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The Oscars audience erupted as Barbra Streisand delivered the final verse of “The Way We Were” in a heartfelt tribute to her longtime co-star, Robert Redford. But what kept the legendary singer from performing live for a full decade?
Streisand last performed live in 2017 for her “The Music… The Mem’ries… The Magic!” Tour. After the series of shows, the entertainer said her days of touring and live performances were over reported the Grammy website.
“No, I would never do another show. It’s exhausting,” she told the Grammy website. “It’s just too vulnerable. It’s too hard for me. I wish I loved it.”
“There are so many performers who perform practically the whole year, you know, 200 or 300 days a year. They love it. And I wish I felt that way.”
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She claimed that the 13-city 2017 tour was a way to earn money for something she truly desired, a painting. Streisand said, “I’m a big fan of [Amedeo] Modigliani. There was a painting I wanted that I really had to save up for it. I can’t work for money. I have to work for an object that I love, something I want to live with.”
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In 2000, Streisand performed what she called her final concert tour. “Timeless” spanned 10 shows and a career’s worth of hits.
In her 2023 memoir My Name is Barbra, the entertainer spoke of why she retired from live performing. She wrote she was driven by the “need to perform” and once she mastered it, she “didn’t want to do it anymore.”
Streisand wrote, “It’s kind of complex to explain. When I had something to prove to my mother [Diana] and myself, I had a need to perform. I also had to make a living so it was great to be paid to sing at the Bon Soir, and it actually became fun.”
She continued, “I was thrilled to get a supporting part in a Broadway show [I Can Get it For You Wholesale] and then the lead in Funny Girl. But I loved the rehearsal process more than the actual performances. Once I had proved that I could get up onstage and be successful, I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
Barbra Streisand lives in California with her husband of 27 years, actor James Brolin.
