Streisand recalled in 1991: “The forecast was rain. In addition to standard rain insurance, we tried to get mud insurance in case the rains left the park too much of a swamp for an audience. But Lloyd's of London couldn't agree on a precise definition of mud. While the rains never came, the weather was so humid that the stringed instruments wouldn't stay in tune.”
Because of the lingering light in the night skies, the concert began late, around 9:45 p.m. Before Streisand took the stage, New York Parks Commissioner August Heckscher told the audience that they were the largest ever gathered for a concert in the park. “I declare this park Miss Streisand’s,” he said — and the audience shouted back “Streisand Park!”
Heckscher estimated that evening that there were 128,000 people in the audience, and Streisand repeated that number during the concert. In reality, there were 135,000 people in attendance! The orderly crowd was overseen by 150 New York policemen, included 20 on horses.
Conductor Mort Lindsey, wearing a set of earphones, received his prompt to begin. Baton in hand, he cued the orchestra to begin the overture.
Barbra walked down the Plexiglass stage and spread her arms wide to accept the applause of 135,000 fans. Her first song: “Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home.” (Barbra ad libbed to the audience, ”This is home?”)
An area for Barbra's friends and family was located to the right of the stage. Seated there were husband Elliott Gould, sister Rosyln Kind, Bella Abzug, Mayor Lindsay, Calvin Klein, and Andy Warhol.
“I turned off all the tally lights on the cameras [the red lights that illuminated when the camera was on, recording the show],” Robert Scheerer told the Directors Guild of America, “so she wouldn't know where I was. And at one point—it happened to be an edited portion—she pointed and she said, ‘Why aren't I seeing ... The director said no lights’, and then went on. I didn't want her to know where I was shooting. I wanted to be able to cut where I wanted to cut, and not have her feeling that she had to look a certain way. It was too restrictive.”
After editing the television special, Robert Scheerer recalled, “I screened it for Barbra, and she asked for one change, one shot ... It was one shot of a Spanish lady that I didn't use, only because it was a soft focus. She loved that shot for some reason, so I said ‘Of course.’ That's the one change that I made for Barbra.”
The actual, live concert of A Happening in Central Park lasted 2-1/2 hours. Barbra sang some 28 songs—many were edited from the final, hour-long television special.
