The Barbra Streisand Music Guide: Timeless Tour Guide

Los Angeles, California
September 20 & 21, 2000: Staples Center, 8 pm

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Official Media Release July 19, 2000, announcing L.A. and NYC shows

FOUR CONCERTS, TWO CITIES, ONE VOICE, LAST TIME

STAPLES CENTER, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN LAND
STREISAND'S FINAL PERFORMANCE

Barbra Streisand, whose "Timeless" concert in Las Vegas last New Year's Eve established the all-time single performance box office record, will do two concerts at Los Angeles's Staples Center (September 20, 21) and two more at New York's Madison Square Garden (September 27, 28) which her management confirms will ring down the curtain on one of the greatest... and rarest... personal appearance performing careers ever.

Martin Erlichman, the artist's career-long manager, stated, "Ms. Streisand has chosen to conclude her public performance career in the two cities most closely associated with her work."

Tickets will be placed on sale via TicketMaster for the Los Angeles concerts Sunday, July 30 and Monday, July 31 for the New York engagement. The singer's December 31, 1999 concert in Las Vegas established TicketMaster's record for highest one-day sales of a single event - entertainment or sports - in the company's 33-year history.

Ms. Streisand's public performances have been rare since the mid-60s. She historically has dedicated most of her creative time to her recording career, to her work as director, producer and actress in motion pictures and, recently, to her Barwood Films slate of issue-oriented motion pictures and documentaries for television. Prior to her 1993-94 pair of New Years concerts at the MGM Grand Garden, she had gone nearly three decades without performing for pay in public. Erlichman stated that Ms. Streisand is contemplating directing a motion picture in which she does not also star.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, her total of forty-two gold record albums makes her the highest selling female recording artist ever with number one albums in each of the last four decades and number one albums spanning a period of over 35 years, the greatest longevity in that statistic for any recording artist or group. Her 25 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums are similarly record-setting.

"We are proud that Barbra Streisand has chosen Staples Center to host what we believe will not only be the most important nights of our arena's young life, but an engagement that will go down as the premiere entertainment event ever," said Timothy J. Leiweke, President of Staples Center. "Choosing Staples Center for two of her final performances ever honors not only our arena but her fans in Los Angeles who will have the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the greatest performers of our lifetime."

Mitch Slater, Executive Vice President of SFX, stated, "It is only natural that Barbra Streisand says goodbye to her legions of hometown fans from Madison Square Garden. We are thrilled and honored to have her play the world's most famous arena for her swan song." (7/19/00)

First concert ad, L.A. Times, 7/23/00: click for larger image

Tickets for the two Staples Center shows went on sale Sunday, July 30, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time via ticketmaster.com and select TicketMaster outlets only (including telephone orders at 1-888-9BARBRA and 213-480-3232). As of today, tickets are still available for both shows. Seats are priced in four categories: $2,500, $1,275, $375, $150. Refer to the seating chart for details. Foreign orders will be accepted, but unlike tickets for U.S. buyers which can be sent out in advance via UPS, tickets for foreign buyers will be held at the Staples Center's will call office for pick-up beginning Sept. 11. Full-page advertising has appeared in the L.A. Times (7/23/00, 7/30/00) and other California publications. Tickets are still available, as of this date. (9/2/00)

Marvin Hamlisch, Barbra's arranger-conductor for all previous Timeless performances and 1994's concerts, is committed to other shows and will not be available at the Staples Center and Madison Square Garden. "I did the Millennium concerts with her and then Australia, but I won't be doing her last ones," Hamlisch advised Mitchell Fink in the New York Daily News (7/31/00). The maestro is certain that these four dates will be Streisand's farewell to concerts, saying "I'm convinced of it. She doesn't lie. She's very clear. Truthfully, she's never loved performing. She's happily married now, and I think she wants to spend more time at home." Hamlisch added, "All good things come to an end. I wish I could be there. It's sad for me." The BSMG has learned that Bill Ross will conduct Barbra's orchestra in the final four shows. A frequent collaborator with Barbra, Ross has orchestrated and conducted many 1990s Streisand album recordings. (9/2/00)

Barbra's manager, Marty Erlichman, provides some background regarding the decision to stage her final public performances in L.A. and New York this September. "My perception is it's a relief for her the decision has been made," Erlichman told USA Today's Jeannie Williams. Following her Timeless world premiere performances in Las Vegas to welcome the new Millennium, Barbra seriously considered embarking on a world concert tour, which she would have enjoyed with husband James Brolin. Instead, the couple visited Australia and the Far East, Streisand & company performing Timeless in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Back home in Malibu after these successful shows, she informed her manager, "I really am going to wrap it up now. But I think I should finish in the two cities that I call home." Indeed, back in January 2000 at the Golden Globe Awards, Barbra had hinted of her possible swan song in L.A. and New York.

