Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage for BSB Touring
You might have to cross borders for your bucket list. Keith and Debbie Dreier did, flying to Toronto from their home in Northern Kentucky to just see an icon perform live, a long-time dream for Keith. In fact, quite a few Americans made the trek north. Barbra Streisand rarely tours, so there is a sense of occasion when she does. Tuesday night’s Air Canada Centre show marked the final stop on Streisand’s “The Music… the Mem’ries… the Magic!” mini-tour. This tour supports Streisand’s new studio album, Encores, which features duets with a variety of actors who sing.
Designed to celebrate six decades that included ten #1 albums, the carefully orchestrated show served to highlight her incredible career. Remarkably, the 74 year old songstress has had the same manager, Marty Erlichman, since she was 19. She praised him for negotiating a path that put her in creative control of her career from the get-go. In Act One of the show, she offered songs from each #1 album.
Striding onto the stage in a shimmery black, flared pant-suit, she was dazzling. Humming a bar or two of The Way We Were, she quipped “Saved the best for first.” She has an easy way of talking to the audience. Happy to be back in Canada, she said she’d been shopping. When the store clerk asked, “You’re American? Have you got any loonies?” She responded, “Just one… Donald Trump!” Ever political, Streisand spoke of her fondness for Justin Trudeau’s policies, not to mention her admiration for his father, which elicited a knowing chuckle from the audience who were in on the joke. (Streisand and Pierre Trudeau dated briefly.)
Streisand regaled the crowd with tales about many of the album covers, and told stories about the origins of many of the songs. Interestingly, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers became a duet when a DJ from Kentucky, in the midst of his own heartbreak, spliced her version with Neil Diamond’s to form a conversation in song. She sang Woman in Love/Enough Is Enough as a nod to a period when she was “trying to be hip”. She masterfully filled the room with the wistful Evergreen. To end the first half of the concert, she set the scene from the beginning of her 1983 film Yentl. Lighting a candle, she transported the room to a forest in 1904; then she mesmerized the crowd with a heartfelt version of Papa, Can You Hear Me?
Act Two started with the appearance of Israeli mentalist, Lior Suchard. He took on the role of Court Jester as he frenetically ran around and amazed the crowd with feats of trickery. Once the post-intermission energy was back up, Barbra again appeared, draped in an elegant ash black gown. Streisand was accompanied by a full band, including 3 back-up singers who perched upon two risers towards the rear of the stage.
The second set included Don’t Rain on My Parade and People, clearly crowd favourites. As the night drew to a close, Streisand treated the crowd to Happy Days Are Here Again, a song that, as she informed us, she performed for 3 separate presidents: John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton. Never one to hide her political allegiances, she commented that, of course, she hopes to be singing it to another President Clinton come November! The down-tempo arrangement gave the song a feeling of longing and hope. To the crowd’s delight, she came out for one last song, a lesser known gem called By the Way. It was the perfect sign-off to a wonderful night.
