REVIEW: BARBRA STREISAND, BACK IN BROOKLYN

OH MY BABS!!!!! Last night I was lucky enough to attend Barbra Streisand's Back to Brooklyn Concert at the Barclays Center with my husband and two of my very besties and witnessed what can only be described as perfection on the concert stage. Sigh... I was, of course, expecting Babs to sound lovely and be her candid self, but I didn't expect THE VOICE!! THE VOICE is still there! Barbra hit every single note you wanted her to hit and then some. She tore through classics like Don't Rain On My Parade and Enough Is Enough, wooed the audience with People, Evergreen and did a Jule Styne medley of songs from Gypsy and Funny Girl that had the crowd on its feet. Hitting the stage in a stunning black sequined Donna Karan (of course) dress and latter changing in the first act to similar pant suit, Barbra looked A-MAH-ZING! This woman is 70 years old and she is still like buttah! The first act had her opening with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard stunner As If We Never Said Goodbye, but, in true Babs fashion, the lyrics were re-written for the diva to be about coming back to her home, Brooklyn. The second act started similarly with You're the Top, again about BK, and a cut-down-to-there red dress that proved Barbra's VOICE isn't the only thing still in good shape. The audience ate it up. Her son, Jason Gould, also joined his mother on stage and they sang How Deep Is The Ocean together then he sang a solo, This Masquerade. Turns out the guy can really sing, y'all. It was very touching. Special guests Chris Botti and Il Volo, who sang Smile with Striesand before their solo set, were lovely additions to the night as well, but the spotlight was firmly on Barbra and THE VOICE!! I truly can't get over THE VOICE! When Streisand sang the ending of Somewhere from West Side Story it was like she threw her throat in a time machine and out popped these familiar sounds from yesteryear. I was a little boy in my room listening to Barbra again. Well, THAT'S the gayest thing I've said in a while, and that's saying something. The girl's still got it! Sitting in a seat and seeing Barbra Streisand sing live in concert was surreal and amazing and a night I will never, ever forget. She is a one-of-a-kind legend and there will never be another. I'm still a little verklemmt. Talk amongst yourselves.