This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" — performed by Unknown performer ♪

[0:18] Kevin David Thomas: Happy Thursday, everybody.

[0:19] Robert W Schneider: Happy Thursday, listeners. What a great day because today it's not just you and I, Kevin, but it is Rob.

[0:25] Kevin David Thomas: A special guest.

[0:25] Robert W Schneider: We do have a very special guest, and we're very excited. One of our favorite people, a staple of the New York cabaret scene, even though he is incredibly young. I feel like he's been around forever and ever.

[0:33] Kevin David Thomas: I do.

[0:36] Robert W Schneider: He is the wonderful, magical, mystical, not Mr. Mistopheles, Steve Brinberg, the wonderful Steve Brinberg.

[0:44] Kevin David Thomas: Now, you might see Steven walking down the street and think, oh, that looks like a nice normal, ordinary guy. Nice guy.

[0:50] Robert W Schneider: But then you put him in a cabaret space or a theatrical venue, and he looks a little different because he is one of the greatest. Can I say impersonators? Is that do we like that word?

[0:58] Kevin David Thomas: Impressionist.

[1:00] Robert W Schneider: Impressionists. Interpreter. Actors. Interpreter of the Barbara Streisand canon. And we have had the great pleasure of seeing him perform many, many times. And now you will have the great pleasure of seeing him perform many, many times because he is coming to the Green Room 42 on April 17th and May 15th of this year in Simply Barbara celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hello, Dolly.

[1:28] Kevin David Thomas: The film.

[1:29] Robert W Schneider: How exciting is that? Because it's not the Carol Channing one.

[1:32] Kevin David Thomas: No, no.

[1:33] Robert W Schneider: She would be she she was she's angry.

[1:34] Kevin David Thomas: She's angry.

[1:36] Robert W Schneider: You can buy your tickets at the greenroom42.com. Once again, you can buy your tickets at the greenroom42.com. I will be there for the April 17th concert. So come say hi to me. I'll be in the back crying during just going, sing it again, Steve.

[1:52] Kevin David Thomas: All right. Enough of me talking. Steven, how are you? Welcome.

[1:55] Steve Brinberg: I'm great. Thank you for being here.

[1:58] Robert W Schneider: We are so happy you're here. Okay, so I have to ask you, when did you first realize that Barbara Streisand is the best thing that's ever happened to this earth? Because that's my opinion.

[2:07] Steve Brinberg: Yes.

[2:10] Steve Brinberg: Well, um I would say my turning point was when I was very young and I saw Funny Lady. Oh and that was the one that just I was like, oh my God. And that's when I started collecting everything, and just it's kind of been like that ever.

[2:27] Steve Brinberg: That's the one where she ends act one, even though it's not act one, but I think of going up in the plane and singing the song. Isn't she like lift off at the year? You know, it's a Candroneb score.

[2:36] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[2:36] Steve Brinberg: That's the that's according to the city. And then instead of being on the first, you know, the first movie, she's going on on the tugboat or whatever. Except it's it's really not act one. It's more, it's more near the end of the movie.

[2:45] Kevin David Thomas: But I I I just remember that. It's act the end, act one of the album, which isn't the same order as the movie.

[2:51] Steve Brinberg: Thank you.

[2:51] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you.

[2:52] Steve Brinberg: Yes. But I remember that I remember thinking, I cannot believe that they are doing this.

[2:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yep, they are.

[2:56] Steve Brinberg: She's singing that in a plane right now.

[2:58] Kevin David Thomas: Yep, there it is.

[2:58] Steve Brinberg: You know, she got stuck up there while she was filming it too.

[3:01] Kevin David Thomas: She was she was really, I think, writing it.

[3:05] Steve Brinberg: Yeah. Or no, she wasn't. There was a pilot.

[3:08] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[3:08] Steve Brinberg: But she was stuck. They were like stuck circling or something.

[3:13] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[3:14] Steve Brinberg: I hope that'll be in her book that she's still writing.

[3:17] Kevin David Thomas: I'm I'm surprised that it was Funny Lady and not Funny Girl.

[3:20] Steve Brinberg: Well, I'd seen Funny Girl already on television, but I crawled out of my crib to see Funny Lady in the movies.

[3:27] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[3:27] Steve Brinberg: So that was like a seminal moment, yeah.

[3:31] Kevin David Thomas: Moment. I mean.

[3:32] Steve Brinberg: And then when did it go from being a fan to I think I can emulate her in some.

[3:39] Steve Brinberg: It was actually not so fast. I mean, I knew I could sound like her because when I listened to albums, which I did all the time, I just naturally sang like the person I was listening to.

[3:50] Kevin David Thomas: You were good empty.

[3:50] Steve Brinberg: I never didn't. Yes, I just it was just natural to me. I didn't even know what my own voice sounded like till I got to like college.

[3:56] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, that's so interesting.

[3:57] Steve Brinberg: So I just would sing along to Shirley MacLaine at the palace like I was her. I sang to Judy, to Eliza, to Bette Midler, everybody, and I was just that was just normal to me.

