An hour with Barbra
In this lame duck session between our Spotify overlords releasing 2022 Wrapped and then hitting the reset button on our listening surveillance once again, I simply had to find an outlet to lift up the album that’s been in my ears for these last two months of the year.
My first exposure to Barbra Streisand was seeing her in Hello, Dolly. Her absolute command of that character left an indelible impression on me. What was the culture that made me say culture was for me? Well, it was Barbra as Dolly. And soon after, Barbra as Fanny. The power, the range, the character, the humor and emotion she has conveyed through that voice and presence! It’s always stayed with me.
This November, Live At the Bon Soir was released after sixty years in a vault somewhere… Originally recorded as her debut for Columbia Records, it was ultimately shelved in favor of studio recording versions of the same collection of songs. Selections of these recordings from the first week of November 1962 have been released here and there, but never has this show been available to listen to in its entirety. But here it is for us to enjoy, sixty years later.
If you find yourself with an hour in the car, or cleaning the house, or even taking down the tree and you can’t listen to another second of Christmas music, please consider spending that time with a 20-year-old Barbra, in a smoky room in the Village in 1962.
It’s as close to a version of time travel as we’ll ever get. To hear her oscillate between humility and bravado, deep emotion and precise comedic timing, moments where she’s hamming it up with the audience and moments where she is utterly, singularly lost in her own world under that spotlight, you can hear her become a star almost in real time. It made me feel some things! But most of all gratitude. So thank you, Barbra, for sharing your gift with us all these years.