Barbra Streisand played the Staples Center in Los Angeles last night, beginning her BARBRA: THE MUSIC...THE MEM'RIES...THE MAGIC! tour. The only recording artist to achieve #1 albums in each of six decades, Streisand began the first half of her show performing one of her hits from each of the six decades. BroadwayWorld has photos from the concert below!
Streisand was joined by duet partners throughout the show, including Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds for "Evergreen," a song that they performed together on Streisand's most recent album release, "Partners," which went platinum. She was later joined by Seth MacFarlane and Jamie Foxx for "Pure Imagination" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," respectively. Streisand performs the songs with the two men on her upcoming album, "ENCORE: Movie Partners Sing Broadway," set for release August 26th.
CLICK HERE for highlights from the show!
Streisand follows her LA concert with stops throughout August in San Jose, Las Vegas, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Toronto. The concerts were co-directed by Streisand and Richard Jay-Alexander.
With the longest span of number one albums in history, Streisand has recorded 52 gold, 31 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums in her career. She is the only woman to make the All-Time Top 10 Best Selling Artists list, an honor which includes fellow duet partners Elvis Presley and Billy Joel.
With her live performances being so rare and special, the excitement surrounding a Streisand tour is unequaled. Following a 27-year hiatus from live concerts, Streisand's 1994 world tour garnered a record-setting 5 million phone requests to Ticketmaster and sold out within the first hour. Her shows in fall 2006 broke house records in 14 of the 16 venues in which she played (in the other two arenas, Streisand already held the buildings' records).
Streisand's last tour in 2012, BACK TO BROOKLYN, highlighted an emotional return to performing in concert in her home borough for the first time since she was in grade school. Following a North American run, the tour broke records throughout Europe, and culminated in two spine-tingling performances in Israel.
Widely recognized as an icon in multiple entertainment fields, Streisand has attained unprecedented achievements as a recording artist, actor, concert performer, producer, director, author and songwriter. Streisand has been awarded two Oscars, five Emmys, ten Golden Globes, eight Grammys plus two special Grammys, a special Tony award in 1970, and two CableACE Awards - the only artist to receive honors in all of those fields of endeavor. Streisand received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama this past November. Her many other honors include the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Medal, three Peabody Awards and the French Légion d'Honneur. She is also the first female film director to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.
Streisand is a devoted philanthropist who works tirelessly to fight for what she believes in. A woman of action, Streisand founded The Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai, helping to raise awareness and push research into women's heart disease, the leading cause of death among women.