[4:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[4:06] Steve Brinberg: And then I sort of put it down on a tape recorder, um, which my dad found, and he said, I found this tape, and it says, It's you, but it's not you, it's Barbara Streisand. I said, No, it's me singing like her. And he was like, Oh. And then I played it for a friend and her mother, and she was like, What are you doing? Wasting your time in school, you should go on the stage.

[4:28] Kevin David Thomas: And that's what I'm saying.

[4:29] Steve Brinberg: And I was I was too I was too shy to really even audition for performing arts. It's really and until I got to um college, I didn't really I didn't sing. I randomly took a voice class and then I discovered my own voice. And then from that came the idea to finally do Barbara. I could have been doing this years before.

[4:53] Kevin David Thomas: That's amazing. I would have assumed that you know you did it in high school and then said.

[4:59] Steve Brinberg: Oh god, it's so funny. In high school I didn't do plays, I had them take my lunch period out so I could go home early. It was it was in a different I was in a different place, you know.

[5:07] Kevin David Thomas: So did you go in time? Where'd you go?

[5:08] Steve Brinberg: In New York?

[5:09] Kevin David Thomas: In New York?

[5:09] Steve Brinberg: In um in the Bronx, Riverdale.

[5:11] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow, yeah. Were you were you singing Broadway shows when you were?

[5:14] Steve Brinberg: Oh yeah. I mean, my parents always took me to the theater.

[5:16] Kevin David Thomas: What was the first?

[5:17] Steve Brinberg: The first one was was Fiddler on the Roof.

[5:20] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my gosh, yeah.

[5:22] Steve Brinberg: You know, replacement.

[5:23] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, sure for sure.

[5:24] Steve Brinberg: Sure, sure, sure. Um and then Bette Midler?

[5:27] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[5:28] Steve Brinberg: Well, she was like the daughter.

[5:30] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[5:32] Steve Brinberg: She was I saw Bette Midler is idle, my God.

[5:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[5:34] Steve Brinberg: Okay. Did she come out of the clam show?

[5:36] Kevin David Thomas: Stop it.

[5:37] Steve Brinberg: Stop it.

[5:37] Kevin David Thomas: For that in the bikini in the Oklahoma.

[5:39] Steve Brinberg: There's a clip of her doing this Oak singing Oklahoma in Hawaii.

[5:44] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, the little redhead.

[5:45] Steve Brinberg: Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

[5:45] Kevin David Thomas: Not bad.

[5:47] Steve Brinberg: Barbara.

[5:48] Kevin David Thomas: Not bad. What else did you see that you felt had an impact on you?

[5:51] Steve Brinberg: Oh my God. I was so lucky my parents took me to so much that I was but I even though I was too young to get it, like Follies. We saw Follies. Oh we saw uh No No Nanette.

[6:01] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my favorite.

[6:02] Steve Brinberg: Yes. And it was the we have the choice of No No Nanette or Company. And I guess they thought No No Nanette was more appropriate for a kid.

[6:10] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[6:11] Steve Brinberg: Little kid. That seems right. Um then we saw Irene with Debbie Reynolds. We saw all these shows that I've been pleading, you know, with people to do again. Um we're trying.

[6:21] Kevin David Thomas: We're trying to lose um we saw a show called Doctor Jazz with Bobby Van and Falana.

[6:28] Steve Brinberg: We like talking about that.

[6:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. And and I the first show I saw without my parents, I went with uh another kid was Mac and Mabel.

[6:36] Steve Brinberg: You got to see Mac and Mabel?

[6:38] Kevin David Thomas: And it was so good. And I remember showing my parents the ad and I said, Let's go see the show. And usually they were like, This sounds good. Well, usually they picked the show. And I said, Look at this, Burning at Peter's Robert, and they well let's wait and see what the reviews are like or whatever. Which they didn't usually say things like that. Then I told them how great it was, and of course I played the album all the time and they went, Okay, we're gonna go see this show on New Year's Eve, and I'll go to see it again. And it was gone by New Year's Eve, and we ended up at the Magic Show.

[7:05] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[7:05] Steve Brinberg: I still don't understand how David Merrick gave up so early.

[7:09] Kevin David Thomas: I know.

[7:09] Steve Brinberg: I mean, he was like such a relentless. He was a fickle with his shows. Should have been a way to keep that going. I mean.

[7:15] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, it's surprising that he really Yeah, he did throw in the towel on that quite early.

[7:18] Steve Brinberg: I guess he just thought there was no way around.

[7:20] Kevin David Thomas: Something else. Sad endings were not uh not the norm back then.

[7:24] Steve Brinberg: No.

[7:24] Kevin David Thomas: No. How can you compete with the magic show?

[7:27] Steve Brinberg: How can you compete with the game? I don't really remember much about Doug Henning.

[7:30] Kevin David Thomas: Doug Henning.

[7:31] Steve Brinberg: Anita Morris was in it though.

[7:34] Kevin David Thomas: What did Nathan Lane say about Doug Henning?

[7:36] Steve Brinberg: His greatest trick was he could make a whole audience disappear.

