Our On-the Scene Reports

It had been talked about for a long time, but no one actually believed the announcement that hit the news wires in the fall of 1993. Barbra Streisand was going to perform in Las Vegas! Her shows were to coincide with the opening of Las Vegas' newest mega-hotel and casino, The MGM Grand. Impresario and long time associate of Barbra, Kirk Kerkorian, achieved the ultimate entertainment coup by contracting Streisand for a two night engagement over New Years.

Barbra was at her vocal peak during this tour, as time will ultimately dictate. She captivated the thousands who had waited decades to hear her sing live. Such was the ovation and praise from these performances that it was decided that Barbra would take The Concert on a world wide tour.

Following Vegas, Barbra performed in London, New York, Washington, DC, Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim. The shows themselves evolved as the tour progressed and Barbra continued to make changes in her performance, song choices, staging and special video enhancements.

The final two shows in Anaheim and were taped for video release and a subsequent broadcast on HBO. The Concert would go on to win multiple Emmys. The audio CD, recorded in New York would be certified platinum. A third incarnation of The Concert, those first two performances in Las Vegas, was recently released on DVD and has been certified gold.

These are our reports from shows in Las Vegas, London, New York and Anaheim.

The Vegas Comeback
(Jan 1, 1994) - In 1993, Barbra did something fans were waiting decades for.  She embarked on a remarkable concert tour which began in Las Vegas and would take her to London and five additional US cities.  Her show was titled, simply, "Barbra The Concert."  Two versions of "The Concert" would be captured for posterity - a two CD recording of her performances at New York's Madison Square Garden and a video of her Emmy award winning closing night shows from the Anaheim Pond in Southern California.  I attended both New Years concerts in Las Vegas.  Over the following months, I traveled to London for her final two (of four) concerts at Wembley Arena and then returned stateside for shows in NYC (five) and Anaheim (three).

Barbra returned to Las Vegas in 1993 for two sell-out shows over New Years Eve weekend.  She was the official inaugural concert at the newly opened MGM Grand Garden.  Impresario Kirk Kerkorian, principal owner of the MGM Grand was able to convince his long time friend to return to the Vegas stage after a 27 year absence.  Kerkorian last worked with Barbra during her Vegas engagement in the late 1970s at his International Hotel.  Barbra would again work for Kerkorian presenting her "Timeless" millennium concert, again at the MGM Grand.

"Out of Town Tryouts" in London
(Apr 24, 1994) - Barbra took a three month break after her New Year's concerts before embarking on a six city tour with "The Concert."  First stop: London.  Barbra referred to her four night engagement at Wembley Arena as "my out of town try out."  British audiences were delighted with Barbra's decision to return to London.  Barbra brought "The Concert" to London as a sentimental journey of sorts.  It marked the return to the city of one of her greatest career triumphs - playing "Funny Girl" in the West End during the 1960s.  I attended the last two performances of "The Concert" at Wembley Arena - one among what seemed to be hundreds of Americans (and New Yorkers) who crossed The Pond for this special occasion.  Barbra's audiences these nights were beyond enthusiastic.  In fact, the entire city of London was caught up in the hype surrounding Barbra's triumphant return to British soil. "Back To Broadway" was Barbra's most recent album release and it was used as the commercial tie-in for "The Concert" during Barbra's London run. It was a thrill for me to experience first hand and for the first time the appeal of Barbra Streisand beyond her home borders.

Barbra's London concerts made front page news on both sides of the Atlantic. Elton John even threw Barbra a party to celebrate her 52nd birthday, worthy of a front page coverage in some of the London tabloids. The soiree reportedly set Elton back a cool £200,000.

"Local Girl Makes Good, Sings"
(Jun & Jul, 1994) - The highlight of the 1994 tour was Barbra's triumphant return to NYC.  Business obligations prevented me from attending Barbra's first two shows at Madison Square Garden (June 20 & 23), but I managed to return in time for the final five.  Her shows at Madison Square Garden were to most exciting of the tour.

Barbra's performances over these nights were stellar.  Friends from show business, politics - and her Brooklyn neighborhood - showed up in force to welcome back their hometown girl.  Barbra's three initial concerts sold out in minutes.  Two additional shows were immediately added.  Once Barbra realized that many fans were "shut out," unable to get through on the phones to order tickets, she added two final shows "for the fans."  Ticket brokers were not allocated seats for the final two shows in July. 

Barbra had one more surprise in store for her New York faithful.  Her final song on closing night, "Somewhere," was broadcast live on the SONY Jumbotron in Times Square.  Hundreds were gathered to witness Barbra's New York swan song.  It was New Years Eve in July.

Barbra's reviews were the best of her career.  Jon Pareles of The New York Times reviewed "The Concert" on June 22 and perhaps summed things up best with his understatement-of-the-year headline:  "Local Girl Makes Good, Sings."

A Closing Night...and More
(Jul 24, 1994) - I traveled twice to Los Angeles to catch three of Barbra's performances at Arrowhead Pond.  After I saw the first show in early June, Barbra came down with a severe case of laryngitis, prompting her to postpone the remaining Anaheim dates.  Barbra was to close out her tour in NYC, but instead, she returned to California for her "make-up" concerts.  Returning with Barbra in July proved to be a monumental stroke of luck.  Both of the final Anaheim shows I attended were taped for broadcast, but it was the final show which proved to be a bonanza for us fans.  Following her final encore performance, Barbra returned to the stage and informed the audience that we were all invited to stay for several re-takes.

Barbra's final performance of "The Concert" was the Anaheim show on July 24.  Her closing night performance was noteworthy.  Following the conclusion of the formal concert, Barbra announced that she would perform several re-takes.  She invited the audience to stay for the "bonus" set.  It was a Sunday night, about 11:00 PM, so Barbra said that it would be OK if people went home.  From my observation, no one did.

Barbra left the stage for a quick costume change and asked Marvin Hamlisch to entertain for 15 minutes.  Marvin treated the audience to an abbreviated piano performance from his own solo act.  His genius is never not hard to spot, even when he is performing alone.

Finally, Barbra reemerged from backstage in a fresh version of her Act 2 costume.  She was relaxed and playful with the audience in totally unscripted banter.  For the next 30 minutes, Barbra performed several songs for the second time that evening: "Evergreen," "The Way We Were," "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and "Somewhere."  Those of us who stayed were additionally rewarded.  The pièce de résistance was Barbra's final number for the evening, "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?"  It was the one and only time during the tour that  Barbra sang this song.  Fortunately, this performance of the Bergmans' classic ballad can be seen on the concert's official laser disc release and Blockbuster Video's promotional VHS.