"This is the only part of her professional life she has decided to put a stop to," Erlichman explains. After apparently conquering her fears of live performances in 1994 when she did 26 concerts, some people may be wondering why Barbra wishes to conclude this part of her multi-faceted career. "It's a chore for her. She's still nervous," her manager says. "She still has a thousand frights and fears. She's paid her dues. People who love her say, 'You've done it. There's no purpose in performing if you don't get enjoyment from it.'" The BSMG certainly concurs.

Describing Barbra's Timeless for those who haven't seen the show, Erlichman calls it "a biography of her career. ...designed that way in anticipation that this might be the last." While the L.A. shows at the Staples Center will certainly be momentous, The BSMG expects that the final New York shows, returning Streisand to the city where her singing career began 40 years ago, will be, as Erlichman says, "a lot more emotional, emanating both from the audience and from her on stage." For archival purposes, if not for planned commercial release, the final performance at Madison Square Garden (Sept. 28) may be recorded. Himself a Streisand fan (no surprise), Erlichman experiences "the same goose bumps I got 40 years ago listening to her." (7/20/00)

Performance

September 20, 2000

Review: The first of four final concert performances in Barbra Streisand's 40-year long music career and the seventh "Timeless" concert this year, kicked off at LA's Staples Center last night. 37 years since her debut across town at the Cocoanut Grove, Barbra thrilled her adopted hometown crowd with a tour de force performance that dazzled from overture to encore. Her voice - powerfully sailing on the belt numbers, golden smooth on ballads - sounded even finer than on this week's release of the Timeless - Live In Concert album. Clearly relaxed, enjoying herself enormously, and in the company of a star-studded lineup of friends in the audience, Barbra took control the moment she stepped from behind dancer Mark Mendonca's silver-lined cape for "Something's Coming."

The running order of the first act was closer to her Australian shows than to the Vegas openers. As in Sydney and Melbourne, she omitted "Miss Marmelstein" and "Speak Low," and skipped the introduction to "A Sleepin' Bee," bringing it in line with her earlier recorded versions. Last night, the night club section amazed. "Cry Me A River" was once more an impassioned torch song, echoing the youthful torment she delivered back at the Bon Soir. "Lover, Come Back to Me" bounced, drove, jazzed brilliantly. Barbra patently loves singing these classics and they were highlights in a night packed with them. The Funny Girl collection proved another, "Don't Rain on My Parade" capping a medley delivered with as much deceptive ease as when the numbers were first sung three decades ago. And still one of the most stunning theatrical moments in any concert - by anyone, anywhere - Barbra's duet with her Yentl character (now trio with Lauren Frost) brought the cheering Staples Center crowd to its feet, the impact of those three harmonized voices no less powerful for its familiarity.

For those of us who have already committed the "Timeless" format to memory, the second act was a refreshing, delightful departure from Barbra's previous presentations. As if to herald the updated theme, the accent now less on "looking back with fondness" and more on "looking forward with hope," she debuted a new second act outfit, an elegant long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder, shimmering black sheath, the full-length matching sequined skirt split up the left side to mid-thigh. Her Act 1 costume was a copper-colored variation of her Vegas pants suit; her "Cry Me A River" shawl was a close gold color.

The first musical surprise came after a radiant "On a Clear Day," backed by the offstage 105-voice Loyola Marymount University Choir. The stage was washed with a purple glow on which sparkled thousands of diamond lights, replicating a sun shower. "Come Rain or Come Shine" hung on the still air - even Barbra remarked in an aside partway through "This is like a little club." To create such intimacy in this huge auditorium is a mark of the singer's masterful control of her material and her audience. Next came the duets section (again without "Crying Time"). "I Finally Found Someone" and "You Don't Bring me Flowers" both received huge ovations, particularly as Jeff Bridges and Neil Diamond were in the audience. "The Clicker Blues" stayed in, "Simple Pleasures" was out, then straight on to the enormously popular "The Main Event/Fight." No wand flashlights were distributed this time round, but a lone torchbearer down in front bobbed along in disco time!