[7:40] Kevin David Thomas: I somehow missed Merlin. I don't know where I was. I don't know how I could not go see a Cheetah Rivera show.

[7:45] Steve Brinberg: I know.

[7:46] Kevin David Thomas: You missed it. I lose my theater card for a couple of things that I managed to miss. But it's okay. Um I was just gonna ask where was college that you uh learned.

[7:56] Steve Brinberg: I started out at um that's what you took three different schools. Because you were in the school eventually I read that NYU, Hunter College and the New School.

[8:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, in the new school.

[8:04] Steve Brinberg: And at NYU, I was actually studying film.

[8:06] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I'm always I'm as interested in films as I am in theater.

[8:10] Steve Brinberg: Yeah. And I always had great ideas and I thought it'd be a great film director. And you know, I mean I directed kids in plays and stuff. See that I did in like summer camp and stuff. And um, but then I realized making films required like a technical knowledge, which is beyond me.

[8:27] Kevin David Thomas: I get that.

[8:28] Steve Brinberg: Um so then I then I went to the new school and started singing, and I was like, oh, this is what I always should have done. I mean, I had gone to a summer theater camp where I was actually in Mame with a cast that included Todd Graff as p young um Patrick Stage Door was No, it was called something else at that time. And I was the little one at the end because I was so tiny.

[8:52] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, little Patrick's kid.

[8:54] Steve Brinberg: Yeah, Peter. Can I, Mom, please, please? And I still have the program somewhere in the chorus was I hope she's okay at the moment, Felicity Huffman.

[9:02] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god.

[9:03] Steve Brinberg: And I've talked to Todd about this. He totally remembers her from the camp and everything. I have no memory of her.

[9:08] Kevin David Thomas: She was she ensemble?

[9:09] Steve Brinberg: She was just one of Mame's friends. Which I also was, besides playing young Peter. We were in the It's Today number.

[9:16] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[9:16] Steve Brinberg: She was the one helping Patrick get into the And of course I was obsessed. I was obsessed with the movie of Mame, and I was playing the album because it was, you know, around that time.

[9:27] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. We should we should talk about the movie of Mame for a hot second.

[9:31] Steve Brinberg: Fan of it?

[9:31] Kevin David Thomas: I am.

[9:32] Steve Brinberg: Yeah.

[9:33] Steve Brinberg: Because I always I loved Lucille Ball and I love Lucy, and that's all she was to me until I saw that movie.

[9:39] Steve Brinberg: And it was like, oh my God, she looks so different. You know, I know she's not the greatest singer that ever lived, and it was a little foggy.

[9:46] Kevin David Thomas: But the Vaseline on the screen.

[9:50] Steve Brinberg: It makes me cry. I mean, as much as I love Hello, Dolly, I'm more of a camp Mame because I relate more to Mame because it's about a kid.

[9:59] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[9:59] Steve Brinberg: And it's also a more glamorous period. And it is. I just I like it better than Hello, Dolly, frankly.

[10:05] Kevin David Thomas: Really?

[10:06] Steve Brinberg: Um that's I don't hear that too often. I love Mame. I really love Mame. I've gone like everywhere to see Mame.

[10:11] Kevin David Thomas: Who's made who's been your favorite Mame?

[10:13] Steve Brinberg: Oh my god. D. Hody was a fantastic Mame.

[10:16] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, love her.

[10:17] Steve Brinberg: I saw Michelle Lee as Mame. I saw Lee Merriweather. I saw Morgan Brittany. I saw Loretta Swit. I'm gonna write a book one day about like you know Loretta Swit and Mame. Twenty-five Mames, Twenty Five Follies. I mean, I've seen all these shows.

[10:31] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, that's so you're a I mean you love to see your cocky small. How's there not been a reason there been a revival?

[10:37] Steve Brinberg: How has there not been a revival of Mame? There was one in the eighties with her.

[10:39] Kevin David Thomas: Well, yeah, but that was not it was at the old Gersh, I mean the old U.S. It's always a rumor that, like, oh, this one wants to do it or that one wants to do it.

[10:47] Steve Brinberg: Well, uh I I've sent my ideas to somebody who possibly might want to do it. So we'll see what happens.

[10:53] Kevin David Thomas: I'm assuming you won't share with us, but that's that's okay with the record, we'll all buy tickets, we'll all be very excited.

[10:59] Robert W Schneider: So uh when you graduated college, were you did you have an idea to go into theater and be a performer?

[11:04] Steve Brinberg: Uh well I had done some theater, I did like some musical workshops and stuff off Broadway, and and then I kind of just started doing cabaret shows as myself.

[11:12] Kevin David Thomas: As you, yeah, yeah.

[11:13] Steve Brinberg: But I'd always had a little segment where I did all the other voices that I was good at. So it was Barbara and Cher and Lena Horne and Gwen Verdon and Cleo Lane, and I mean I would do all these random people because doing impressions is such an odd talent to have.

[11:28] Kevin David Thomas: It's like I've listened to Bette Midler my whole life, but I really don't do her or Liza.

[11:33] Steve Brinberg: And they're among my very, very favorites after Barbara.

[11:36] Kevin David Thomas: Of course.

