Barbra Streisand Holds 200 Fans in Thrall at Intimate Grammy Museum Event

Two hundred lucky people (who need people) filled the Clive Davis Theater at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday night for a Q&A with the legendary Barbra Streisand. The conversation was conducted by Bob Santelli, the museum’s Executive Director. The museum has hosted Q&As with major artists (Paul Simon, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Annie Lennox) in the past, but Streisand is in a class of her own.

Tickets for the event ranged from $100 to $250. The proceeds benefited the museum’s education programs. The conversation was wide-ranging, but focused initially on Streisand’s latest album, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, which is nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

It’s Streisand’s third album devoted exclusively to Broadway songs. All three reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nomination. The first, The Broadway Album, won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female 30 years ago. Incredibly, Streisand hasn’t won a Grammy since then. A desire to boost the album’s chances may be one reason Streisand submitted to this Q&A. The balloting for the 59th annual Grammy Awards is still underway. Ballots are due Jan. 13. The awards will be presented on Feb. 12.

The new album consists entirely of duets, as did Streisand’s previous album, 2014’s Partners. But this time, her duet partners are all actors, including Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Antonio Banderas, and Melissa McCarthy.

“I love directing actors,” Streisand said. “So I thought why not do an album of Broadway songs, but with movie actors this time. They come from a world where you think about interpretation.”

The credits for Encore begin: “Conceived and Directed by Barbra Streisand. Produced by Walter Afanasieff and Barbra Streisand.” Santelli asked Streisand to explain the distinction. “The producing part is just figuring out what song to sing and who should arrange and orchestrate it. Directing is very specific, like making a movie. Let’s take Patrick Wilson [with whom she sang “Loving You” from Stephen Sondheim’s Passion], he understands what it is to work with a director. So I could talk to him about character. At a certain point, ‘Forget about tones. What does he really feel?'”

Santelli offered that if he were an actor and was asked to sing with Streisand, he would be “intensely intimidated.”

“They all were in a way,” Streisand said. “Melissa said ‘I can’t sing.’ I said ‘It doesn’t matter.'” The two teamed for Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do” (from Annie Get Your Gun), a lighthearted patter song with lyrics customized to suit their personalities.

Streisand did something on this album that she hadn’t explored on her previous two Broadway collections. “When I did the first two, I didn’t have dialogue. I thought ‘Why not make it more theatrical, and have both dialogue and music?'”

Streisand said that she has faced roadblocks throughout her career, which has forced her to change course. She never set out to be a singer, but only started singing because she couldn’t get work as an actress and found the audition process humiliating. “Singing was the vehicle to get me to the movies,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a singer.”

Now, she is writing her memoir, not because she wanted to write a book, but because she was unable to get financing to realize her dream of mounting another film version of Gypsy. (She earlier was unable to get funding to make a film version of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, a failure she called “heartbreaking.”)

“It’s frustrating to make movies nowadays,” she said. “I can’t control it.”

About the experience of writing the book, Streisand said, “It’s hard to revisit yourself. I’ve been there, done that…I’m the kind of person who, once I’ve done it, I move on.”

She is drawing on at least 20 journals that she has kept going back 25 to 30 years.
Streisand hadn’t sung in two years before she began the sessions for the current album. “One should do vocal exercises, but I’m lazy,” she said.

She said she is most comfortable and assured in the recording studio. “Once I put headphones on, something happens. Don’t even ask me to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ (outside of the studio). It’s not going to sound very good.”

Streisand said that, in her formative years, she listened to Johnny Mathis, Billie Holiday and Maria Callas. Santelli asked her about the contemporary music of the 1960s, such as the Beatles. “I didn’t get them until much later,” Streisand said. “I was listening to Johnny Mathis. I like lyrics and melodies. They had both, which I realized later on.”

Streisand made a personal observation about the power of music. “My mother had Alzheimer’s Disease. She didn’t know who I was, but she remembered melodies. That’s powerful.”

Santelli asked how she evaluates her voice these days. “I hear a raspier sound at times,” Streisand acknowledged. But she also said she was pleased that “on this last tour, I was able to hit the notes and sing in the same key.”

Streisand didn’t perform in concert for 27 years, after she forgot the lyrics to two songs while performing in front of 150,000 fans in Central Park in 1967. “That made a huge imprint on me,” she said. She overcame that fear and has toured several times since 1993. “I have a different attitude now,” she said. “Gratitude is my attitude — gratitude that I can still sing and still perform.”

Santelli asked if she has come to enjoy performing in concert. “I wouldn’t say I enjoy it. I challenged myself to get over my fear. I really only like to sing in the recording studio.”

Streisand said that she has always been fascinated by gender discrimination. She noted that when she directed her first film, 1983’s Yentl, she encountered resistance to women in a position of control.

“It’s a factor in why Hillary wasn’t elected,” said Streisand. “There are still a lot of people — not only men, but women too — who just can’t see a woman in charge.” She noted that in her concerts after the election, “I had to apologize to those little girls [and tell them] to not give up their dreams. It would have changed a lot of lives [if she had won]. Now we have to wait.”

Santelli noted that Streisand is a fascinating combination of confidence and self-doubt. “Human beings are complicated,” she said. “You’re always afraid that you’re not good enough. But you also want to do it. People ask ‘How do you hold the note so long?’ ‘Because I want to.’ I believe in the power of the will.”

Streisand admitted that she was even a little nervous about coming to this event. “What if I’m not articulate enough?

“But that ying-yang of insecurity and confidence; fear and strength, they work together.”

Streisand has a good chance of winning the Grammy. Two of her usual main rivals — Tony Bennett (who has won 13 times in the category) and Michael Buble (who has won four times in the category) — didn’t release new albums in the eligibility year. Her competition consists of Andrea Bocelli’s Cinema, Bob Dylan’s Fallen Angels, Josh Groban’s Stages Live, and Willie Nelson’s Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin.

Santelli didn’t ask her about the Grammy race specifically — or about her long Grammy shut-out — but the fact that Streisand did this suggests she’d really like to win.