Timeless Los Angeles Staples Center 2000

Streisand / LIVE 

“TIMELESS” LOS ANGELES CREDITS:

Produced by: Barbra Streisand and Don Mischer
Executive Producer: Martin Erlichman
Written & Directed by: Barbra Streisand and Kenny Ortega
Staging & Choreography by: Kenny Ortega
Additional Staging Los Angeles & New York: Richard Jay-Alexander
Additional Script Los Angeles & New York: Barbra Streisand and Jay Landers
Musical Director: William Ross
Production Design: David George
Sound Design and Direction: Bruce Jackson
Sound Engineer Los Angeles & New York: Chris Carlton
Lighting Design and Director: Peter Morse
Choir Arranger: Bob Esty
Production Supervisor: Patrick Stansfield
Montage Editors: Tom McQuade, Chuck Workman
Scenic Fabrication: George & Goldberg Design Associates
A&R: 
Produced by: Barbra Streisand
Executive Produced by: Jay Landers
Assistants to Ms. Streisand: Kim Skalecki
Personal Assistant to Ms. Streisand: Renata Buser
Script Supervisor: Marguerite O'Donoghue
Ms. Streisand’s Costumes: Designed by Ms. Streisand
Costumes for Other Members of Cast Designed by: Ingrid Ferrin
Stand-In for Miss Streisand: Kristin Leitch
Logo and Program Design: John Coulter
Computer Graphics: Bruce Schluter
Merchandising: 
Designed by Barbra Streisand
Produced by Signatures Network
Rehearsal Studio: Culver Studios
LOS ANGELES CAST:

Young Girl: Lauren Frost
Piano Player: Alec Ledd
Mother: Randee Heller
Ziegfield Voice: Bert Kramer
Bon Soir Announcer: Charles Valentino
Dancer: Mark Mendonca
Background Singers: Trina Johnson, Jacquey Maltby, All Spotts
Choir: The Loyola Marymount University Choir
Sidney Poitier, John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Streisand backstage in L.A.
Streisand's note to the audience in the Los Angeles and New York concert programs.
There was an official Media Release on July 19, 2000, announcing Streisand's L.A. and NYC shows:

Barbra Streisand, whose "Timeless" concert in Las Vegas last New Year's Eve established the all-time single performance box office record, will do two concerts at Los Angeles's Staples Center (September 20, 21) and two more at New York's Madison Square Garden (September 27, 28) which her management confirms will ring down the curtain on one of the greatest... and rarest... personal appearance performing careers ever.

Martin Erlichman, the artist's career-long manager, stated, "Ms. Streisand has chosen to conclude her public performance career in the two cities most closely associated with her work."

Tickets will be placed on sale via TicketMaster for the Los Angeles concerts Sunday, July 30 and Monday, July 31 for the New York engagement. The singer's December 31, 1999 concert in Las Vegas established TicketMaster's record for highest one-day sales of a single event – entertainment or sports – in the company's 33-year history.

... “We are proud that Barbra Streisand has chosen Staples Center to host what we believe will not only be the most important nights of our arena's young life, but an engagement that will go down as the premiere entertainment event ever,” said Timothy J. Leiweke, President of Staples Center. “Choosing Staples Center for two of her final performances ever honors not only our arena but her fans in Los Angeles who will have the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the greatest performers of our lifetime.”

Mitch Slater, Executive Vice President of SFX, stated, “It is only natural that Barbra Streisand says goodbye to her legions of hometown fans from Madison Square Garden. We are thrilled and honored to have her play the world's most famous arena for her swan song.”

Tickets for what was billed as Barbra's “Last Performances” were priced in four categories: $2,500, $1,275, $375, $150. 
Newspaper ad for Streisand's 4
Cover page of Barbra's Timeless script for her Los Angeles and New York shows.

Marvin Hamlisch, Barbra's arranger-conductor for all previous Timeless performances and 1994's concerts, was committed to other shows and was not available at the Staples Center and Madison Square Garden. "I did the Millennium concerts with her and then Australia, but I won't be doing her last ones," Hamlisch advised Mitchell Fink in the New York Daily News (7/31/00). Hamlisch added, "All good things come to an end. I wish I could be there. It's sad for me." 


Bill Ross conducted Barbra's orchestra in the final four shows. A frequent collaborator with Barbra, Ross orchestrated and conducted many 1990s Streisand album recordings. He also toured with her in 2006-2007 and 2012-2013.