[11:36] Steve Brinberg: Um Carol Burnett, I I'd worship her. Um and yet I could do like Cleo Lane perfectly, even though I don't have I mean I've listened to her too, but there's just sort of like a str it's a strange, strange.

[11:49] Kevin David Thomas: Right, you get into a certain way.

[11:51] Steve Brinberg: It's like it's like a sort of a freak of nature, I think. And I noticed that this is the music director in me, but all of these these voices are are voices that are more in your falsetto and you're and you're in the upper register of your voice. You're not telling us Robert Goulet, and you're like I do a mean Robert Goulet.

[12:06] Steve Brinberg: I do Anthony Newley.

[12:07] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, okay.

[12:07] Steve Brinberg: Which is, you know, Who Can I Turn To? Which is on Barbara's album. Yeah. And I do, you know, both of them. And when I did the show in LA, her record producer came and he went, I thought for a second you turned on the Anthony Newley recording. I'm like, no, that's me. That's my real deep voice when I'm doing her.

[12:22] Steve Brinberg: It's not even quite a falsetto. It's like a mixed mixed. It's like no, I hear that. I listened to it. Because I had people ask me to audition for Mary Sunshine, which of course I would love to do. And yet that's like color tour of the yeah. Yeah, that's another thing entirely. I mean, I could do it as Barbara Streisand and her key. Right. But I couldn't do it in the Mary Sunshine Key, which is too bad because that would be a dream job.

[12:44] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah. When you were first to encabarate shows in the city, what were some of the venues you were performing at?

[12:49] Steve Brinberg: Well, I started at Don't Tell Mama, where I played there like every Saturday for like three years. Oh yeah, goodness, yeah. And it was incredible. Like all these people saw me there. Stephen Sondheim came, Liza Minnelli, Kate Ballard, who I recorded with. Um, just everybody came to see me there. Sean Phillips, I became friendly with her. Um, and then I was at the um gosh, where else was I? There was a club called Broadway Baby. That's not that's long gone.

[13:15] Kevin David Thomas: Well, we appreciate talking about the places that were there. You I mean, you know, when you were growing up, for instance, everyone had a club act. I mean, everyone after a Broadway show, you would then go to the club act, and we don't, yeah, we've got our 54 shows, but they're like at 7 and 9:30, and we just don't have that kind of world anymore.

[13:31] Steve Brinberg: So we'd love to celebrate it. We'd love to hear about like well when I started doing doing it, I would do like shows at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, and now I'm like, oh no, later than seven. My senior audience is Barbara Streisand's age. Yes. A lot of them. So it's too late. It's a different, different world. A different world. I mean, it was a different world when I started. The I went with my parents to Le Mouche. Yes to see Miss Lemouche. We didn't see Patty, but we saw Anne Rhine King, which was fantastic. Someone should bring her back to do something.

[13:59] Steve Brinberg: My idea for her is uh Anne Ryan King in Coco. Because she was in Cocoa in the chorus. Great. And she sounds like Catherine Hepburn anyway. So she's retired, I think, in Aaron Zoom, but can we encourage? Come on, Danny. I would say. Or a one night actress find or a you know at 54. Exactly. Yeah, that's great. Well, we'll have the waiters dress up like Coco Chanel dresses. Right. They'll do a fashion show. I always thought FIT, because they did used to do musicals, they did Smile and it was terrific. They should do Coco, because then all the students could make the costume.

[14:32] Kevin David Thomas: That's a smart idea. But I don't think they do musicals anymore. You know, they should change that because that's a genius idea. I mean, there's so many good musicals at Manhattan School of Music and NYU, and they should do something like that. That would be great. That would be weird. It sounds like a movie soundtrack that that can be. I wonder if there's more on the album than there were was in the theater. Or did they actually have like 35 or is it just a lot of strings?

[15:00] Steve Brinberg: Yeah, I'm wondering if they padded. It really sounds huge. Yeah, it's a it's a very you're like you said like a very MGM like movie movie feeling about it. Um you had all these other ladies that you had done in your act. When did they eventually go away and then Barbara became the book?

[15:15] Steve Brinberg: No, in fact, to this day, there's usually a little section where I get to do all the other ladies. Although in this show, which I just did in London, I have less of them than usual because there's so much hello dolly material that I have to do. And sure. Um like I do I've I've been pushing more men in it. I still do the Anthony Newley number, and then I do Hello Dolly as Barbara and Louis Armstrong. Oh who wasn't in my wheelhouse before, but he is now. He is now.

[15:42] Kevin David Thomas: Um so yeah, I and I never dressed as Cher or any of those other women. Um so it was always through Barbara's eyes, like her talking about these other voices, so I could show that I could do some other things. And I have to ask have you have you met her or has she seen the act?

[15:58] Steve Brinberg: I've not met Barbara, but I mean I've met every single person that's close to her. Marvin Hamlish and Richard J. Alexandra and Jay Landers, her record producer, and I mean everybody. Uh and I'm quite sure she knows about because I um sang at Donna Karen's birthday party, which she directed me actually through Richard J, what to say. Um I had to say, Donna, remember those flammable sweaters? You know, stuff that was only she would know about. And so um, you know, I'm still hoping one day I'll get to do the show for her. I mean I told them I'll do it in her living room.

