Color Me Barbra

If you think the era of the television musical special was over, there's always PBS.

Several months ago Great Performances ran "My Name Is Barbra", Barbra Streisand's first television special originally broadcast nearly forty years ago during the waning days of TV's golden era, as part of its pledge drive coinciding with the DVD release of a collection of Streisand's television specials.

This past week Great Performances continued with "Color Me Barbra", her second special and first to be broadcast in color, at the time a still-burgeoning format.

As I was with the first special, I was once again stunned by the phenomenal talent that emerged during the mid-1960's.

In the first set Ms. Streisand wanders through Philadelphia's glorious art museum, becoming and singing as the character in various works of art. Two standouts are when she charges through the modern art section with "Gotta Move" decked out in a hip, multi-color dress, her trademark eye-makeup encrusted with sequins; and then as an Egyptian royal contemplating an exquisite "Where or When" to a bust of an Egyptian king.

She begins the second set introducing us to her dog, which was a gift from the cast of Funny Girl and recalls that when she opened the box she "thought, terrific a warm hat! Then the hat got up and walked under the couch!" Her recitation of her affection for animals leads into a frolic through a circus tent filled with baby animals, singing a medley of songs while she rhumbas with a baby elephant's trunk to "Were Thine That Special Face" and observes 'We have so much in common...' from Gypsy's "Small World" with an anteater. As we discover the whole sojourn was just a fantasy she wonders if "I Stayed To Long at the Fair" then segue ways into a ringing "Look At That Face" as she sings to her dog.

The third and final set is in front of a studio audience and includes a sensuously driving "Where Am I Going" from Sweet Charity, and concludes as she soars into the majesty of Maltby and Shire's "Starting Here, Starting Now". She's accompanied throughout the show by astonishing arrangements performed by an orchestra of a scale and extravagance that's nearly extinct on national television.

Viewing this show gives one pause, recalling what television used to be.

Rg