quest to capture various Pokéman creatures.

While discussing the creative control she has maintained (thanks to the deal struck by her always and forever manager, Marty Erlichman) over her albums, she mentioned how one of the label’s ideas for an early album had been Sweet & Saucy Streisand – which she felt sounded like a barbeque sauce.

The first act focused on songs from albums released in two decades, the 1970s (including “The Way We Were,” “Everything,” Carole King’s “Being at War with Each Other,” “Everything Must Change,” Laura Nyro’s “Stoney End,” “No More Tears (Enough is Enough),” “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born),” “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” and “Being Alive”); and the 1980s (“Guilty” and “Papa, Can You Hear Me?”).

With a bit of what legendary performers, from Elvis to Cher have referred to as “Vegas Throat” the iconic belter lubed her instrument with tea.  And while it took a few songs for her voice to “open up” to its full clarity; by the time she sang “Evergreen” she sounded as fresh as the proverbial morning air.  And when she concluded the first act with “Papa, Can You Hear Me?,” well, I’m certain that Yentl’s late father would not only have been able to hear her; but he’d have seen her, and have found her in the night, as well!*

The clever witticisms continued, when – in describing the cover of the A Star is Born: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (which consisted of a photo portraying a nude embrace between Streisand and Kris Kristofferson) - she said to the audience “If you’re wondering what I was wearing, there; it was musk!”  Later, after singing “Woman in Love” she quipped “That’s from the era when I was trying to be hip: I still don’t understand what half of those lyrics meant.”

She made a point of drawing attention to the enormous teleprompter, hanging from the ceiling, explaining the root of her famous stage-fright that kept her from touring for 27 years, stating “It was my free concert in Central Park, and in front of more than a hundred thousand people, I forgot the words… And I didn’t perform again, until they invented Teleprompters.”  Then she wisecracked “At least I’m not lip syncing!”

Come back, and read about the second act of Barbra: The Music, The Mem’ries, The Magic; in Part 2!

Barbra: The Music... The Mem’ries... The Magic!
T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas
Saturday, August 6th
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#Barbra

[Editor's Note: To hear for yourself how Ms. Streisand sounded, simply play the clip, above, of her singing "Papa, Can You Hear Me?"]