Barbra Streisand Takes IT'S ONLY A PLAY Zinger In Stride

Audience member Barbra Streisand proved to be a good sport when an on-stage zinger about her was spoken at Thursday night's performance of Terrence McNally's IT'S ONLY A PLAY.

According to The New York Post's Page Six, the line appeared during a scene in which a character turns on the television to hear a NY1 anchor report: "Two-time Oscar winner Barbra Streisand was found..." Although the TV is switched off before the newsman is able to complete his sentence, the snippet is enough to send Nathan Lane's character into a frenzy, yelling "Something's happened to Barbra!"

Sources at the performance tell the site that audience members, who were well aware that Ms. Streisand was present, along with husband James Brolin, "were relieved to see the diva take it in stride." While the mega-star assumed the joke was added during the performance for her benefit, Lane later revealed that the line is actually part of the script. Page Six also reports that a "raunchier" joke involving the songstress' son Jason Gould, was recently cut from the script. The quip took aim at a Broadway version of 'Yentl', starring Gould, and said something along the lines of: "Yentl's got a d?-?-?k .?.?. [Streisand's] going to hate it."

The star-studded Broadway production of the backstage comedy It's Only A Play, by 4-time Tony® Award winner Terrence McNally, now in previews at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street) will open on Thursday, October 9, 2014. For more information on It's Only A Play, please visitwww.ItsOnlyAPlay.com.

Academy Award® winner F. Murray Abraham, Tony® Award winner Matthew Broderick, Emmy® and Tony® Award winner Stockard Channing, international film sensation Rupert Grint, Tony® Award winner Nathan Lane, Emmy® Award winner Megan Mullally, and newcomer Micah Stock star in It's Only a Play. 3-time Tony® Award winner Jack O'Brien directs.

In It's Only A Play, it's opening night of Peter Austin's (Matthew Broderick) new play as he anxiously awaits to see if his show is a hit. With his career on the line, he shares his big First Night with his best friend, a television star (Nathan Lane), his fledgling producer (Megan Mullally), his erratic leading lady (Stockard Channing), his wunderkind director (Rupert Grint), an infamous drama critic (F. Murray Abraham), and a fresh-off-the-bus coat check attendant (Micah Stock) on his first night in Manhattan. It's alternately raucous, ridiculous and tender - and proves that sometimes the biggest laughs happen offstage.

The design team for It's Only A Play includes scenic design by Tony® winner Scott Pask, costume design by Academy Award® and Tony® winnerAnn Roth, lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, and sound design by Fitz Patton.

Mr. McNally-a four-time Tony® Award winning playwright-recently celebrated the premiere of his 20th Broadway production, Mothers and Sons, which marks his 50th year on Broadway. Mothers and Sons, which was nominated for Best Play at the 2014 Tony® Awards, recently ended its celebrated Broadway run June 22, 2014 at the Golden Theatre and will be seen in more than twenty countries next year.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos