Barbra Streisand celebrates her birthday on April 24th and her highly-anticipated new DVD comes out May 4th. To help celebrate the new release, BroadwayWorld.com is proud to present an online exclusive 3500 word piece written by Richard Jay-Alexander, who has worked with Streisand since 2000. This specially written piece is from the upcoming issue of All About Barbra Magazine, which will also feature many other articles, including another 'exclusive' written by Barbra’s A&R guy, Jay Landers, who accompanied her on the day of and writes about the recording session of 'We Are the World 25'. Click here for more information on the magazine and how to order the upcoming current issue.
Richard Jay-Alexander will return to QVC on April 24th (Barbra's Birthday) between 10am and 12 noon, once again appearing with the popular hosts, Shawn Killinger and Dan Wheeler. This will be his second time visiting QVC, the first having been to tell everyone about Barbra's (now since #1) new album, Love is the Answer.
The new DVD - One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at the Village Vanguard - September 26, 2009 is available for pre-order now on Blu-Ray, DVD and as a special CD/DVD Combo. The DVD also contains an extra 'featurette' which consists of an interview with Lorraine Gordon, owner the Village Vanguard. We've already screened it here at BroadwayWorld.com - and can tell you that the whole thing is pretty spectacular (and will be extensively reviewed in an upcoming SOUND OFF feature).
EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE FROM ALL ABOUT BARBRA MAGAZINE
(SPECIAL THANKS TO EDITORS LYNNE POUNDER AND STEVE BAXTER)
DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN LAST NIGHT?
An attempt to describe Barbra Streisand's "homecoming" to Greenwich Village
September 26, 2009
By Richard Jay-Alexander
As I sat there amongst the 123 persons packed into the subterranean, legendary Village Vanguard, in the heart of Greenwich Village, I couldn't help but think to myself, "What could these people possibly be thinking right now?" Not 30 seconds later, Barbra finished singing the Jacques Brel song IF YOU GO AWAY (NE ME QUITTE PAS). There was a dramatic stunned silence ... and then ... a full and spontaneous standing ovation. I pretty much had my answer.
Photo taken at rehearsal the afternoon of the event
I've known Ms. Streisand for quite some time now and seen her perform live many times, but never witnessed anything quite like this. Needless to say, I was one of those people -standing, applauding, and yelling some sort of exclamatory remark, admittedly overwhelmed and moved to tears, myself. I knew I was living and watching history. Another event that would be added to an already extraordinary list of accomplishments in a unique career that could never again be repeated in this or any other lifetime.
There is simply no one like Barbra Streisand ... NO ONE! And this night, a sort of "homecoming" if you will, proved it yet again. A girl from Brooklyn, whose talent was unstoppable and gave the world no choice, but to fall in love with her as they were seduced by a fresh young actress with a unique singing voice in FUNNY GIRL, a Broadway Musical which became a legendary musical motion picture and winning the young Streisand an Academy Award.
But let's go back a little. Everyone has asked over and over, "What was it like, being at The Vanguard on that night?" So ... I'm gonna try to take you there. Most of you, no doubt, saw much of the coverage and could probably imagine (sort of) what the atmosphere was like. But the excitement and build-up to Barbra Streisand's arrival in New York and into the little downtown club was simply wild! Every newspaper, radio station, television stations, entertainment shows, articles and postings on the internet from publications, bloggers and fans, from across the globe were rabid for information or "leaks." You just couldn't go anywhere, without seeing or hearing that "Barbra was coming home." And that was (sort of) true. She wasn't coming home to her native Brooklyn, but to the very neighborhood in which she first began pursuing an acting career and entered the singing contest that would set the stage for everything that what was to happen for her. A sort of "Cinderella story."