[16:34] Kevin David Thomas: Would you be intimidated? You wouldn't be intimidated.

[16:36] Steve Brinberg: I wouldn't have to be a good one. Well, I used to think if she came to see it, I would either freeze or give the performance of my life, and I think it would be the performance of my life. Because like when Liza Manelli was there, she's my idol, my idol, really equal to Barbara, I think. And she came and she like sort of sat in the back on, you know, to be not bother anybody, but then people started to recognize her, so she moved, and she was like almost as close as you are, and I'm watching her the whole time laughing and smiling, and she was so nice to me. And and I, you know, so instead of being nervous, it made me excited.

[17:08] Kevin David Thomas: That's really special.

[17:09] Steve Brinberg: Yeah, it's really she's just so lovely and you know. Um I'm curious. Um, are there any uh impressions you ever created and then said, Oh my god, this is so obscure. I don't know if anybody would enjoy it.

[17:21] Steve Brinberg: Lenora Nemetz, bless you. I mean, I had I had a bit where it was Glenn Verd and Anne Ron King, Lenora Nemitz, and they're all basically that same voice. That sounds like they all sound the same. Yeah, is she's like the original cover in Chicago? I think. I mean, yeah, she came to see my show. She was lovely. She's she's wonderful.

[17:39] Kevin David Thomas: Special skills with Normanora Nemesis expression.

[17:42] Steve Brinberg: I would be like you take whatever role you put that on there. You're welcome. She's great. She's in great shape. Yeah, she's great. She's in Pittsburgh now. Yeah, but she comes to New York, you know, when when she's asked Yeah, we've always tried to get her on the show. We want her on the show at some point. She'd be fabulous. I mean, she's had such a long of these people, you know who would be great, although um you've never heard of Patty Carr.

[18:03] Kevin David Thomas: Oh yeah.

[18:04] Steve Brinberg: Yeah, oh yeah. I see her in the neighborhood on the West Side, and she understudied oh my god, Gwen Verdon in Redhead, Cheetah and Bye Bye Birdie, um Michelle Lee and Seesaw. Yeah, she had a career. Been in a lot. You know where she is? I think she's on the West Side.

[18:20] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my gosh.

[18:26] Steve Brinberg: The Charles Strauss, and she was in that originally. We kept trying to track her down, and the only thing I could find out about her was about a few years ago. She was walking on the West Side of the City.

[18:35] Kevin David Thomas: I found that article to get a good one.

[18:37] Steve Brinberg: She got hit by a tree.

[18:38] Kevin David Thomas: She got hit by a tree in New York City.

[18:40] Steve Brinberg: Only in New York.

[18:41] Kevin David Thomas: Only in New York.

[18:43] Steve Brinberg: That was the only thing I could find out about her. No one's safe. I was like, that's like walking, knocking on like West Side apartments. The lady that got hit by the tree. Where is she? I want her in my show.

[18:51] Kevin David Thomas: Um okay, so you have those impressions. That's great.

[18:54] Steve Brinberg: Um and then where did this idea come from to do 50 years of well?

[19:01] Steve Brinberg: It's funny because as I I say in the show, Barbara Streisand's made 19 movies in over 51 in 51 years, which isn't as many as Catherine Epern or Brady Davis. Those girls made a hundred before they were through. Um, and then I say, and Meryl Streep's already made 60 movies, and she's only seven years younger than me. But of course, none of those broads did concerts or albums. So that's why I'm lagging behind.

[19:26] Steve Brinberg: Um so when Funny Girl turned 50, I did a 50th anniversary of Funny Girl, and now it's 50 years of Dolly, and then I joke that next year will be 50 years of On a Clear Day. Then it's five years before another tribute show because the next musical was Funny Lady, and then finally they can wheel me out when it's 50 years of Yentl. Well no, Star is Born before that. So unless I somehow manage a 50 years of the way we were and write lyrics to the background music or something.

[19:53] Kevin David Thomas: I say go for it.

[19:53] Steve Brinberg: I'll buy it. If anyone can do it, 50 years, 50 50 is such a good number of anniversaries. You can do it.

[20:01] Kevin David Thomas: So what is it?

[20:03] Steve Brinberg: Oh well, okay. I'm gonna ask you, maybe you don't have to answer if you don't want it to go on the record. Do you prefer Barbara over Carol as Dolly Levi?

[20:10] Steve Brinberg: Well, it's funny. I grew up, I did well, I did see Carol Channing doing it in the 90s, of course. And I saw Carol Channing in Lorelei, which I thought was just like I love that show. I love that album. It's great. And um, but I I'm more familiar with the soundtrack of Hello Dolly than the cast album. Ditto, funny girl.

[20:32] Steve Brinberg: So you sort of like, although I'm I'm more familiar with the main cast album than the soundtrack, although I am familiar with the soundtrack too, because I love the movie. Um I think Barbara sort of got a bad rap for being in this movie. Yes, she's young, but you gotta remember what it looks like, what people look like then, like she was only 26, I guess, when they started filming. But the hair, the makeup, she looks like she's in her 30s.