Barbra's manager, Marty Erlichman, provided some background regarding the decision to stage her final public performances in L.A. and New York. “My perception is it's a relief for her the decision has been made,” Erlichman told USA Today's Jeannie Williams. Following her Timeless world premiere performances in Las Vegas to welcome the new Millennium, Barbra seriously considered embarking on a world concert tour, which she would have enjoyed with husband James Brolin. Instead, the couple visited Australia and the Far East, Streisand & company performing Timeless in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Back home in Malibu after these successful shows, she informed her manager, “I really am going to wrap it up now. But I think I should finish in the two cities that I call home.” Indeed, back in January 2000 at the Golden Globe Awards, Barbra had hinted of her possible swan song in L.A. and New York.


“This is the only part of her professional life she has decided to put a stop to,” Erlichman explained. After apparently conquering her fears of live performances in 1994 when she did 26 concerts, some people may be wondering why Barbra wished to conclude this part of her multi-faceted career. “It's a chore for her. She's still nervous,” her manager said. “She still has a thousand frights and fears. She's paid her dues. People who love her say, 'You've done it. There's no purpose in performing if you don't get enjoyment from it.'’ 


Describing Barbra's Timeless for those who hadn't seen the show, Erlichman called it “a biography of her career. ...designed that way in anticipation that this might be the last.” Erlichman suspected Streisand's return to New York City where her singing career began 40 years ago, will be “a lot more emotional, emanating both from the audience and from her on stage.” 


For archival purposes, if not for planned commercial release, the final performance at Madison Square Garden (Sept. 28) may be recorded. Himself a Streisand fan, Erlichman experiences “the same goose bumps I got 40 years ago listening to her.”
Richard Jay-Alexander and Barbra Streisand pose together.

Since the original show's director Kenny Ortega was not available to work on the final four concerts, Barbra's manager Marty Erlichman reached out to Richard Jay-Alexander. Jay-Alexander was a Broadway-based director who had worked with singers like Bernadette Peters on their concerts.  


After he was hired, Richard Jay flew to Los Angeles. “I went and learned as much as I could, and as fast as I could, about the show she had created. I really wanted to be ready. They had done Vegas, to ring in the year, filmed it and went to Australia. I watched and listened to anything I could get my hands on and Marty was great about getting me preparatory materials.”


Although the first act remained mostly the same, RJA was responsible for restructuring the second act.  “Barbra’s original set had been reassembled at Culver Studios and it was huge and impressive … and intimidating,” Jay-Alexander said. “But she had an amazing team of people assembled and everyone helped me learn it.”


Jay-Alexander told BarbraNews.com about more changes made to the show – They hired a new girl backup group, due to the unavailability of the original backup singers.  It was also necessary to engage a new choir, and, since Savion Glover was not available, they cast a new tap dancer. 


Richard Jay-Alexander explained that there were “two Overtures written—the legit version, and also a tap version, which featured Savion Glover originally. We had hired the hottest new classical dancer in New York for Overture ONE and when I got to L..A., it was decided that the TAP Overture was going to stay intact. I panicked and had to find a new tap dancer….fast! I came across Mark Mendonca. He was great, and by sheer luck just happened to live across the street from me in L.A. and had done the tour of Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. Perfect.”
Note About This Page:  Barbra Archives did not exist in the year 2000.  I was also unable to attend any of Barbra's “Timeless” concerts.  Back then, I read all about these shows at The Barbra Streisand Music Guide – Mark Iskowitz's informative and fact-filled website that, unfortunately, is no longer online.  Mark has given me permission to reproduce his text regarding the concerts' content, which I greatly appreciate.  I've made a few edits to make the text more concise.  But most of it is Mark's, supplemented by the fans who contributed information about these concerts to his website. Thank you!

... Matt Howe, January 2020.

Los Angeles, Staples Center: September 20, 2000

The following review first appeared on The Barbra Streisand Music Guide website. The review was credited to Streisand fan Kim Hatherly, exclusive to The BSMG.

The first of four final concert performances in Barbra Streisand's 40-year long music career and the seventh "Timeless" concert this year, kicked off at LA's Staples Center last night. Her voice – powerfully sailing on the belt numbers, golden smooth on ballads – sounded even finer than on this week's release of the Timeless - Live In Concert CD album. Clearly relaxed, enjoying herself enormously, and in the company of a star-studded lineup of friends in the audience, Barbra took control the moment she stepped from behind dancer Mark Mendonca's silver-lined cape for "Something's Coming."

