Quotes on acting 5: Barbra Streisand

I had Barbra Streisand audition a couple of times for shows and the reaction was: ‘She sings great, but what can we do with a girl who looks like that?’ Along came I Can Get It For You Wholesale. I thought the role of Miss Marmelstein might just fit Miss Streisand.

I scheduled her last on the day of auditions. She arrived late, rushed onstage in her raccoon coat, explaining she was late because she’d seen the most marvelous shoes in a thrift shop window and just had to go in to get them. Only one of each pair fit, but she loved them anyhow and didn’t we think they were wonderful? She was wearing two unmatched shoes. She started to sing and then stopped after two notes, chewing gum all through this rapid-fire monologue, saying she must have a stool, could anyone find a stool for her, please? By this time the auditors were muttering to me, ‘Where did you find this nut?’ She sang the first two notes of her song, then stopped again. This time to take the gum from her mouth and squash it on the underside of the stool. THEN she sang. She mesmerized ’em. They asked her to sing two more. After that, they converged on the stage to explore their new discovery up close.

David Merrick, who was the producer, took me to the back of the house alone.

‘I thought I told you,’ he said, ‘that I don’t want ugly girls in my shows!”

‘I know, David, but she’s so talented.’

‘Talented, shmalented. I don’t want ugly girls in my shows.’

‘But –‘

‘There’s no buts! Look at them, swarming all over her. They love her! What am I going to do now? I’ll never get rid of her!’

Then – when Miss Streisand and all the others had gone, Mr. Laurents called me back. He was alone, sitting onstage on the stool Miss Streisand had commandeered.

‘Look at this.’ Arthur Laurents said to me. ‘Run your hand over the bottom of this stool.’

I did. There was no gum. She hadn’t recovered her gum. Arthur had been watching to see if she would. There had never been any gum.

‘My God,’ said Arthur. ‘What have we got on our hands here?’

It was the first inkling of what an incredible actress this young singer was: an adventuress who at 18 had her shit together so strong, she took the risk of putting on an act about a raccoon coat, shoes that didn’t match, a stool, and a piece of imaginary gum.

It wasn’t long after that, Mr. Merrick was paying her $5,000 a week to do Funny Girl and she was the biggest star on Broadway.

— Michael Shurleff
Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part