Barbra's tribute to husband James ("He's down there, center stage front - where did you think he'd be?" she laughed) commenced with "I've Dreamed of You," then turned even more personal with the addition of the gorgeous "Love Like Ours," tenderly delivered and so touching to see and hear. Barbra's frequent recent album collaborator, Bill Ross, conducted the orchestra in place of Marvin Hamlisch.

"Now here's a song first heard in 1929 in a show called Chasing Rainbows." Someone in the audience began to applaud and Barbra teased, "You know what it is? I'll bet you ten dollars you don't!" It was, of course, "Happy Days Are Here Again," starting with the original Garry Moore Show arrangement and building to the familiar vamp version Barbra has made her own. The wistful "Don't Like Goodbyes" led to "I Believe" and "Somewhere" - Lauren Frost joined Barbra for the final bars and up the staircase they stepped, Brother Time enveloping Young Barbara in his cloak, our Barbra taking the last, long, triumphant note alone from midway up. Played off with the "Somewhere" theme, Barbra disappeared. We knew she'd be back for encores - and did she make them worth the wait!

Teasing again, she introduced the first as the ballad she sang every night at the Winter Garden, Fanny's song for Nick - ah, but it was "The Music that Makes Me Dance," reappearing in "Timeless" for the first time since opening night in Sydney. That was the feint with the right - the hook with the left was a stunning segue into "My Man." Another torch song, another nerve-tingling, powerhouse delivery to rival the final moments of the movie and the best of the '94 concerts. What a song to sing just before settling down to explain why these are her last live performances!

Barbra assured us her career is not over - there will be more albums, more films, maybe a book - but after starting her working life at 11 babysitting, at 12 waiting in a Chinese restaurant, the time has come for her to enjoy love and family and friends. "It feels like it's time to say goodbye to this part of my life...I want more time to live my life." How to explain her feelings at this point in her life? A remarkable slow, achingly beautiful version of "Before The Parade Passes By"! A captivating, magical switch as only Barbra knows how.

During this final segment song choices were being called out from around the arena. Responding to requests earlier, Barbra had quipped "It's not over till the fat lady sings!" Now, of course, the moment had arrived. "There was always only one song I could leave you with," Barbra admitted, and "Timeless" closed with the one number no one else could possibly imbue with the color, life and emotion Barbra does. No one else would dare. "People" IS Barbra - it was written for her, she made it her own, and it will never cross into another singer's repertoire. Now, fittingly, it forms the finale of her last live show - the literal high note of an unforgettable night and the capstone on a brilliant career.

Barbra's new message in the redesigned concert program reads:

It's bittersweet to say farewell to live performing, but it feels right to
say goodbye in the two cities I think of as home. I'm looking forward to exploring new chapters in my life ... I'll always love the process of creating. I'm so appreciative that you've been there to take the journey with me.
With love, Barbra

