| Review: The
TV Specials DVD set.
SEE ME, HEAR ME |
|
BarbraNews.com 12 November 2005
Now that the rush of
excitement for Guilty Pleasures is quieting down, I’ve got a great
suggestion for you. Get down to your local record/DVD retailer and pick up a
wonderful brand new DVD collection for yourself, and while you’re at it,
pick up two. After all, Christmas is just four weeks away. Why not kill two
birds?
As a matter of fact, there are
many shining moments in this three-act, 16-song set. Some of the many
highlights include “My Melancholy Baby,” an exquisite rendition of “I’m
Always Chasing Rainbows” and the superior medley that includes the sublime
“How About Me?,” “My Buddy,” a Mae West take on “A Good Man Is Hard To
Find,” “Some Of These Days” and “Put Your Arms Around Me.” And believe me,
this is one disc you will embrace warmly. The question of why she wasn’t
satisfied with the end result will continue to linger, but our satisfaction
is guaranteed. UK Fans: Pre-order THE BARBRA STREISAND TELEVISION SPECIALS DVD SET NOW AND SAVE 25% - CLICK HERE US Fans: Pre-order the above, and save 30% - CLICK HERE |
© Craig Hall - www.barbranews.com
What other
singer/actress/producer/director/writer/composer do you know that’s been in
show business for over forty years and is still at the top of her game?
Okay, okay, I don’t mean to offend any Cher fans. But this new collection is
astonishing. There are so many musical DVD’s available, it could make your
head spin. But before you do any involuntary Linda Blair stunts at your
local record retailer (don’t hurt yourself!), I suggest looking straight
ahead at the new release shelf where you’ll find a brand new classic
collection from Barbra Streisand. The first is a 5- DVD set of her TV
specials from 1965-1973. Yes, all five of her landmark television specials
will be released on November 22nd for the first time on DVD. In fact, two of
them have never been released at all, so Streisand fans and gift-givers
unite, this is your official alert to those who know of fans (and we all
know many), and your heads up for one of the finest performers of our
generation doing what she did best in the 1960’s - making beautiful music.
Before Hollywood came-a-calling on this legend (with the exception of the
1973 TV special) and after winning a Tony nod and a few Grammy’s for her
work on Broadway and her first four albums, respectively, the next step
(naturally) was TV. Those first five specials, for which the young star,
barely into her twenties, was so wisely given full creative control, were
and remain a thrilling introduction to all of her varied talents. The set,
aptly titled Barbra Streisand: The Television Specials, comprise five hours
and a 65 page booklet that’ll knock you off your feet! 
Her first television
special, My Name Is Barbra, from 1965, is a classic and was
praised by critics coast to coast. UPI proclaimed, “This is a pinnacle
moment of American show business, in any form, in any period. She is so
great, it is shocking…she may well be the most supremely talented and
complete popular entertainer this country has ever produced.” My Name Is
Barbra won five Emmy Awards and the prestigious Peabody Award for
Distinguished Achievement in Television. Barbra separated the show into
three segments; Act 1 was comprised of ten songs that include the title
track, “Much More,” “Where Is The Wonder” and possibly the finest version of
“People” ever laid down on celluloid. Act 2 included a comedic monologue and
an eight song set titled “The Poverty Medley” with a spree through New
York’s famed Bergdorf-Goodman’s trying on lavish clothing and jewelry while
singing such songs as “Second Hand Rose,” “Give Me The Simple Life,” “I Got
Plenty Of Nothing” and “The Best Things In Life Are Free.” It was brilliant!
Just when you were bowled over from the first two thirds, Act 3 is a live
concert that includes “When The Sun Comes Out.” “Why Did I Choose You?” and
“Lover, Come Back To Me.” The closing moments were stupendous with a medley
from her then-current Broadway show, Funny Girl, which included “You Are
Woman, I Am Man,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “The Music That Makes Me
Dance,” “My Man” and closing the show was another song that would become one
of her many signatures in years to come, “Happy Days Are Here Again.” If
record buyers weren’t aware of Streisand’s stunning talents by the time this
special aired on April 28, 1965, four days following her 23rd birthday, this
television special was just a taste of what was to come over the next 40
years…and counting.
