Streisand—Live In Concert 2006 (aired: 2009)
About 4.98 million viewers tuned in to watch the one-hour Streisand special on CBS. Streisand: Live in Concert was the winner for the evening, ahead of Cops, Law & Order and the Harry Potter movie on other networks.
The CBS broadcast was an edited version of the complete concert (which was sold days after the concert aired in DVD and Blu-Ray formats). Here are the ten songs which were included in the broadcast:
Starting Here, Starting Now; The Way We Were; Evergreen; Funny Girl; My Man; When the Sun Comes Out; Carefully Taught/Children Will Listen; Unusual Way; Somewhere; Don't Rain On My Parade (reprise).
Other ways in which the CBS broadcast differed from the DVD:
- There was an onscreen dedication to the late Sydney Pollack after Barbra sang “The Way We Were”—“In memory of Sydney Pollack...” Pollack, of course, directed Streisand in the film. This dedication is not on the DVD.
- CBS aired three commercials for the three-DVD set during the hour-long broadcast.
- CBS aired the special in HD with 5.1 sound
- “When the Sun Comes Out” was integrated into the CBS show. (It was a “bonus track” on the DVD and Blu-ray).
- The “dramatic through-line” of Barbra's dog, Sammy, was retained for the CBS special. Sammy appeared during the overture; the intermission; and they even included the footage of Streisand's assistant, Renata, bringing Sammy on stage at the end of the concert, as they rolled the credits.
A 3-DVD set of Streisand: Live in Concert 2006, The Concert (Anaheim 1994), and The Making of The Broadway Album went on sale on April 28th. The Concerts debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Music Video chart. Barbra's official site said the DVD set scored “the highest sales for any music DVD thus far this year.” Live in Concert 2006 was 1:39 minutes in length on the DVD and also included interviews with production people, two extra songs (“Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me” and “Woman in the Moon”), and more.
Filming the Special
Live in Concert 2006 was filmed by hi-def video cameras at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on October 28 and 30, 2006. The schedule was demanding on Barbra and crew!
On Saturday, October 28th, the crew loaded in the staging, lighting, and sound equipment starting from 2:00—6:00 AM. They taped the show live that evening.
On Sunday, Barbra and crew worked, despite it being a non-concert day. The television crew worked with Barbra and Il Divo's stand-ins during the day in order to perfect their camera shots and lighting. Steadicam close-up shots of Streisand were filmed from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
Creating a Streisand television special involves more than just turning the cameras on.
Streisand's television crew, led by Gary Smith (who's worked on previous Streisand specials over the years) worked tirelessly before and after the shows capturing additional takes, close-ups, and re-takes. Getting camera angles correct and close-ups of orchestra players, etc. doesn't always happen live while the concert is going on. The television crew shoots “pick ups” [insert shots and retakes] of Streisand's songs to get them exactly right. When the final show is edited together, the live show and pick up shots blend seamlessly.
On Monday 10/30, the crew shot takes of entire musical numbers and pick ups with Barbra from 2-6pm. Barbra sang full-out for those four hours and then did the concert for the paying audience that same evening!
Streisand performed songs so that the steadicams could capture their shots; Gary Smith filmed the backstage vignettes with Barbra's dog, Sammy; Streisand sang “Wild is the Wind” with the orchestra to warm up (while the cameras rolled!); Streisand fretted over the lights and her hair color—getting her hair to look blond without the lights washing it out; and Streisand tried on different outfits to see which looked best on camera (she nixed the sparkly sailor suit she wore at some tour venues for the taping of the television show).
End.
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