[20:57] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[20:58] Steve Brinberg: And that's why I always thought when she wanted to do gypsy, it was not so ridiculous because now it's the opposite. You look at old movies, and these women are like 25 and they look 50. Now women are 75 and they look 50. Yes, yeah. So if she has the right makeup and the hair, and you plus digital, I was just watching, I think This Is Us and the Sterling K. Brown.

[21:18] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[21:18] Steve Brinberg: The old lines were gone, and I'm like, it could have worked.

[21:21] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[21:22] Steve Brinberg: Yeah. Maybe even a few years ago, you know.

[21:24] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[21:25] Steve Brinberg: So I think the age is not such a big deal. Um, and I think what she brings to it musically is so utterly spectacular that no one else I've ever seen has come close. Except I would say Michelle Lee, because Michelle is such a good singer, and when she started to sing slowly before the it was just so musically satisfying.

[21:48] Kevin David Thomas: And and also the movie itself, I think, is like the last MGM musical, only it's at Fox.

[21:54] Steve Brinberg: I mean, it's got Roger Edens and Lenny Hayden, and it's just so beautiful. And now there's really this cult that's formed around it. Ryan Murphy loves it. They're showing it very soon in in LA, the TCM festival. They're showing it national theaters in August on two nights and everything.

[22:10] Kevin David Thomas: That's great.

[22:11] Steve Brinberg: So I think, and also the myth that it was a big flop, it won three Oscars, and it made a lot of money. It just cost so much money that it was initially a loss. That's where that myth comes from. So I I love it. I mean, and I think Barbara's great, and I think Carol Channing was great, but you know, Barbara is fair, fair.

[22:31] Kevin David Thomas: I'll take a controversial question.

[22:34] Steve Brinberg: Okay.

[22:35] Kevin David Thomas: Uh oh.

[22:35] Steve Brinberg: I put my hand in or just leave everything.

[22:40] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, without question.

[22:41] Steve Brinberg: Just live everything.

[22:43] Kevin David Thomas: Are you kidding me?

[22:44] Steve Brinberg: That is the best.

[22:46] Kevin David Thomas: Come on.

[22:46] Steve Brinberg: Yes.

[22:50] Kevin David Thomas: I could watch that over and over again.

[22:51] Steve Brinberg: And it's funny because I put my hand in might have been easier to learn. I mean, I've listened to this my whole life, and only in London did I finally know every single lyric. I mean, it's literally like, what's the next thing coming up? What's the you mean? And I have little tricks that help me remember what's coming next.

[23:09] Steve Brinberg: That's how you, you know, like the um what's the part about if you want your torso paladin or with a 10-year guarantee. And in my head, I'm thinking, oh, Omar Sharif sings about a 10-year guarantee in Sadie. And that's how I remember Sadie. She's pregnant. The next line is about birth recorded or children or something.

[23:30] Kevin David Thomas: So in my head, I'm, you know, I finally got it on opening night in London.

[23:34] Steve Brinberg: That's not to say I'll still screw up. Because you go off one line and then you're and you know what's that one line where she yells, she's like, inspected. I forget.

[23:42] Kevin David Thomas: Oh god, it makes me laugh.

[23:43] Steve Brinberg: Oh, Cash Invested. Thank you. Cash Invested. Sorry, guys. I've added like a little line where she says, uh some nice French frequenzit. Delicious. You know. Delicious. I think it's a great, great song.

[23:55] Steve Brinberg: And I just found a YouTube of Georgia Brown singing it on a TV special in London. Oh. The same year, and she sings it. It's almost the identical arrangement, and she throws in a couple of other little funny things. Interesting. It's just it's great. It's a great number. I was really hoping that would have gone in the Bette Midler production.

[24:13] Kevin David Thomas: And I'm guessing it didn't only because I don't want to sing something that was written for Barbara Streisand.

[24:19] Steve Brinberg: Truth. As opposed to Love is Only Love, which was, you know, written for Angela Lansbury. Yes, right, right, right. But but they didn't do that either. I would have liked to have seen either of those songs in the show. I've got this out. I think that's a good thing. I guess they didn't want to change anything.

[24:31] Kevin David Thomas: So have you seen Dolly More than any other show?

[24:33] Steve Brinberg: No, or maybe maybe mainly. I would say it's it's probably Follies.

[24:50] Steve Brinberg: That's how long ago that was. Um, it was great. I saw it in LA with Vicky Carr and Patty Duke. Oh my god. I saw it. I mean, that's the one I think. Where are they doing Follies? Alaska? Okay, let's go. You know. Oh my god, you are dead at the end. It's probably my favorite show. Okay. Which cause maybe because as a kid I didn't understand it or appreciate it or even remember much about it. And I find the older we get, as you go through life, you get more out of that show. Oh my god. I mean, every decade. Same thing with Gypsy, too, I think. Oh, sure. I mean, I identified as those little girls. Oh, yeah. And now I'm one of those retired strippers. It's, you know, there's just something different each time.