The second special,
Color Me Barbra, aired eleven months later and was considered to
bookend the first special. This time around, CBS spared no expense and shot
this historic special in glorious color, hence the title. This event was
comprised of three acts like its predecessor - after all, if it ain’t broke…
Instead of a shopping spree through Bergdorf’s, we were treated to a run
through the Philadelphia Museum, with Barbra recreating the famous paintings
and becoming the subjects (literally) of works that included Picasso,
Modigliani and Renoir. During the first act, Streisand sang seven songs that
include “Yesterdays,” “The Minute Waltz,” a wild sign of the times (1966)
while performing “Gotta Move” and closing the set with “Where Or When.” Act
2 was comprised of a three ring circus while Streisand sang her “Circus
Medley” of 15 songs that included “Animal Crackers In My Soup,” “That Face,”
“I’ve Grown Accustomed To That Face,” “I Stayed Too Long At The Fair,”
Spring Again” and “Look At That Face.” Act 3 followed suit with a live
concert of five songs including “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,” “It Had
To Be You,” “C’est Si Bon,” a knockout version of “Where Am I Going?” and
closed the set with the Streisand favorite “Starting Here, Starting Now.”
Disc Three is considered “the
lost Streisand special” titled The Belle Of 14th Street.
Released in 1967, this special has not been seen since. Streisand, unhappy
with the end product (what else is new?) had this TV special collecting dust
for the past 38 years. How fortunate that she had the sense to finally let
everybody in on the act! It’s hardly a dud. 
Disc Four is Barbra’s famous
open-air free concert that she gave on June 17, 1967, famously titled
A Happening In Central Park in front of a crowd estimated at 150,000
of the luckiest people in the world! This would be Streisand’s last solo
concert for twenty-seven years until she faced her stage fright, her fears,
and the music again in her famous 1993-94 The Concert that finally ended her
fans’ frustrations. The stage fright came from death threats she was
receiving at the time. She was in the midst of making her first film, Funny
Girl, and the threats were very real. The concert took place during the
famous Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, and her
famous co-star was Omar Sharif. The film was ultimately banned in Egypt.
From the look of Miss Streisand and the sound of her spectacular vocals, one
would’ve never known the anxiety she experienced through her two and a half
hour concert. The footage is extraordinary, and Streisand, at 25 years old,
was in tip-top form. My only qualm is that the DVD doesn’t include the
entire two and a half hour concert, but sixty minutes of its highlights.
Included in the 16-song set is “The Nearness Of You,” “Cry Me A River,” “I
Can See It,” “Love Is A Bore,” “He Touched Me,” and a spectacular version of
“Silent Night (Sleep In Heavenly Peace)” that only Streisand could pull off
in the middle of June. The DVD viewers will be left as awestruck as the
people who actually sat in on this concert and witnessed history in the
making. There’s only one thing better than this DVD, and that would be to
have actually been there.
By 1973, Streisand was so
embroiled in Hollywood, having already made eight films, winning an Academy
Award and a special Tony in 1970 to round out the highest rewards one could
receive from their peers, she went back to close out her five TV special
contract with Barbra Streisand…And Other Musical Instruments.
What we get here is a savvy and sophisticated Streisand singing some of the
most gorgeous songs of her vast catalogue. They include, “Sing/Make Your Own
Kind Of Music,” a medley of “I Got Rhythm,” “Johnny One Note,” “One Note
Samba,” Glad To Be Unhappy,” the ever-present “People,” “Second Hand Rose,”
and “Don’t Rain On My Parade.” One of the most superb moments comes when she
duets with “The Genius” Ray Charles on his staple “Crying Time,” followed by
her rocking rendition of “Sweet Inspiration/Where You Lead.” The two
highlights that close are her incomparable and heart-wrenching rendition of
“I Never Has Seen Snow” and “The Sweetest Sounds.”