October 2, 2003
Streisand does 'Movie' tunes her way
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
When Barbra Streisand decided to record some of her favorite tunes from other people's movies, a selection that came to mind was Calling You from the 1988 film Bagdad Cafe. She had only one request of the songwriter: Could he write a new verse for her? "I thought, it couldn't hurt to ask, right? Someone could always say no."
Composer Bob Telson was happy to oblige, and the slightly revised version wound up as one of 12 distinctly personal performances on The Movie Album. Due Oct. 14, the CD finds the diva reaffirming her stature as one of pop's foremost interpretive singers with tunes that vary from the familiar, such as Moon River and I'm in the Mood for Love, to quirkier favorites enhanced by new or previously unheard lyrics.
In the latter category, there is Stephen Sondheim's Goodbye for Now, from the Warren Beatty epic Reds, with words cut from the film version. Lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman got permission to contribute to a couple of songs, among them Andre Previn's instrumental theme More in Love With You, which Streisand and James Brolin had played at their wedding.
Other songs were made new by experience. Streisand, 61, recorded the standard Smile from a melody in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, shortly after having to put her 9-year-old Bijon-Frise, Sammy, to sleep. Brolin recently got his wife another dog as a fifth-anniversary present. "I didn't want another boy, so I got a girl, named Samantha. She's just like a little person. So I'm in love again."
Though no songs from any of the films that she has appeared in or directed are featured on Movie Album, Streisand confirms that she would like to work again in film and would even consider doing another movie musical.
In fact, she says Harvey Weinstein of Miramax approached her for the role that Renee Zellweger wound up playing in Chicago. "In Chicago on Broadway, the women were older, you know. But I said to Harvey, 'If I were you, I would get younger women for the movie.' Isn't that funny? I was thinking like a director against myself!
"But it might be interesting to do a musical based on All About Eve. Instead of being about just a Broadway star, it could be about a Broadway musical star. ... Though next time I direct, I would probably like to direct without acting."
Having taped an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to air Oct. 14, in which she sang live in a TV studio for the first time in 40 years, Streisand says she also might perform live again, although not as she did during her final series of paid concerts three years ago.
"Before, I loved creating a big production for an audience. I'm not going to do concerts like that," she says. "But I did something to raise money for the Democrats and asked if I could just sit on a stool and sing, and it was quite pleasant. Also, I found out that there's a pill for stage fright. I hadn't known that."
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