Melbourne Reviews

If you weren’t raised by a Barbra Streisand fan, you may have stumbled across this multi-talented performer’s work through her Hollywood films. For singer Rachael Grace, a childhood viewing of Funny Girl (1968) gave her the "Babs" bug. The star’s six-decade-long career, and varied achievements along the way, provide an abundance of material for consideration. Towards this, Grace, with backing singer Kara Ciezki and band, present The Australian Barbra Streisand Show, which has toured regional Victoria for the past two years.

The show is marketed as being “a heartfelt love letter to Streisand’s iconic career.” Running for around 100 minutes (with a twenty-minute interval) we could expect, based on shows such as Catherine Alcorn’s memorable The Divine Miss Bette, a blending of Babs’ tunes drawn from across the decades with Grace’s reflections on these. (Having some obsessive fan tell you why they like something usually makes for a good time.) Here, we didn’t get so many insights into why certain songs made the cut.

Ballads, drawn from films including The Way We Were (Memories) and Yentl (Papa, Can You Hear Me?), showcased the clarity of Grace’s voice. It was good to hear that such melodies were spared the unhelpful embellishment often overused by younger singers. Grace also showed that she knows how to vary a program, and is not blinded by reverence for her idol. This was seen through a bracket introducing “daggy disco”, employing appropriately flouncy costumes for her and Ciezki.

Flashes of fun continued in duets where Grace (Babs) was suitably complemented by lower notes from Ciezki (as Barry Gibb, and others). The pair’s choreography and some moments of self-aware cheesiness suggest that the show could benefit from including more of the performers’ personalities.

From a baby grand piano, Musical Director John Thorn showed a keen awareness of mood shifts within songs. The sound mix could occasionally cause Anthony Stanislavski’s drums to compete with Grace’s lower notes, but the balance tended to be better in his sensitive use of brushes. Adrian Close’s bass could be more prominent than expected, giving a more rugged edge to some familiar tunes.

One comment, related to Streisand’s Everything from the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, provided a useful insight. Grace had some people attempt to dissuade her from performing this show, but she was encouraged by Streisand’s diverse pursuits and risk taking. If we go back to that Funny Girl ignition of fandom, the story was based on the life of multi-talented performer Fanny Brice (1891 –1951). There’s a lot of inspiration to be drawn from such a history, and shows such as Grace’s can help to keep this in the public consciousness. That’s a nice bonus in what is already a pleasant slice of entertainment.