All we can say is "Bravo Barbra - and thank you!"
- Kim Hatherly, exclusive to The BSMG (9/21/00)
Act 1
1. Overture (tap dancing)
2. You'll Never Know (Lauren Frost)
3. Something's Coming (with Frost)
4. The Way We Were
5. Shirley MacLaine Y1K (comedy dialogue)
6. Cry Me A River
7. Lover, Come Back To Me
8. A Sleepin' Bee
9. I'm The Greatest Star / Second Hand Rose / Don't Rain On My Parade
10. Something Wonderful / Being Alive
11. As Time Goes By
12. Alfie
13. Evergreen
14. Papa, Can You Hear Me? / You'll Never Know (with Frost)
15. A Piece Of Sky (with Frost)
Act 2
1. Entr'acte
2. Putting It Together
3. On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) {with choir}
4. Come Rain Or Come Shine
5. Duets
  - Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy (with Judy Garland)
  - Guilty (with Barry Gibb)
  - I Finally Found Someone (with Bryan Adams)
  - Tell Him (with Celine Dion)
  - You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond)
6. Sing (with Jason Gould)
7. I've Got A Crush On You (with Frank Sinatra)
8. The Clicker Blues
9. The Main Event / Fight
10. I've Dreamed Of You
11. Love Like Ours
12. Happy Days Are Here Again {with choir}
13. Don't Like Goodbyes
14. I Believe / Somewhere (with Frost) {with choir}
Encores
1. The Music That Makes Me Dance
2. My Man
3. Before The Parade Passes By
4. People
Notes from 9/20 Concert
- Barbra's Stage Patter
  - "My last shows and I'm still nervous!" exclaimed Barbra during the show's opening moments.
  - During her cast and orchestra thank-yous, Barbra made a special thank you to manager Marty Erlichman for all his "unending support of my career and my dreams."
  - Referred to herself and husband as a "couple of alter kochers" when dismissing the gossip about them adopting a baby.
  - Thanked friend Evelyn for sending an arrangement of 150 roses with a pearl inside each bloom.
  - Barbra turned down her stage mother (Randee Heller)'s offer of a cheese knish from Cantor's in her introduction to "The Clicker Blues."
  - Barbra informed audience that her real mother, Diana Kind, 92, currently receives long-term care in a nursing home.
  - Dedicated "The Music That Makes Me Dance" to late composer Jule Styne.
  - In Act 1 Barbra remarked, "This is going so fast." She said she normally dreads doing 35 songs and after every song would count down 34, 33, 32. However, she said L.A. was a terrific audience, which made things move very quickly.
  - After trying to keep in step with her three female backup singers during "The Main Event" / "Fight," Barbra made an aside to them, "Well, that's out first real rehearsal!"
  - "Do you know what it's like to have to walk around in high heels and sing 35 songs a night, to have to diet to get into these dresses?"
  - Returning for a final curtain call with the screens on each side still projecting and the curtain closing, Barbra yelled, "Thank you and drive home safely!"
- Celebrity Attendees: John Travolta (introduced by Barbra) & Kelly Preston, Pierce Brosnan & Keely Shaye Smith, Lucy Liu, Salma Hayek, Jane Krakowski, Leann Rimes & Andrew Keegan, Burt Bacharach (introduced during "Alfie" intro), Neil Diamond (introduced), Orson Bean (introduced prior to "Cry Me A River"), Jeff Bridges, Ray Stark (introduced during "The Music That Makes Me Dance" segment), Sidney Poitier, Sydney Pollack, Kevin Spacey, Sherry Lansing (seated next to James Brolin), Helen Hunt, Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell, Anjelica Huston, David Foster, Noah Wyle, Harry Hamlin, Christine Lahti, Sela Ward, Courtney Cox Arquette, Calista Flockhart, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sally Kellerman, Jackie Collins, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Josh Brolin & Minnie Driver, Bill Mahr, Roseanne, and James Brolin.
- David Foster, Barbra's frequent record producer and arranger, told USA Today's Edna Gundersen, "She [Barbra] seems looser." Commenting on Barbra's continuing vocal prowess, Foster marveled, "She's held up, absolutely. She's spectacular. Her inaccessibility, the fact that it's such a rare occurrence to see her, makes her even more fascinating."
- Shows were reportedly being recorded for a television special to air in 2001. Barbra Streisand: Timeless did air on FOX in February 2001, but it was purely the Las Vegas Millennium Concert performances. No professional footage from the Staples Center shows has been screened to date. (6/8/03)
- Music critic Robert Hilburn, writing in the L.A. Times, enjoyed the show so much that he regrets Barbra "didn't devote more time over the years to live performances. She brings an intelligence and taste to the stage that no one else in mainstream pop music approaches." He views shows by other talented singers, such as Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, "arbitrary and amateurish" compared with this concert presentation.
- In Variety Joel Hirschhorn glowed in his concert review. "Streisand has never been so in command, so sure of herself as an artist. ...What makes her show memorable is the sense of history it projects."
- USA Today's Edna Gundersen praised Barbra's performance. "Streisand held the crowd spellbound during a trend-defying celebration of old-fashioned songcraft and masterful singing. ...Streisand displayed power, control, subtlety and an admirable and rare vocal purity."
September 21, 2000
Review: Barbra's very last appearance in L.A. Thursday night found her before an even warmer audience than the enthusiastic opening night crowd. The introductory bars to every song were greeted by appreciative applause, calls and cheers. Clearly here was a crowd that knew its Streisand history and in response, Barbra was totally in her element, reveling in music she loves to sing and lighting up the stage with her compelling presence.

Before embarking on "A Sleepin' Bee" she noted that she doesn't usually like to do back-to-back appearances so was feeling a little hoarse. Despite that claim, there was little evidence apart from some rather appealing and appropriate catches in her voice in "Cry Me a River" and "Alfie." Indeed, last night, Barbra soared to the high final note in "Something's Coming," exhibited her trademark remarkable breath control on "Something Wonderful," threw herself wholeheartedly into "Being Alive" (with another astonishing final note) and by the second act, produced a rafter-raising "On a Clear Day." She always amazes with the final "ever more" but the last note was held so long that even SHE fluttered her hands in front of her as the note went on forever! "Now I know why singers are supposed to vocalise. The first act was my warm-up!" she grinned.