The running order of the first act was closer to her Australian shows than to the Vegas openers. As in Sydney and Melbourne, she omitted "Miss Marmelstein" and "Speak Low," and skipped the introduction to "A Sleepin' Bee," bringing it in line with her earlier recorded versions. Last night, the night club section amazed. "Cry Me A River" was once more an impassioned torch song. "Lover, Come Back to Me" bounced, drove, jazzed brilliantly. The Funny Girl collection proved another highlight, "Don't Rain on My Parade" capping a medley delivered with as much deceptive ease as when the numbers were first sung three decades ago. Barbra's duet with her Yentl character (now a trio with Lauren Frost) brought the cheering Staples Center crowd to its feet, the impact of those three harmonized voices no less powerful for its familiarity.

For those of us who have already committed the "Timeless" format to memory, the second act was a refreshing, delightful departure from Barbra's previous presentations. As if to herald the updated theme, the accent now less on "looking back with fondness" and more on "looking forward with hope," she debuted a new second act outfit, an elegant long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder, shimmering black sheath, the full-length matching sequined skirt split up the left side to mid-thigh. Her Act 1 costume was a copper-colored variation of her Vegas pants suit; her "Cry Me A River" shawl was a close gold color.

The first musical surprise came after a radiant "On a Clear Day," backed by the offstage 105-voice Loyola Marymount University Choir. The stage was washed with a purple glow on which sparkled thousands of diamond lights, replicating a sun shower. "Come Rain or Come Shine" hung on the still air – even Barbra remarked in an aside partway through "This is like a little club." To create such intimacy in this huge auditorium is a mark of the singer's masterful control of her material and her audience. Next came the duets section (again without "Crying Time"). "I Finally Found Someone" and "You Don't Bring me Flowers" both received huge ovations, particularly as Jeff Bridges and Neil Diamond were in the audience. "The Clicker Blues" stayed in, "Simple Pleasures" was out, then straight on to the enormously popular "The Main Event/Fight." No wand flashlights were distributed this time round, but a lone torchbearer down in front bobbed along in disco time!
Streisand wearing copper-colored version of the Las Vegas first act pantsuit.
Barbra's tribute to husband James ("He's down there, center stage front – where did you think he'd be?" she laughed) commenced with "I've Dreamed of You," then turned even more personal with the addition of the gorgeous "Love Like Ours," tenderly delivered and so touching to see and hear. 

"Now here's a song first heard in 1929 in a show called Chasing Rainbows." Someone in the audience began to applaud and Barbra teased, "You know what it is? I'll bet you ten dollars you don't!" It was, of course, "Happy Days Are Here Again." The wistful "Don't Like Goodbyes" led to "I Believe" and "Somewhere" – Lauren Frost joined Barbra for the final bars and up the staircase they stepped, Brother Time enveloping Young Barbara in his cloak, our Barbra taking the last, long, triumphant note alone from midway up. Played off with the "Somewhere" theme, Barbra disappeared. We knew she'd be back for encores – and did she make them worth the wait!

Teasing again, she introduced the first as the ballad she sang every night at the Winter Garden, Fanny's song for Nick – "The Music that Makes Me Dance," reappearing in "Timeless" for the first time since opening night in Sydney. That was the feint with the right – the hook with the left was a stunning segue into "My Man." What a song to sing just before settling down to explain why these are her last live performances!

Barbra assured us her career is not over – there will be more albums, more films, maybe a book – "It feels like it's time to say goodbye to this part of my life...I want more time to live my life." How to explain her feelings at this point in her life? A remarkable slow, achingly beautiful version of "Before The Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly! 

During this final segment song choices were being called out from around the arena. Responding to requests earlier, Barbra had quipped "It's not over till the fat lady sings!" Now, of course, the moment had arrived. "There was always only one song I could leave you with," Barbra admitted, and "Timeless" closed with "People" – it was written for her, she made it her own, and it will never cross into another singer's repertoire. Now, fittingly, it forms the finale of her last live show – the literal high note of an unforgettable night and the capstone on a brilliant career.
Page revision from Streisand's Los Angeles concert.

“At one point during the first of four farewell concerts, Barbra Streisand wondered aloud whether she's making a mistake by retiring from live performing. From an artistic point of view, the answer is a resounding yes. Streisand has never been so in command, so sure of herself as an artist.”

