Live Nation has announced that To Barbra, With Love: An 80th Birthday Celebration, the highly successful celebration of the inimitable Barbra Streisand, will be remounted in Canberra, Adelaide and Sydney, with local symphony orchestras, later this year.
Two of Australia’s hottest musical theatre talents – Elise McCann (Matilda The Musical, Merrily We Roll Along) and Ryan Gonzalez (they/them) (Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Jersey Boys) – join Australia’s own musical theatre royalty Caroline O’Connor for these not-to-be-missed concerts.
Genre-hopping vocalist Katie Noonan will perform at the Canberra and Adelaide events, while rising star Georgina Hopson (Opera Australia’s The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour, Jagged Little Pill) will perform in the Sydney event,
Under the baton of Vanessa Scammell, the symphony orchestras will deliver a program of Streisand’s most memorable songs, arranged by conductor and composer Nicholas Buc and directed by one of Australia’s most versatile choreographers and exciting new directors, Cameron Mitchell.
Celebrating her 80th birthday this year, Streisand is one of the best-selling female artists of all time, with an unparalleled career spanning six decades. Streisand’s record-breaking 52 gold and 31 platinum albums feature some of the world’s most loved songs from The Way We Were and Evergreen to Send in the Clowns, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers and Guilty.
Streisand is a multi-award-winning performer, director and producer of stage and screen, and one of only a few elite artists to hold the rare EGOT (Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar and Tony).
She has worked with legendary composers including Alan and Marilyn Bergman and the late great Stephen Sondheim, whose combined catalogues of memorable compositions are timeless treasures of the canon.
Premiering earlier this year with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall, To Barbra, With Love was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike.
“Cameron Mitchell directs with a no-nonsense sensibility, allowing the music and the performers to be fully front and centre in a carefully curated program.” – Australian Arts Review
To Barbra, With Love: An 80th Birthday Celebration will play the Canberra Theatre Centre (28 & 29 October); Adelaide Festival Centre (2 & 3 December); and Sydney’s State Theatre (13 & 14 January). For more information, visit: www.livenation.com.au for details.
Image: To Barbra, With Love: An 80th Birthday Celebration (supplied)