So at home did Barbra feel, she literally kicked off her shoes when sitting to sing "I've Dreamed of You" and padded about the stage barefoot during "Happy Days are Here Again." ("I hope I don't get a splinter," was her aside). In fact she was only persuaded to return downstage to retrieve her shoes in time for the encores!

I'm not sure how the L.A. Times reviewer saw "The Main Event/Fight" as the weakest link - both nights it has proved a real audience favorite. It may not be a classic hit, but it is great fun, the crowd loves it, and Barbra proves yet again she can handle any style of music with ease and mastery. During last night's version, Barbra quipped "I feel like Cher!" which elicited a huge laugh.

Ad libs were inserted seamlessly in last night's performance. Mentioning that her stockbroker was in the audience, Barbra confided "We had a bad day today. The NASDAQ is down. I'm an addict - yes, I'm a day trader!"

Finally Barbra again thanked her audience for all the support and love over the years. She loves to hear that a song of hers has been used for a wedding or special occasion and to know that she has become a little part of people's lives. "We've grown up together," she observed - the audience warmly applauded in agreement.
- Kim Hatherly, exclusive to The BSMG (9/22/00)
Notes from 9/21 Concert
- Barbra's Stage Patter
  - Many fans were shouting out "We love you!" or "Don't stop singing!" and Barbra tried to catch everything. She sometimes paused to ask, "What did you say? I didn't hear that." If it still wasn't clear, she noted, "There's reverb in here, and by the time it gets to me, it's totally different." Just before beginning "Happy Days," Barbra and the audience were exchanging "greetings," one of which was "We're going to miss you!" to which she replied, "That's so sweet of you to say! Don't worry, I will keep making records and movies."
  - After "The Way We Were" Barbra remembered her first visit to the Staples Center to see a Lakers game. Now she's using the Lakers' dressing room. "The thing to dry your hands is 8 feet up!"
  - Introducing Jack Nicholson, Barbra recalled, "He worked with me in On A Clear Day, and he was so stiff, Vincente Minnelli kept telling him to move his legs and arms."
  - Barbra admitted loathing heels and nearly always wearing sneakers. She wants to take the time to do things she really enjoys, like eating, without having to worry about her appearance, since she won't be on the stage anymore. She spoke to Elizabeth Taylor, observing, "We both love to eat! Right, Elizabeth?" Noting that Ms Taylor was sitting next to James, Barbra warned "I know you're not married now, so watch it!"
  - Right before singing "Before The Parade Passes By," Barbra accidentally used a rose in her hand as a microphone. It was humorous when she had the rose in her right hand and the mic in her left, and she started talking to the rose, thinking it was the mic.
  - She referred to her young family members in the audience by name and said she was so glad there were children around her, because she feels so warm and comfortable around them.
- Celebrity Attendees: Front row center were James Brolin with daughter Molly and son Josh, Jack Nicholson & Lara Flynn Boyle, Elizabeth Taylor, Roger Clinton. Other notables included Dustin Hoffman, Lauren Bacall, Barry Manilow, Quincy Jones, Carole Bayer Sager, Michael Crawford, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Julianna Margulies, Renee Taylor, Angie Dickinson, Barbara Sinatra, Dick Clark, Debra Messing, Dick Van Dyke, Ellen DeGeneres, Blythe Danner, Charlene Tilton, and, for the second consecutive night, Alan & Marilyn Bergman.
- Fans who have attended several Barbra Streisand concerts since 1994 tell The BSMG that Barbra's performance on September 21, 2000 was definitely her finest ever to that date.
Related Links
Los Angeles Times, "Romance Agrees With Streisand" by Robert Hilburn (review)
Variety, "Radiant Streisand Basks in Fans' Affection" by Joel Hirschhorn (review)
USA Today, "Streisand Skips Gimmicks to Showcase Voice" by Edna Gundersen (review)
Daily News Los Angeles, "Streisand Thrills Thousands" by Fred Shuster (review)
San Franscisco Chronicle, "Streisand Sticks With Her Script, Diva Gives Fans What They Came For in L.A." by Neva Chonin (review)
"Barbra Streisand: Timeless" photo slide show
Barbra Streisand Official Online Store - Order Barbra's Timeless concert merchandise online.

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