.... Daily Variety review, September 22, 2000

Set List September 20—21, 2000 
Staples Center, California Shows

ACT ONE
  • Overture (tap dancing)
  • You'll Never Know (Lauren Frost)
  • Something's Coming (with Frost)
  • The Way We Were
  • Shirley MacLaine Y1K (comedy dialogue)
  • Cry Me A River
  • Lover, Come Back To Me
  • A Sleepin' Bee
  • I'm The Greatest Star / Second Hand Rose / Don't Rain On My Parade
  • Something Wonderful / Being Alive
  • As Time Goes By
  • Alfie
  • Evergreen
  • Papa, Can You Hear Me? / You'll Never Know (with Frost)
  • A Piece Of Sky (with Frost)

ACT TWO
  • Entr'acte
  • Putting It Together
  • On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) {with choir}
  • Come Rain Or Come Shine
  • Duets:
    • Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy (with Judy Garland)
    • Guilty (with Barry Gibb)
    • I Finally Found Someone (with Bryan Adams)
    • Tell Him (with Celine Dion)
    • You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond)
  • Sing (with Jason Gould)
  • I've Got A Crush On You (with Frank Sinatra)
  • The Clicker Blues
  • The Main Event / Fight
  • I've Dreamed Of You
  • Love Like Ours
  • Happy Days Are Here Again {with choir}
  • Don't Like Goodbyes
  • I Believe / Somewhere (with Frost) {with choir}

ENCORES
  • The Music That Makes Me Dance
  • My Man
  • Before The Parade Passes By
  • People
Streisand and husband James Brolin backstage.
Notes from 9/20 Concert

Barbra's Stage Patter ....
  • "My last shows and I'm still nervous!" exclaimed Barbra during the show's opening moments.
  • During her cast and orchestra thank-yous, Barbra made a special thank you to manager Marty Erlichman for all his "unending support of my career and my dreams." 
  • Referred to herself and husband as a "couple of alter kockers (old people)" when dismissing the gossip about them adopting a baby.
  • Thanked friend Evelyn Ostin for sending an arrangement of 150 roses with a pearl inside each bloom.
  • Barbra turned down her stage mother (Randee Heller)'s offer of a cheese knish from Cantor's in her introduction to "The Clicker Blues."
  • Barbra informed audience that her real mother, Diana Kind, 92, currently receives long-term care in a nursing home.
  • Dedicated "The Music That Makes Me Dance" to late composer Jule Styne.
  • In Act 1 Barbra remarked, "This is going so fast." She said she normally dreads doing 35 songs and after every song would count down 34, 33, 32. However, she said L.A. was a terrific audience, which made things move very quickly.
  • After trying to keep in step with her three female backup singers during "The Main Event" / "Fight," Barbra made an aside to them, "Well, that's out first real rehearsal!"
  • "Do you know what it's like to have to walk around in high heels and sing 35 songs a night, to have to diet to get into these dresses?"
  • Returning for a final curtain call with the screens on each side still projecting and the curtain closing, Barbra yelled, "Thank you and drive home safely!" 

Celebrity Attendees: 

John Travolta (introduced by Barbra) & Kelly Preston, Pierce Brosnan & Keely Shaye Smith, Lucy Liu, Salma Hayek, Jane Krakowski, Leann Rimes & Andrew Keegan, Burt Bacharach (introduced during "Alfie" intro), Neil Diamond (introduced), Orson Bean (introduced prior to "Cry Me A River"), Jeff Bridges, Ray Stark (introduced during "The Music That Makes Me Dance" segment), Sidney Poitier, Sydney Pollack, Kevin Spacey, Sherry Lansing (seated next to James Brolin), Helen Hunt, Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell, Anjelica Huston, David Foster, Noah Wyle, Harry Hamlin, Christine Lahti, Sela Ward, Courtney Cox Arquette, Calista Flockhart, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sally Kellerman, Jackie Collins, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Josh Brolin & Minnie Driver, Bill Mahr, Roseanne, and James Brolin.

David Foster, Barbra's frequent record producer and arranger, told USA Today's Edna Gundersen, "She [Barbra] seems looser." Commenting on Barbra's continuing vocal prowess, Foster marveled, "She's held up, absolutely. She's spectacular. Her inaccessibility, the fact that it's such a rare occurrence to see her, makes her even more fascinating."

Music critic Robert Hilburn, writing in the L.A. Times, enjoyed the show so much that he regrets Barbra "didn't devote more time over the years to live performances. She brings an intelligence and taste to the stage that no one else in mainstream pop music approaches." 

In Variety Joel Hirschhorn glowed in his concert review. "Streisand has never been so in command, so sure of herself as an artist. ...What makes her show memorable is the sense of history it projects."

USA Today's Edna Gundersen praised Barbra's performance. "Streisand held the crowd spellbound during a trend-defying celebration of old-fashioned songcraft and masterful singing. ...Streisand displayed power, control, subtlety and an admirable and rare vocal purity." 
Copper-colored shawl that Streisand wore in Los Angeles.
A photograph taken by an audience member at the Staples Center, 2000. Courtesy Gustavo.

