Backstage With Barbra : Adoration and Acclaim Surprise Superstar

“You didn’t used to like me, did you?”

Barbra Streisand’s opening line in her first sit-down interview of her concert swing isn’t encouraging. She’s in her dressing room at the Palace of Auburn Hills arena, a half-hour after performing before 14,000 wildly enthusiastic fans on her first tour in two decades.

Streisand, 52, has often been critical of the media, which she feels has frequently portrayed her as humorless, domineering and aloof. Interviews have been as rare as concerts over the years.

But the potential sting in her greeting--based on criticisms in the 1970s and ‘80s about what I felt was a sometimes overly dramatic vocal delivery and inappropriate material--is quickly softened by a playful smile. Times have changed and so has Streisand.

On this tour--which begins a six-night stand Wednesday at the Anaheim Pond--Streisand, the performer, is a revelation. Her singing is graceful, her material purposeful and her manner endearing.

Backstage, the private Streisand is equally revealing. She is strongly opinionated and is still sensitive enough about the media to detail past slights with the slightest prodding.

But this interview was about her concert tour, not the media--and she proved warm and refreshingly straightforward, no trace of the pretentiousness often found in superstar artists.

For all her years in the spotlight, Streisand still seems sufficiently awed by all the public adoration and acclaim to be a tad nervous being asked about it.

She has been both surprised and touched, she says, by the demand for tickets to her six-city tour and the outpouring of affection at the shows.

“As you get to a certain age, you don’t take things for granted . . . things we took for granted for 30 some years,” she says, wearing a simple black dress and sitting in a chair. “I never sort of felt this before in my life . . . standing back a bit and appreciating my career . . . and my fans . . . everything in life.”

But even this experience isn’t likely to get her back on the road.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Streisand spoke about why she avoided formal live performances for more than 20 years and why she says she won’t ever tour again.

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Question: How could you have stayed away from live performances for so long? Don’t we hear all the time about performers needing the love and applause of the audience?

Answer: I understand how people can feel that way, but that’s not a way I fulfill myself. I don’t enjoy the spotlight. I really prefer the privacy of the creative process.

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Q: Wasn’t there a time when that acceptance was important to you--say back in the beginning when you were playing clubs?

A: Oh, sure, because I had nothing else. I had to prove so much when I was a youngster because my mother was telling me that I’ll never make it and all of that. I had to escape my life so I had to go into the world of the imagination, and music was one (way.) But I only turned to singing because I couldn’t get a job as an actress.

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Q: Was it a thrill when you finally got into acting . . . eventually into “Funny Girl”?

A: In the beginning, it was. When we were changing “Funny Girl” every night (before the Broadway opening), I loved it . . . I would eat Chinese meals before I went on. Nothing bothered my stomach. That’s what I love . . . the experimentation. But once they froze that show on Broadway, I was in prison. I had to do the same thing over and over.

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Q: Why did you stick with “Funny Girl”?

A: I’m not a quitter. When I was in “Funny Girl,” I was on the cover of Time and Life and it put me into a psychological mess. That’s when I started to get stage fright and went into therapy. I would get sick to my stomach every night a half-hour before I went on stage.

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Q: Why’s that?

A: The expectations were so enormous. All these magazine saying I’m great. I was going, “What great? I’m 22.” I’d be thinking, “How great do I have to be to not disappoint these people.” . . . That’s interesting because all these years, in a way, I always thought I would disappoint people.

I was the one who was most shocked on this tour that anyone would buy my (T-shirts and other) merchandising, for instance. I said to Marty (manager Marty Erlichman), “Why would you want to put out this stuff?” I have been around for 33 years. It’s not like I’m a young, hip rock person. It is the same thing . . . that pattern has been with me all the way.

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Q: You were nervous all through “Funny Girl”?

A: Yes, every night. For months, I had (medication) drops on my tongue to calm my stomach . . . this fear of forgetting the words because I lose interest, which I tend to do once the creative process is over.

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Q: Did you enjoy playing Vegas in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s?

A: I never wanted to do it, but I was a performer . . . a singer and this is what performers and singers do. It was my job. But every night I was terrified. . . . So, I finally decided: “I am not going to do it. Why put myself through such misery?”

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Q: What made you change your mind after all these years?

A: (Clothes designer) Donna Karan gave me a wonderful birthday party and Liza Minnelli got up to sing and I am sitting there thinking, “How does she do this? How does anyone get up in front of people and sing?” I could never get myself to sing at parties . . . with people looking at me. I can sing on stage because it is a black curtain out there. I can just see a few people and even that disturbs me. So I was fascinated just watching her.

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Q: So it became a challenge?

A: That’s right. I didn’t like accepting that fright. I am frightened by a lot of things, but what I hope is good about me is that I go through the fear. I thought, “Why can’t I do this?” Besides, so many fans wanted me to sing live. People were saying, “You owe it to them.” It was starting to get to me.