[25:28] Steve Brinberg: When was the first time, if there was a moment when you instead of just singing in Barbara's voice, but you performed in full on makeup and wig? The first time I actually got in the costume was to do a show with Tommy Femia as Judy. And we sang Barbara, Judy Duet. Um, but then the first time I did my own show was probably a couple of years after that. I hadn't even really thought about it because I didn't know anything really about makeup and all that stuff. Some would say I still don't. It's very hit and miss, I would say. That's not my talent, you know. And then I remember saying to Sidney Meyer, or he actually encouraged me and he said, Why don't you just book, you know, four of them and let's see what happened? I said, Okay. So I booked the dates before I'd even written the show. Wow. And this was like when? Like ninety-three. Great, great.

[26:18] Steve Brinberg: So we booked these four shows, and back then I had the old. Um, I said I don't know what to wear. He said, Oh, why don't you go with the early 60s look? So I had the old hair and the sailor suit. And I started with No, you sing you're lonely, you know, Crimea River and all that stuff. And then after four weeks, it just took off. And the funny thing is, we then booked four more, and in those weeks between the first four and the next four, all of a sudden she announces she's gonna do her first concert in 27 years. I'm like, Okay. And that's when it just started feeding me. So then came the wedding tour when she got married, and the singer has two faces for that movie. The Fokkers tour, you know, everything. It's so handy playing someone who is very much alive and very active and vital. Yeah. Because something will happen that morning, and I'll talk about it in the show that night. So it never gets tired for me or hopefully the audience.

[27:10] Steve Brinberg: Yeah, no, just changing it all the time. And I love doing songs that Barbara has never done. Like when I did my next quest. When I sang Winter in a Summer Town from Grey Gardens. Yes, and Scott Frankl came to see, and he said that's as close as I'm gonna get to her doing it. And now I've been doing the song from Warpain, also, Beauty in the World. Oh, those are such Barbara Streisand. I think that is so fun. The idea of being like, I want to hear Barbara Streisand sing this song, but she'll never do it. But you wouldn't. And a couple of times I've sung something that she hadn't done, and then she did do it. And I swear to God, it was like I'm trying to remember which one this was. Yes, it was like note for note. Oh, I love that. Maybe it was losing my mind. You know, I love it. It's been sleepless. Yes, it's like I know where she would breathe, how she would go up, you know.

[27:59] Steve Brinberg: So instinctive, yeah. It's so unique, and like to know to change the note before the first, you know, the first time or the second, you know. Like a friend wrote a song for me to sing in my Christmas show that I did in Birdland called Take the A Train Home for Christmas. Really beautiful song, actually. And I then he sort of altered the sheet music to what I did to it, and then somebody asked me for a copy of it, and I'm like, oh gosh, now they're gonna go sing all these scooping notes that shouldn't really I'm like that shouldn't really be in the music. That's just what I'm doing to it. Yeah, but it's fine, it was flattering.

[28:33] Kevin David Thomas: Do you have a favorite Streisand album?

[28:36] Steve Brinberg: I think the one that I like every single track equally on is the People album. And in fact, when I did my first concert with Marvin Hamlisch, he was so wonderful. He said, just pick two songs that you want to do, and I'll orchestrate it for the 80 piece orchestra. And I'm like, wow. And I thought, well, I should do People or Evergreen or something really famous that the audience would appreciate. And then I selfishly chose what I loved, and one of them was How Does the Wine Taste from, you know, She Did It On My Name is Barbara, and it's just so beautiful, though. You know, it's from We Take the Town. Yeah. Um, I'm sure it didn't sound like that in We Take the Town. Um I love We're not. And I just think that whole album just makes me weep. It's just so beautiful.

[29:20] Steve Brinberg: Okay, so I think that's my very, very favorite one, actually. Yeah. And so, you know, I have a lot of favorites. It's like chills. I know it's hard. So the Simply Barbara celebrates fifty years of Hello Dolly, which is gonna be at the Green Room on April 17th and May 15th. How exactly is the evening constructed? Are you playing clips? Are you?

[29:36] Steve Brinberg: Oh no, no. I mean, I start obviously with singing Let's Just Leave Everything to Me. And so sort of we go back and forth. So we'll do like a couple of songs from Hello Dolly, and then I have a couple of songs from Barbara's album, Walls. You know, I sing What the World Needs Now and a beautiful song called Love's Never Wrong. Um, which Jay Landers, her record producer, co-wrote. Um, and then I still have Don't Run My Parade and Evergreen, the usual and of course the last number is what else so long deary, because that's the final thing. And then we put together a couple of songs, like Um It Takes a Woman Dancing and Um Sunday Clothes, because I describe how in all the Barbara Streisand musicals, she usually sings all the songs, or a man sings a couple of songs. But in Hello Dolly, there's actually something called ensemble numbers. And I'm like, someone had to explain that to me. I thought it was just what you're wearing.

