Forest Hills Music Festival 1965

Streisand / LIVE 

Forest Hills Music Festival (1965)

Forest Hills
Queens, New York

August 8, 1965
Poster for the 1965 Forest Hills Music Festival
Barbra Streisand returned to the Forest Hills Music Festival in Queens, New York, which she had played the year before to great critical and financial success.

This time Barbra performed on a Sunday evening, her night off from Broadway's Funny Girl. Forest Hills reported they were sold out – 15,000 seats – about a week before the August 8th show.

In fact, there was a minor controversy about ticket sales.  There were complaints that $7 tickets were being scalped for $25!  Streisand herself was cleared of any wrongdoing, as she personally bought a block of 500 tickets for friends and record company executives.  Still, it's interesting that ticket scalping has been going on all these years, to the frustration of over-charged concert-goers.

Streisand was accompanied by a 35-piece orchestra.  Peter Matz provided the arrangements and also conducted and played the piano for her that evening.  Streisand wore a gorgeous paisley chiffon gown designed by Galanos.

Despite the threat of rain, Streisand put on a magnificent show.  The New York Times gushed, “Always on pitch, with wondrous breath control, superb diction and an excellent sense of showmanship, she went from ballads to rhythm numbers, from crescendo to pianissimo and back with very little effort. Her gestures, which would have seemed extravagant in other singers, were as natural as her floor-length beaded gown and the Brooklyn accent used in asides to the delighted crowd.”

Earl Wilson wrote in his column that several celebrities were spotted at the show, including Liza Minnelli, Tony Newley, and actor Robert Horton.

For this show, Barbra Streisand included pianist Neil Wolfe – also a Columbia Records recording artist – to play for the audience while she made a costume change.  According to one reviewer, “the fine pianistic artistry of Neil Wolfe went unnoticed by the throng. During the breaks interspersed to allow the songstress a costume change, Wolfe's solo performances were greeted by unenthusiastic applause and hoots from the crowd ... Not only was Wolfe's playing meritorious, but also his capable filler when one of the changes was unexpectedly longer than anticipated.”
During the Forest Hills show, Barbra introduced a song she said had never been sung before. The song was "All That I Want" and she said it was by the pianist Neil Wolfe. Barbra included her recording of it on album My Name is Barbra, Two.

Columbia Records produced a special tribute album for Barbra Streisand (Piano for Barbra), featuring Neil playing her hits on piano with an accompanying orchestra. In the liner notes of the album, Barbra wrote that Wolfe was “one of the most exciting pianist-composers I have ever met.”  Streisand met Neil Wolfe at her first out-of-town engagement in Detroit.

Some of the songs which were sung at the August 8, 1965 show (exact order is not known):
  • I've Got Plenty of Nothin‘ (opening song)
  • Down With Love
  • When the Sun Comes Out
  • My Man
  • Fine and Dandy
  • When in Rome
  • Why Did I Chose You?
Cover of Neil Wolfe's album,
A ticket to Barbra's 1965 Forest Hills concert
SOURCES USED FOR THIS PAGE

  • “Barbra Streisand Overwhelms 15,000 at Forest Hills Concert” by Murray Schumach.  New York Times, August 9, 1965.
  • "DiCarlo Scans The Books For Barbra's Show" by Edward O'Neill. New York Daily News, August 5, 1965.
  • “Paisley Chiffon From Galanos.” Akron Beacon Journal, December 13, 1965.
End / Forest Hills 1965
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