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Barbra Streisand TV Special DVD Set Now Available for Pre-Order

By: Oct. 18, 2005
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Fans of the singer can now pre-order the 5-DVD "Barbra Streisand: The Television Specials" set.  In the DVDs, Streisand-lovers will be be able to see some of the iconic star's early TV appearances when a number of her TV specials from the '60s and '70s are released in the collected DVD package on November 22nd.

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"My Name is Barbra," "Color Me Barbra," "A Happening in Central Park," "Belle of Fourteenth Street," and "Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments" will all find their way to disc (released by Warner Strategic Marketing). In addition, a number of the specials will be broadcast on PBS stations, with Thirteen/WNET set to air them on "Great Performances" in December.  The DVDs will make many Streisand performances that have not been seen since their original broadcasts available to the public.  

Streisand shot 1965's "My Name is Barbra" in a small studio down the street from the Winter Garden Theatre, where she was starring in Funny Girl; the special included a medley of her hit songs, such as "People," "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "My Man." "My Name is Barbra" won five Emmy Awards and the prestigious Peabody Award for Distinguished Achievement in Television.  "Color Me Barbra," which followed the next year, featured the star in such guises Marie Antoinette and Nefertiti in a sequence shot in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The special, which was shot in color, also included Streisand performing skits and songs. 

In "A Happening in Central Park," Streisand performed in front of over 130,000 people. The 1967 concert was broadcast in 1968 in the same week that the film version of Funny Girl premiered. Also from 1967 and directed by Joe Layton (who co-directed "My Name is Barbra"), "The Belle of 14th Street," utilizes a vaudeville theatre setting to showcase the star singing such classic numbers as "I Don't Care" and "Nobody But Me," as well as "Liebstrom;" she also performs as The Tempest's Miranda opposite guest star Jason Robards Jr.

In 1973's "Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments," the star breezes through a range of standards, gospel and songs from her films; she appears as a Saks Fifth Avenue clothes horse wearing the costumes of a Spanish Flameco dancer and a belly dancer in one sequence. She also duetted with Ray Charles on "Crying Time."  "..And Other Musical Instruments" also shows Streisand together "with over 150 musicians playing everything from the traditional violins, cellos, flutes, and oboes..to the more exotic kabuki woodblock, sitar, Chippewa tom-tom, sewing machine...saw...orange juice squeezer, and washing machine!," according to press notes.

Streisand has been a theatre, film and music legend for over four decades. She received Tony nominations for her Broadway debut I Can Get It For You Wholesale and for her star-making turn as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (she would receive a Star of the Decade, Hall of Fame Tony in 1970). Streisand would go on to recreate the role on film for a 1969 Oscar (she tied with Katharine Hepburn that year). She was also nominated for her performance in The Way We Were, and for her direction of The Prince of Tides. She received another Oscar for co-writing "Evergreen" for A Star is Born and was similarly nominated for "I Finally Found Someone" from The Mirror Has Two Faces. Other film credits include Hello, Dolly!, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, What's Up, Doc?, Funny Lady, Nuts and Yentl. She is also accomplished as a film producer, and did so for several of her movies.

The winner of multiple Grammy Awards, Streisand has sold many millions of records, with 49 of them gold, 30 platinum and 18 multi-platinum, according to her website. She is also the only artist to have Billboard #1 albums spanning four decades--the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. Her many albums include Guilty, Duets, Higher Ground, Memories, Lazy Afternoon and The Broadway Album. In addition to her Tony, Oscars and Grammys, Streisand has won five Emmys, eight Golden Globes, two ASCAP Film and Television Awards, as well as the American Film Institute Award.

To pre-order the DVD set, visit Amazon at this link (for American and worldwide orders) or this link (for British orders).

For more information on the upcoming DVDs, visit www.barbratvshows.com. For more on Streisand, visit www.barbrastreisand.com or www.barbranews.com.


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