[30:31] Steve Brinberg: So, like literally, you know, she's only singing a couple of lines and in I guess dancing and Sunday goes, and then someone else comes in, you know. Oh, and then of course I get to sing two of the songs that she didn't sing in the movie, which are two of the prettiest songs in the whole score. It only takes a moment, which is a duet that I do with somebody, and then ribbons down my back. Oh so and I also joke that, you know, I thought about pulling a Madonna, you know, she took the mistress's song in Evita and sang it for herself, and I thought, well, maybe I'll get to, you know, but she didn't do that. She respected the material, and those weren't Dolly's songs, so she didn't get to do it.

[31:10] Kevin David Thomas: I cannot wait to see this. I cannot wait to see the song.

[31:13] Steve Brinberg: So, once again, folks, it's at the Green Room. You can go and get tickets at the greenroom42.com, April 17th, which is when I will be there crying my eyes out. Uh trying not to sing along to the opening number, by the way. You can feed me the words. I can forget it. I don't have the teleprompter. No, no, no. Stay pounded. Uh May 15th. At seven o'clock. At seven o'clock as well, Green Room Forty Two. If you haven't been over to Green Room 42, it's an amazing one.

[31:38] Kevin David Thomas: It's wonderful.

[31:39] Steve Brinberg: It is a great space. It's a fabulous, fabulous space. Thank you so much for coming in.

[31:43] Kevin David Thomas: Well, thank you for having me. You are the absolute best. So much fun. And you are welcome back anytime you want. Because next time I'm going to ask you to dreamcast Follies for us.

[31:52] Steve Brinberg: Oh, I do that all the time anyway.

[31:54] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, give us a sneak peek. You're gonna dreamcast something else for us next time. Give me a sneak peek.

[31:58] Steve Brinberg: Of Follies?

[31:59] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[31:59] Steve Brinberg: Well, this won't this can't be for about nine years, but Kelly O'Hara and Steven Pasquale.

[32:05] Kevin David Thomas: Ooh.

[32:06] Steve Brinberg: Sally and Ben. I mean, yeah. Perfect, right? Great. Okay. But even in like a few years, I well, I thought if he wasn't doing Music Man, Hugh Jackman and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

[32:15] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, good.

[32:16] Steve Brinberg: Kristen Chenoweth.

[32:17] Kevin David Thomas: Good.

[32:18] Steve Brinberg: Oh, ooh. Like a big expensive Lincoln Center production. Just hire Steve to produce the first one. It's 50th anniversary in what, two years.

[32:25] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, there you go.

[32:26] Steve Brinberg: Oh, maybe Barbara Streisand 50 years ago.

[32:29] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, it's a good one.

[32:30] Steve Brinberg: Well, I'm dreaming about Barbara doing a movie of Follies. You're never too old to be in Follies.

[32:34] Kevin David Thomas: No, that's some part of the traditional.

[32:36] Steve Brinberg: She could be the opera lady if she has to.

[32:39] Kevin David Thomas: Exactly.

[32:39] Steve Brinberg: Great.

[32:44] Kevin David Thomas: Streisand.

[32:45] Steve Brinberg: I'd see it.

[32:46] Kevin David Thomas: I would feel like it's a good one. Barbara, Bette Midler, Liza, everybody. Put them all in it. Diana Ross.

[32:50] Steve Brinberg: I forgot to tell everybody. Go to Steve's website, simplybarbara.com, B-A-R-B-R-A.

[32:56] Kevin David Thomas: Exactly.

[32:57] Steve Brinberg: Obviously. Just to be clear on that. But he has an album called The Duets Album, which I've listened to.

[33:02] Kevin David Thomas: You've listened to this too.

[33:03] Steve Brinberg: It is fabulous.

[33:04] Kevin David Thomas: Absolutely.

[33:06] Steve Brinberg: Yeah. I mean, seriously, Mark Sendroff, Debbie Gravitte, Mimi Hines, just to name a few of the great people that are on this album.

[33:16] Steve Brinberg: Much fun doing that. And you sound so much like her.

[33:19] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, thank you.

[33:20] Steve Brinberg: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, it's fun.

[33:21] Kevin David Thomas: When I listened to the first track on this, I was like, oh, that's nice. He's starting it off with an actual recording of Barbara.

[33:27] Steve Brinberg: Like, I swear to God.

[33:29] Kevin David Thomas: I swear to God. I was like, oh, that's a nice way of doing it.

[33:31] Steve Brinberg: Nope.

[33:32] Kevin David Thomas: Well, when Laney Kazan came to see my show, it was so flattering. I started to sing, and she said to, I could hear her, she said to somebody, is he actually singing? Like she thought that's a most flattering thing.

[33:44] Kevin David Thomas: Fabulous, fabulous.

[33:45] Steve Brinberg: Steve, yeah, he is so special.

[33:47] Kevin David Thomas: So once again, Simply Barbara celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hello Dolly, greenroom42.com, April 17th and May 15th, both at seven o'clock.

[33:56] Steve Brinberg: Thanks, Steve.

[33:57] Steve Brinberg: Thank you. See you there. Bye everybody. Happy Thursday.

[34:02] ♪ Musical number: "When in Rome" — performed by Steve Brinberg ♪