Last October I spoke to Steven Brinberg, a performer who has made a career as a Barbra Streisand impressionist, about the 50th anniversary of Hello, Dolly! and his tribute to Marvin Hamlisch. His celebration of the film took place in San Diego and the Hamlisch tribute in Hollywood. This Friday Brinberg returns to Los Angeles in the show people know best, Simply Barbra. He will be performing Friday night at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City.
It would be easy to assume that with so lengthy a career as Streisand has had that Brinberg would have a pat show. But as he told me last year, he keeps up with her Twitter account and if something gets posted right as he’s about to go on stage that he will include it in that night’s show.
In other words, Simply Barbra is a constantly evolving show. If you’ve seen Brinberg do this show before, you are likely to get new material if you see him again. Of course, as he said, “I’ll always sing the standards.”
Simply Barbra takes its name, I’m assuming here, from Streisand’s 1967 album Simply Streisand. That album featured such songs as More Than You Know, Lover Man and My Funny Valentine.
Just as there are countless Judy Garland impressionists, there are many people who perform as Streisand. But Brinberg is the gold standard amongst them all. It isn’t just that he can sing very well. It’s that his passion towards her, her career and her material means that each performance comes from his heart.
For tickets go here.
