THAT IS BARBRA!!! IN BROOKLYN!!!!
BARBRA IN BROOKLYN!!!
from Newsday
Barbra Streisand comes home with Brooklyn concert
Barbra Streisand said the last time she performed alone in Brooklyn, it was on a stoop on Pulaski Street when she was 8. Thursday night was a little different.
In front of a sold-out crowd at the Barclays Center, Streisand stood in the middle of her B-shaped stage, dressed in a black, sequined Donna Karan gown, surrounded by a full orchestra, and asked, "Who said you can't go home again?"
Her return was one many thought would never happen -- partially because Streisand has announced her retirement from touring several times and partially because, until last month, Brooklyn didn't have an arena for her to use.
To celebrate her return, she filled her "Back to Brooklyn" show with local cues, starting with "You'll Never Know," the song from the movie "Hello, Frisco, Hello" that Streisand first recorded at 13 while she was still living in Brooklyn, shortly before she started attending Erasmus Hall High School just a few miles down Flatbush Avenue from where the Barclays Center stands today.
Celebrities turned out to welcome Streisand home -- from Rosie O'Donnell to Woody Allen, Barbara Walters and Sting, to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
During the concert's first act, Streisand teamed up with the Italian operatic trio Il Volo and then paid tribute to her friends and collaborators -- the late Donna Summer, who died of lung cancer in May, and Marvin Hamlisch, who died in August -- with powerful versions of "No More Tears" and "The Way We Were."
She mixed those classics with some lesser-known songs, including Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We?" from her new compilation, "Release Me," which came out Tuesday.
Her first set was also punctuated with a lot of conversation with the audience, including a bit where they complained about the lights being too bright until Streisand asked, from the stage, for them to be dimmed. She also took questions from the audience that landed a zinger aimed at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's quest against funding Big Bird. "I hope Mitt Romney doesn't find his way to Sesame Street or Pennsylvania Avenue," she said to loud applause. "He's a chameleon, isn't he?"
Streisand returns for another show in Brooklyn on Saturday before continuing on with her rare tour, her first since 2006.
Celebrities other than Mr. Althaus in attendance were A list of confirmed attendees included Barbara Walters, Jimmy Fallon, Sting, Katie Couric, Woody Allen, Michael Douglas and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as designers Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors and Streisand's ex, Elliott Gould, whose son Jason sang with his mom.
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