Plus, several things fell into place. Kirk Kerkorian (owner of the MGM Grand Hotel, where Streisand made her return to live performances last New Year’s Eve) asked how I would like to give away $3 million (to causes of her choice) without any obligation to open the hotel. That impressed me. .. . . plus the show was going to be New Year’s Eve. I hate New Year’s Eve. It’s a very lonely night for me. . . . never a happy time. There is such an obligation to be happy. So, I thought: What a great way to escape New Year’s Eve . . . doing a show.

And finally, my movies weren’t ready. I was working on scripts to “Normal Heart” and “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” and I couldn’t get them ready in time to shoot. So, the timing was right.

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Q: Why didn’t you take the easier option of just doing a greatest hits show--instead of a more ambitious, scripted show?

A: I wanted something more personal. I wanted to pick songs that meant something to me and then put them into some kind of story or theme so that there was a thread running through the show.

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Q: Is the reflection on the ups and downs of relationships meant to be seen as particularly autobiographical or more universal?

A: I am hoping it to be universal. I was just following the songs. It gives me something to act out. My own story is for my autobiography. It’s not for this show.

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Q: Are you going to do an autobiography?

A: I have kept journals for years. It’d be just to set the record straight. I hate things that are not true. I think the truth is so powerful I never understand why the truth is distorted or embellished. That’s one of the problems I have with the media. . . .

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Q: How has criticism from the media and others affected you over the years--both personally and professionally? Has it made you withdraw at times or feel more determined?

A: I did (withdraw from directing) for like eight years. I was so picked on for directing “Yentl” that I said, “Forget it. I am disappearing.” That’s not the way to be. The result was I wasted eight years of my life. I should have done (things) anyway instead of retreating. So now, as one appreciates time, I have to make the most out of it. I have to use (time) to do good in some way.

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Q: Is part of that “good” speaking out on issues?

A: It is gratifying to have your voice reach people in some way, more than is just on record. I was so pleased when I talked about the Colorado boycott (over gay rights) and all of a sudden, it happened. It is a responsibility. Just as a person and as a citizen, I feel like it is my responsibility to do positive and good things with my access to people. It’s easier to just remain a hermit and part of me likes that, by the way. I like to have a lot of private time.

On the other hand, it is very, very rewarding when you can (effect change). As I have grown older I realize that the most satisfying feelings I get come from things outside myself . . . things related to my goddaughter or charity or for some cause I believe in.

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Q: Back to the tour, how nervous were you at the start?

A: Very nervous. Even in London, I was listening to meditation tapes just before I went on--trying to have a positive attitude because I easily get sidetracked into this abyss of fear and I have to get myself out of it.

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Q: Were you still nervous on stage tonight?

A: No, I think I have gotten past it (to some extent). I don’t have to listen to the tapes. I don’t feel I need the critics to like me or not.

But I am not without fear. It’s just that my heart isn’t palpitating where I think I can’t make a sound. I’ve found that I can do a good show without being frightened to death.

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Q: So, has all this changed your mind about touring? Will you do more?

A: No. This is it.

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Q: How could you not want to experience all that applause and affection again some day?

A: Because I want to make movies. Directing is what I love. It is about having a complete vision . . . having a dream. It is waking up in the morning or looking at something in the street or at somebody’s face and thinking, “Turn the camera on that.” It involves everything I love to do . . . including dealing with people on a psychological level, trying to get the best out of them. It’s about going toward the real emotion, getting a moment of truth on the screen. That is what really interests me . . . all the aspects of putting something together.

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Q: How about the loyalty of the audience? Are you touched by that?

A: Sure. There were some special moments--starting back in Las Vegas . . . Coretta King was in the audience. Virginia (Clinton) Kelley was there, my goddaughter was there. Those are very special moments for me. I am devoted to my goddaughter. All that gave the show a wonderful meaning for me. . . . The same other nights. It has been a wonderful experience.

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Once Streisand agrees to an interview, you see some of the intensity she throws into her filmmaking and recordings. After an hour in the dressing room, she broke away to attend a party given in the arena lounge by some of the musicians in the orchestra. She sat with longtime manager Erlichman and songwriters Marilyn and Alan Bergman, who scripted much of the current show.

Following the band’s set, Streisand, in a more relaxed off- the- record session, was ready to talk some more--good-naturedly debating the merits of some changes in the show since Las Vegas, including making the ending more upbeat than melancholy, and a more serious discussion of the media treatment of celebrities.

Ever the perfectionist, she was on the phone again the next morning with some more thoughts--things, she said, that came to her after reflecting on the conversation the night before.

The thoughts included comments about the media and what she sees as a cynicism about artists who speak out on public issues. “It is as if we give up our citizenship when we become entertainers,” she says, sharply.

Mostly, however, she wanted to talk about the show and the audience.

“This tour is coming at a good time in my life . . . a time when I have learned to see things more positively,” she says, softly.

“As a performer, for instance, I am interested in pursuing excellence, but that doesn’t mean I always achieve it. I hit and miss all the time, including in these shows . . . but I think one of the things that is important in life is to learn to accept your imperfections, which is something that I couldn’t understand for years.”

She pauses.

“But mostly, I wanted to talk some more about the fans who have come out on the tour . . . the way they have stood by all these years . . . despite what they may have read . . . their loyalty and faith. That is what has touched me most.”