This week Barabra Streisand emerged from her self -imposed seclusion to grace Larry King and his viewers with her presence on the TV host’s penultimate broadcast.  As the Los Angeles Times put it, the “interview” resembled more of an infomercial for the product that is Barbra Streisand.

In segment after segment Barbra talked about Barbra.  Barbra talked about Obama.  Barbra talked about Barbra.  Barbra talked about Clinton.  And Barbra talked about Barbra.

Larry King dutifully congratulated her on all of her observations.

Here’s one my favorite moments:  When Larry King asked her about the first two years of Barack Obama’s Presidency she laments that President Obama did not use his “executive powers” to unilaterally repeal DADT.  Then, pricelessly, without any sense of self awareness she goes on to praise President Bill Clinton as one of our greatest Presidents.  It would have been at this moment that an actual journalist would have pointed out to Ms. Streisand that President Clinton was the “great” President that instituted the DADT policy that she now wants President Obama to unconstitutionally and unilaterally revoke.  Instead, Mr. King appeared to sit back and admire the beautiful lighting that Ms. Streisand probably supervised prior to the tape rolling.

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1984’s landmark musical “Sunday in the Park with George” was one of the most polarizing and debated shows to reach Broadway in the past thirty years.  It marked Stephen Sondheim’s first collaboration outside of the watchful artistic and commercial gaze of his long-time director and producer Harold Prince.  It also served as the inspiration for a whole new genre of introspective concept musicals which are hated and loved by theatre-goers and theatre professionals alike.  (more…)