When Barbra Streisand was twelve-years old, she underwent a dramatic and remarkable change: her ears popped, and suddenly she could hear sounds she had never imagined possible. After that she could sing incredibly high notes, in perfect pitch. However, her desire to be an actor never wavered. In her late teens, she auditioned for a number of acting roles, and only managed to win a few. In 1960, when she was twenty, she befriended an actor who had appeared with her in "The Insect Comedy", a short-lived satirical play. When they'd hang out together, he'd occasionally strum on his guitar, while she sang along.
Impressed, he suggested she enter a weekly talent contest at the Lion, a local Greenwich Village dinner club. For a lark, she decided to give it a try. After all, the take home-home prize was $50 and dinner. She won easily, with a heart-felt rendition of "A Sleepin' Bee." The audience was stunned by her voice, presence, and delivery. After performing at the Lion a few more times, the club manager arranged an audition for her at a swanky dinner club around the corner, called the Bon Soir. One thing led to another, and before long Ms. Streisand was appearing there on a weekly basis. News of this phenomenal new singing talent spread all over New York City, and eventually attracted the attention of Columbia Records execs, who signed her to a contract, and for her first album planned to record one her performances at the Bon Soir. The future producer of Simon and Garfunkel was brought in as the sound engineer (Roy Halee). Recorded in 1962, everything went to plan. However the recording technology of the day was not up to capturing the sound of the limited acoustics inside the Bon Soir dining room. Several of the songs were later recorded in Columbia's recording studio and released on her first albums, in the 1960s. The rest as they say, is history. Barbra Streisand not only rocketed to pop stardom as a singing phenomenon, but as a major movie star as well, followed by awards' galore.
Fast forward 60 years, and the science of recorded sound had advanced so greatly, that today's recording engineers could at last produce a sound that matched Streisand's bravura performance that night back at the Bon Soir, in 1962.
Now, at last, "Live at the Bon Soir" has been released to the public. And what a magical performance it was, featuring 24 of Streisand's favorites, as well as her playful banter between songs. My favorite cuts include "I Hate Music/Right as the Rain", "Cry Me a River", "Come to the Supermarket (in Old Peking)" and a tune that was to become her signature song, "Happy Days Are Hear Again". She also sang "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", and the playful "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf". She closed the set with the poignant , "I Stayed at the Fair Too Long". Truly, it's a performance not to missed.
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