Barbra Streisand's 'Back to Broadway' Album Almost Featured Madonna and Bette Midler Trio

In 1993, Barbra Streisand released her second Broadway-themed studio album, Back to Broadway. The recording featured numerous renditions of Broadway favorites, including "Some Enchanted Evening," "The Music of the Night," and "As if We Never Said Goodbye." One major track, however, did not make the cut.

According to an interview with Streisand's record producer Jay Landers, one of the planned songs was a collaboration with Madonna on the Annie Get Your Gun staple "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." After David Foster created a demo of the track, the team decided the song would be reimagined as a trio, also featuring Bette Midler.

The end of the record would have featured a comedy bit where, after the song had concluded, Madonna and Midler went into the ladies' room and loudly complained about Streisand. "And then we hear another stall open and [Streisand go] 'Ladies, I'm in here,'" Landers recalled.

In the arrangement, each verse of the song made reference to the performer's respective careers, with Madonna's featuring a disco beat and Midler's a "Wind Beneath My Wings” motif. Ultimately, the song was never recorded due to Madonna backing out at the last minute.  Watch a portion of the interview with Landers below, which originally appeared during an interview with Matt Howe of Barbra Archives in 2023.

Barbra Streisand’s achievements as a singer, actor, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and songwriter, have been rewarded with two Oscars, five Emmys, ten Grammys, including the Legend Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, a Tony Award, eleven Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, three Peabody Awards, and the Directors Guild of America Award for her 1994 TV special, Barbra: The Concert. With Yentl, she became the first woman to direct, produce, write, and star in a major motion picture, and the first woman to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Likewise, she is the first female composer to receive an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born).”

Photo credit: Russell James