Los Angeles, Staples Center: September 21, 2000

An audience photo of Streisand at the Staples Center.

Barbra's very last appearance in L.A. Thursday night found her before an even warmer audience than the enthusiastic opening night crowd. The introductory bars to every song were greeted by appreciative applause, calls and cheers. Clearly here was a crowd that knew its Streisand history and in response, Barbra was totally in her element, reveling in music she loves to sing and lighting up the stage with her compelling presence.


Before embarking on "A Sleepin' Bee" she noted that she doesn't usually like to do back-to-back appearances so was feeling a little hoarse. Despite that claim, there was little evidence apart from some rather appealing and appropriate catches in her voice in "Cry Me a River" and "Alfie." Indeed, last night, Barbra soared to the high final note in "Something's Coming," exhibited her trademark remarkable breath control on "Something Wonderful," threw herself wholeheartedly into "Being Alive" (with another astonishing final note) and by the second act, produced a rafter-raising "On a Clear Day." She always amazes with the final "ever more" but the last note was held so long that even SHE fluttered her hands in front of her as the note went on forever! "Now I know why singers are supposed to vocalise. The first act was my warm-up!" she grinned.


So at home did Barbra feel, she literally kicked off her shoes when sitting to sing "I've Dreamed of You" and padded about the stage barefoot during "Happy Days are Here Again." ("I hope I don't get a splinter," was her aside). In fact she was only persuaded to return downstage to retrieve her shoes in time for the encores!


Both nights, "The Main Event/Fight" proved a real audience favorite. During last night's version, Barbra quipped "I feel like Cher!" which elicited a huge laugh.


Ad libs were inserted seamlessly in last night's performance. Mentioning that her stockbroker was in the audience, Barbra confided "We had a bad day today. The NASDAQ is down. I'm an addict - yes, I'm a day trader!"


Finally Barbra again thanked her audience for all the support and love over the years. She loves to hear that a song of hers has been used for a wedding or special occasion and to know that she has become a little part of people's lives. "We've grown up together," she observed – the audience warmly applauded in agreement.
Concert ticket to Streisand's September 21, 2000 Staples Center show.
Audience photo of the Staples Center Timeless set.

Notes from 9/21 Concert 


Barbra's Stage Patter:

  • Many fans were shouting out "We love you!" or "Don't stop singing!" and Barbra tried to catch everything. She sometimes paused to ask, "What did you say? I didn't hear that." If it still wasn't clear, she noted, "There's reverb in here, and by the time it gets to me, it's totally different." Just before beginning "Happy Days," Barbra and the audience were exchanging "greetings," one of which was "We're going to miss you!" to which she replied, "That's so sweet of you to say! Don't worry, I will keep making records and movies."
  • After "The Way We Were" Barbra remembered her first visit to the Staples Center to see a Lakers game. Now she's using the Lakers' dressing room. "The thing to dry your hands is 8 feet up!"
  • Introducing Jack Nicholson, Barbra recalled, "He worked with me in On A Clear Day, and he was so stiff, Vincente Minnelli kept telling him to move his legs and arms."
  • Barbra admitted loathing heels and nearly always wearing sneakers. She wants to take the time to do things she really enjoys, like eating, without having to worry about her appearance, since she won't be on the stage anymore. She spoke to Elizabeth Taylor, observing, "We both love to eat! Right, Elizabeth?" Noting that Ms Taylor was sitting next to James, Barbra warned "I know you're not married now, so watch it!"
  • Right before singing "Before The Parade Passes By," Barbra accidentally used a rose in her hand as a microphone. It was humorous when she had the rose in her right hand and the mic in her left, and she started talking to the rose, thinking it was the mic. 
  • She referred to her young family members in the audience by name and said she was so glad there were children around her, because she feels so warm and comfortable around them.  

Celebrity Attendees:  


Front row center were James Brolin with daughter Molly and son Josh, Jack Nicholson & Lara Flynn Boyle, Elizabeth Taylor, Roger Clinton. Other notables included Dustin Hoffman, Lauren Bacall, Barry Manilow, Quincy Jones, Carole Bayer Sager, Michael Crawford, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Julianna Margulies, Renee Taylor, Angie Dickinson, Barbara Sinatra, Dick Clark, Debra Messing, Dick Van Dyke, Ellen DeGeneres, Blythe Danner, Charlene Tilton, and, for the second consecutive night, Alan & Marilyn Bergman.
End / “Timeless” Los Angeles, September 2000
Share by: