First Stop, London : Barbra Streisand Opens Tour With Sentimental Stint at Wembley Arena

Barbra Streisand told a fanatical crowd of well-heeled Brits on Wednesday night that had she been nicer to Prince Charles when she met him on a film set in 1972, “I might have been the first real Jewish Princess.”

Streisand opened her six-city tour in jam-packed 12,000-seat Wembley Arena, offering a virtual duplicate of a show she tried out in Las Vegas. In a sentimental performance--the first of four here--she talked about life, love and politics, taught a little Yiddish and offered velvety renditions of songs spanning her career.

It was kind of like Woodstock for people in suits and stylish dresses--a convergence of those who feel “The Way We Were” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” speak directly to them.

The British fans, who had swamped box-office phone lines to pay a top price of nearly $400 for tickets, sat quietly and respectfully during the patter and whooped with abandon as they recognized each new song, often rising to their feet in cheers.

Thursday morning’s press reviews of Streisand’s show were nearly all favorable. “People . . . people who had tickets were the luckiest people in town,” said the Daily Express. But a reviewer in the Daily Mail panned the show under the headline “The Great Lady Fails to Impress.”

Nearly all reviews poked fun at Streisand’s reliance on giant TelePrompTers hanging from the ceiling. These scrolled not only song lyrics, but stage chat that would have otherwise seemed ad-libbed.

A reporter for Britain’s most notorious tabloid, the Sun, said his newspaper was thinking of heading its report “Karaoke Babs.” In the end, though, it called her “Princess Babs” and said that she “stunned a star-studded audience with a world-beating performance.”

After the London shows, the tour moves to the United States May 10 and 12 in Washington for the start of a five-city U.S. swing that includes six dates at the Anaheim Pond starting May 25.

Streisand had not performed in Britain since 1966, when she appeared in the West End cast of “Funny Girl.” Tickets then sold for 2.25--about $3.40 at today’s conversion rates.

Her Wembley show, which lasted just over two hours with an intermission, also featured clips from her films and photo montages of her son and goddaughter. She was backed by a 68-piece orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch.

Early in the show she joked with the crowd, “People have been asking me, ‘Why are you touring after 28 years?’ and I tell them that if they came from California, between the earthquakes, the mudslides and the fires, they would end up on tour too.”

Babsmania has gripped Britain since tickets for her four concerts here went on sale last month. The newspapers were indignant at first about the extravagant ticket prices--the highest for a non-charity concert in British history. But they quickly joined in the hoopla with bubbly features about Streisand’s amazing appeal.

Middle-of-the-road radio stations put her albums into high rotation.

Reports of scalpers getting astronomical prices for tickets appear to have been overblown, though. For weeks, newspapers have reported that top-price tickets were changing hands for 800 ($1,200), a figure reported so frequently and so confidently it seemed to have come from a government accounting office.

But just before Wednesday night’s concert, scalpers were desperately hawking tickets at a fraction of their face value. The 260 ($390) tickets were being offered for 50 ($75), while the 105 ($157.50) tickets were going for 20 ($30) each.

Streisand’s British fans proved to be as slavishly devoted as their American counterparts. Among them was Brenda Inwards who, suffering from tonsillitis and the flu, ignored her doctor’s advice and made the journey from distant Leighton Buzzard.

“Thirty years I’ve waited,” she said, gasping for breath. “I’m not going to miss this.”

In the front row sat Linda and Stewart Coburn of Hertfordshire, who scored their prized seats through a clever and strenuous plan that involved driving to London one night to get the early edition of the newspaper printing the special box-office phone number.

“It’s been a lifelong ambition to see her,” said Linda Coburn.

Added her husband, who paid nearly $1,600 for four tickets, “I’m looking forward to my next holiday in the year 2002.”

* Streisand’s Anaheim Pond concerts are sold out, but tickets are available through selected charities: May 25, National Resources Defense Council/Pesticide Campaign, (310) 996-1188; May 27, Alliance for Children’s rights, (310) 393-5600; May 29, Girls’ Voices Women’s Lives, (310) 478-3002; May 31, Legal Aid Foundation, (310) 477-0672; June 2, Operation USA/LA Earthquake Relief, (310) 559-6370; June 4, United Friends of the Children, (213) 651-2988.