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Barbra Streisand

 *The gay men (Sondheim, Laurents) noticed young Barbra's extraordinary voice, but they also noticed her sexual charisma. Young Barbra had an affair with her "Funny Girl" stage partner (a son of Charlie Chaplin), then she had an affair with Omar Sharif, then she had an affair with Ryan O'Neal. There is speculation she tried to seduce Robert Redford, but I'm not sure Barbra herself has confirmed this story.


*Streisand clashed with Arthur Laurents (who made enemies wherever he traveled). In her Broadway debut, Streisand continuously altered her big number. Laurents said, "You have no discipline. You don't know how to *freeze* a performance." Late in life, Laurents conceded defeat to Streisand. "You were right to experiment, to push yourself. And I was wrong."

*Once, there was a crazy plan to make a sequel to "The Way We Were." Robert Redford was going to begin an affair with a plucky young reporter. Eventually, Redford would discover that the reporter was also his daughter; she was once the infant Redford chose to abandon. I just want to point out that Redford and Streisand are both still alive. I'm ready for this movie.

*One of Streisand's ideas was to repeatedly brush the hair off Redford's forehead. We see this over many years; we see this in the final reunion, at the end of the film. Another canny operator on the set was James Woods, who had very little dialogue. Woods knew to advocate for himself; as a jilted boyfriend, he had feelings. Woods's face was so memorable, it won air time that Laurents hadn't anticipated. The face plays a surprising role in the early scenes. You can't miss it.

I'm prepared for Barbra's 1100-page memoir--due out in a few months. In the meantime, I recommend "The Way They Were" (Hofler).
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