Review Roundup & Set List for Night One of Barbra Streisand's Summer Tour

Barbra Streisand, who last year became the only recording artist or group to achieve #1 albums in each of six decades, is bringing her legendary live performances to 9 cities, beginning last night at L.A.'s Staples Center.

Streisand will perform her hits from each decade plus songs from her new album, "ENCORE: Movie Partners Sing Broadway," celebrating a career of unparalleled creative achievement. Other stops on the tour include Las Vegas, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Toronto. The concerts were co-directed by Streisand and Richard Jay-Alexander.

Let's see what the critics have to say:

Chris Willman, Billboard: If you heard the slightest hint of a rasp in those 74-year-old cords -- and the slightest hint was all you could strain to hear -- it counted as character in a set of pipes that can still, against all odds, climb ev'ry mountain.

Eve Barlow, The Telegraph: "Across the night, Streisand's songs seemed to encapsulate the entirety of human experience. The huskiness that's enveloped her voice over the years just enriched the complexity of her story-telling, stories told through melody and floor-to-ceiling notes. This was more than just singing."

Mikael Wood, L.A. Times: "But songs like "Being Alive" and "Children Will Listen" showed how powerful her singing remains, how capable she is of getting inside a tune and feeling its emotional extremes. For "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," Streisand was joined by a surprisingly big-voiced Jamie Foxx, who appears on "Encore," and the competition seemed to drive her even further. "

EW: "Barbra Streisand brought her A Game (does she have any other?) when she kicked off a six-city tour at a star-studded, sold-out show at Los Angeles' Staples Center Tuesday night. The EGOT queen packed the stage with glam: celeb duet partners-from her new albumEncore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, out Aug. 26-vintage photos, snappy anecdotes, and Trump needling. Noticeably absent? Cell phones. Usually at a show, the audience is a sea of lights, but besides a few occasional flashes, the crowd sat at rapt attention throughout."

The Mercury News' Jim Harrington had this to say about Streisand's second concert held last night at San Jose's SAP Center: There were moments when it was nearly impossible not to be awestruck by what we were witnessing onstage at the SAP Center on Thursday. There would be a note so luxurious, a smile so radiant or a song so rich with nostalgia, leading the capacity crowd to fully realize we weren't just witnessing a performance by some ordinary pop singer. Instead, we were hearing one of the greatest vocalists of all time

BWW will bring you additional reviews as they become available.

Watch highlights from last night's show below

The set list from last night's show follows:

Act I
The Way We Were
Everything
Being at War With Each Other
Everything Must Change
Stoney End
Woman in Love
No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
Evergreen
You Don't Bring Me Flowers
Being Alive
Papa, Can You Hear Me?

Act II
Pure Imagination
Who Can I Turn To?
Losing My Mind
Climb Every Mountain
Isn't This Better
How Lucky Can You Get
With One More Look at You
Children Will Listen
Don't Rain on My Parade
People
Happy Days Are Here Again

Barbra Streisand's upcoming album ENCORE: Movie Partners Sing Broadway will feature international movie stars Hugh Jackman, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Antonio Banderas, Seth McFarlane and more and will be available August 26.

Following the release of her 2014 record-breaking "Partners," "ENCORE: Movie Partners Sing Broadway" is Streisand's third and long-awaited Broadway album. Streisand released "The Broadway Album" and "Back to Broadway" in 1985 and 1993, respectfully, both of which went multi-platinum.

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