Wow! I am listening to this on audiobook and it's whopping 48 hours long! Most memoirs are 6-10 hours long. So this is an investment of time. I got to 60% and then "Libby" took it back. It wouldn't let me renew because of the waiting list, so I put it back on hold and now I have to wait another 22 weeks until I can get it back! I decided I should write about the first 60% so I don't forget what I want to say about it. First of all, I love Barbra Streisand and I always have, ever since I first watched What's Up Doc back in the 1970s when I was a young teen. Then when I was introduced to her music from Funny Girl (1968), I fell in love with her voice. She has always been my favorite artist because of her immense talent (singing, acting, directing), but after listening to her memoir about her childhood and rise to stardom; her innate sense of artistry; her ability to sketch scenes the way she sees them in her head; her ability to improv a conversation so that it matches the emotions of the scene; her ability to "see" and "feel" the character she is portraying; is phenomenal. She is so detail-oriented that she knows what lighting she wants for each scene of a movie. She likes to do as few takes as possible so that a scene is the most authentic that it can be (vs. coming across as over-rehearsed).
The first 60% of this book details how she got her start when she was a teenager living in Brooklyn, NY. Her dad died tragically when she was young, so she lived with her unsupportive, negative mother and a jerk of a step-father (part of that time). She wanted to be famous for her acting. Her voice was an afterthought. She got her first gig singing at a night club however, and it's that voice that propelled her to stardom. She was cast in Funny Girl as an "unknown" and the rest, as they say, is history. This part of the book details her experiences in Funny Girl on Broadway and in London, and also the making of the movie (very detailed); Hello Dolly (detailed); On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (briefly); The Owl and the Pussycat (very briefly); What's Up Doc? (detailed); Up the Sandbox (very detailed); The Way We Were (very detailed); For Pete's Sake (very briefly); Funny Lady (somewhat detailed); A Star is Born (very detailed); The Main Event (detailed); All Night Long (mentioned); and Yentl (very, very detailed!) She talks about her co-stars, producers, directors, camera people, lighting people, art people, set people, musicians, lyricists, composers, and every other person associated with a production. It's absolutely fascinating.
She is so detailed in her descriptions that I rented Funny Girl from Prime video after I listened to that detailed chapter to see what she was talking about. I studied the characters, the lighting, scenes, the clothing, etc. She insisted on singing one of the songs live while filming the movie (which was unheard of) because she wanted her emotions at the time of the filming to match the song. I watched clips of Hello Dolly, The Way We Were, and A Star is Born after reading about the production of those movies and her co-stars. I was completely blown away that Walter Matthau was her co-star in Hello Dolly! I think of him as a slob in The Odd Couple and a grumpy old man in Grumpy Old Men - not as a co-star to Barbra Streisand! (It didn't go well, by the way. He was a total jerk to her.) I was happy to read that she worked well with Omar Sharif, Ryan O'Neal and Robert Redford however. Whew!
Finally, Yentl. I loved the movie when I first saw it. Now I love it more. I have watched it twice since listening to that chapter (which brought me to 60%). She talks about wanting Richard Gere to play Avigdor but she ended up with a 29 year old Mandy Patinkin (she was 10 years older than him) as her co-star. I love Mandy Patinkin. It's been so long since I originally saw the movie in theaters (1983) that I didn't even realize that Avigdor was played by Mandy! I love his acting and I love his voice. So imagine my deep, deep disappointment when I found out that Barbra had a very difficult time with him as her co-star. He didn't want to take direction from Barbra; was hot-headed; restless; difficult. Sadness set in. So, I watched the movie a second time to study all the things she talked about. Here is my final analysis: This movie is absolutely wonderful. I love it. The way it was written, directed, filmed, edited, the music - fabulous. There is no way you could tell that the two leads didn't like each other. That's impressive acting. (Like Richard Gere and Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman.)
The most wonderful thing about listening to this on audiobook: Barbra includes video clips of some of the songs she sings! I am pretty much obsessed with this book and I can't wait to finish the last 40% of it - in 22 weeks or so.
Wendy's Rating: *****
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