Last night we enjoyed a Tribute to Barbra Streisand at the Arizona Broadway Theatre, as performed by Sharon Owens with an 8-piece backup band. She may not have been the real Barbra but she certainly looked, spoke, acted, and sang like her. Barbra Streisand has always been my favorite female singer, ever since I first saw her on the Judy Garland show and later in the many television specials she did in the 1960's. No one can duplicate her special vocal quality although a good many have tried . . . and failed. She's always had perfect pitch and impeccable phrasing. Maybe not when she was in her teens, but it didn't take her long to climb to perfection. Even now, in her seventies (she'll be 73 in April),when she gives a rare vocal presentation or puts out a new cd, she's better than any other female in the business. Sharon Owens managed to capture most of Barbra. She came onstage in a floor-length black and white gown to introduce herself and the members of her band--same hair style, same occasional Brooklyn accent, same hand gestures (the constant fiddling with her hair and the signature arm moves to the audience and the band), same nose. And nearly the same voice, close enough that we were thankful we got to see and hear the pseudo-Barbra for the price of one ABT ticket and not the $5,000 tag for one of the real Barbra's concerts. Sharon (Barbra) sang for forty-five minutes, then a 20-minute intermission, then a final forty-five minutes. The 250 to 300 of us in attendance gave her a standing ovation at her closing wave goodbye. This was right after we had all joined her in singing her final "Happy Days Are Here Again." It was a wonderful experience. Vocal highlights: "Hello, Dolly," West Side Story's "Somewhere," Yentl's "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" "The Way We Were," "Evergreen," "Don't Rain on My Parade," a throat-clenching "Send in the Clowns," and a duet with her pianist/musical director on the Neil Diamond "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." There were other songs but I can't remember all of them. To see a bit of what we saw, and hear some of what we heard, give a look and listen to this YouTube presentation of Sharon Owens as Barbra.
I've always collected errors in diction, things people mis-hear, like "windshield factor" and "the next store neighbors." Years ago, one of my students wrote an essay in which she described the world as being harsh and cruel, "a doggy-dog world." I've since come to think she may have been more astute and accurate than those who describe it in the usual way. My Stories - Mobridge Memories -
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Most of what I've written has been published as e-books and is available at Amazon. Match Play is a golf/suspense novel. Dust of Autumn is a bloody one set in upstate New York. Prairie View is set in South Dakota, with a final scene atop Rattlesnake Butte. Life in the Arbor is a children's book about Rollie Rabbit and his friends (on about a fourth grade level). The Black Widow involves an elaborate extortion scheme. Happy Valley is set in a retirement community. Doggy-Dog World is my memoir. And ES3 is a description of my method for examining English sentence structure.
In case anyone is interested in any of my past posts, an archive list can be found at the bottom of this page. I'd appreciate any feedback you may have by sending me an e-mail note--jertrav33@aol.com. Thanks for your interest.
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