'How Lucky Can You Get?' 4 of Broadway's Best to Tour Europe with Streisand
 Peter Lockyer
You Might Know Him From... Cyrano the Musical, The Phantom of the Opera, La Boheme, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, TV's Gypsy with Bette Midler and more...
 Peter's First Thought After Getting the News About Touring With Barbra Streisand? I had a few thoughts because I'm currently finishing up school
so the very first thought was – "Can I do it? What are the dates?" Second was "Oh
my God, Barbra Streisand!" It was surreal because a legend like that…it's just
surreal. Barbra Streisand – is it for real? Just thinking about the chance to
work with a legend and to be able to watch, and learn from them, never
mind sing with them – Oh my gosh!
Who He Told First... My wife, of course. |
 Sean McDermott
You Might Know Him From... Miss Saigon, Falsettos, Starlight Express, Grease, West Side Story, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Carousel and Showboat and TV's Guiding Light, Charmed and Freddie.
 Sean's First Thought After Getting the News About Touring With Barbra Streisand? The very first thing that came to mind is that I'd be working
for the summer! Just kidding! I felt extreme excitement to work with her,
because she's been a huge part of my singing background. We had been told that
there was a possibility of it for a couple of months prior, so when I got the
call that it was definitely happening, I felt relief and general adulation. I
was also thrilled because I've always been a big fan of hers…
Who He Told First... I told my mother who's coming to see us!
 Hugh Panaro
You Might Know Him From... Lestat, Buddy in Sideshow, Julian Craster in The Red Shoes, Martin Guerre, Marius in Les Miserables, Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat, Raoul and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and numerous galas and benefits.
 Hugh's First Thought After Getting the News About Touring With Barbra Streisand? Whether or not it was really going to happen... I think I've gotten very
protective of disappointment, so anytime, for example, that I get a Broadway
show, I kind of keep myself very calm and prepare myself for worst case
scenarios - like it's not going to happen, so that I don't get disappointed. The
first night after I calmed myself down, I had a dream that I was at Barbra
Streisand's house, making her a margarita, 'cause I'm a really good bartender. We
were sitting on her floor drinking them, and I spilled my drink and thought
that she was going to kill me because I stained her carpet. Well, of course, she didn't,
and was actually really nice about it, so it was a dream with a happy ending.
Who He Told First... Aside from my family, who I tell everything to, the first person
that I think I told is a friend in Nashville. Her name is Diana, and she's a
life coach, and also one of my best friends. She's an amazing mom with a beautiful family - 2
little girls – and her reaction, which is why I love her, and the first words out of her mouth were, "Great, can I come?
I'll carry your luggage..."
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It's hard to believe that Streisand has never toured Europe during her remarkable career. However, even in the United States, she has played very few concert dates, with large chunks of time taken by films that she has directed, such as Yentl and The Prince of Tides.
As a matter of fact, outside of the United States, she has only made appearances in London and two cities in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne. She also played Montreal and Toronto during the 2006 U.S. Tour.
Today's press release also stated that, in addition to the cities that were announced for Europe, additional cities would be announced shortly, as they are still in negotiations.
The other great news for the Broadway community is that, once again, her orchestra of 58, conducted by Bill Ross, would be comprised of some of the best musicians from the Broadway pits of musicals all around town, along with a few of her favorite sidemen from L.A.
The concert will again be co-directed by Ms. Streisand and Richard Jay-Alexander and I hope to catch up with all of them to see what more they can tell us during rehearsals and before they leave the United States for their European adventure.
For more information on Barbra Streisand and the tour, visit www.barbrastreisand.com
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 Robert Diamond founded BroadwayWorld.com in 2003, which has now become the largest theatre web site in the world. He also serves as the site's Editor-in-Chief, covering Broadway and beyond, with specific local coverage for 100 cities in the United States, 30 countries worldwide and 15 other related areas of entertainment - including dance, opera, fashion, concerts, comedy, films, television and more.The 2001 Syracuse University graduate (School of Information Studies) is also the owner of Wisdom Digital Media, an award-winning leading design company for entertainment and technology web sites. In his previous life, he held an executive position for the world's leading publisher of technology magazines, web sites and conferences and, as a result, was named among the "Top thirty magazine industry executives under the age of 30" by FOLIO Magazine. Diamond got his start in the entertainment field, accidentally, when he created the 'official web site' (while in college) for Michael Crawford, the popular actor and original Tony and Olivier Award-winning star of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. (He still blames Crawford - and credits him - for anything that goes particularly right or wrong during an average day.) As a respected member of the Broadway and theatre community, Diamond also served as Lead Producer for a series of sold-out shows using the BroadwayWorld.com 'brand' for a set of 'Standing Ovations' concerts, which also branched out into titles that included Holiday Shows and even more specific concerts like 'From Stage to Screen and Back Again' in tandem with publishers and movie studios. All proceeds were in turn donated to Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, the industry's leader in aid for performers in need. Robert lives in Manhattan with his wife and two dogs, growing the business and getting little sleep. In addition, you can usually find him in a theatre many nights a week. Robert's very popular blog, 'The Broadway Pulse' appears daily on BroadwayWorld.com and he also writes weekly about theatre for the USA Network's Character Approved blog. In December of last year, Diamond was one of 5 Syracuse University Alumni, all having achieved success in the world of start-ups, business growth and venture capital, participating on a panel addressing young alumni who are currently pursuing their dreams of running their own business and experiencing the day to day challenges of a startup. It is part of the university's new Student Accelerator Program, for which Rob was recommended by Syracuse University's i-School.
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