Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 22, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C3 T HE man is the one and only Funny Girl . New Yorker Steve Brinberg has been the called the leading Barbra Streisand impersonator - just don't call his tribute a drag show. He prefers to think of himself as an actor in costume playing Babs, the American entertainment icon. " I do my best to look as much as I can like her," he says over the phone. " My sound is what sets me apart. Any guy with a big nose can put on a wig and lip- sync to Barbra. There is no one else who does it live, at least not male." Brinberg is making his Canadian debut in Winnipeg with Simply Barbra , an hour- long cabaret filled with banter and singing to recorded background musical tracks. It's been more than 20 years since he uttered his first, ' Hello, gorgeous' onstage. He has been all over the world, in more cities and performing more shows than Streisand herself. " It's fun because it is always changing," he says. " Whatever is happening to her is going into the show. It's very handy playing someone who is very much alive and busy. She gives me an endless supply of material." Streisand has not seen Simply Barbra, but Brinberg believes he has her tacit approval, because he was once asked to serve as her stand- in at the 60th birthday party of her pal, the fashion designer Donna Karan, in 2008. It seems people who have people to replace them are the luckiest people in the world. " She even directed my performance over the telephone, through someone telling me to say, ' Hey Donna, do you remember those flammable sweaters?'" recalls Brinberg. " I didn't know what that was about, but some personal thing between them." There is an enduring fascination with Streisand, the first person to win Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. It has been 51 years since her Broadway debut in Funny Girl and a thriving homage industry has grown up around her, with celebrity impersonators trying to capture her visually and vocally. " The fascination is probably because she has done everything you can do in show business," he says. " She has been an icon for so long and is in a class by herself. She has been famous since she was 18 and now she's 73." Simply Barbra offers an opportunity to see the publicity- shy singer be a little more chatty than she usually is in concert. Fans can expect to hear most of their Streisand favourites - Don't Rain on My Parade, People, The Way We Were and Evergreen . For Canadians, he will add references to her romance with prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who looked ready to make her " the first lady of Canada." " You get to feel like you are going to see her," says Brinberg, who saw Streisand in concert last year. " Or as someone once said, ' It's Barbra at prices you can afford.' Usually her tickets are out of control." Brinberg frankly admits he is not the most accurate Barbra look- alike. He attempts to emulate her present- day look - the black clothing, blond hair and the long nails - and applies more eye makeup than she wears to suggest her younger look. " I find after singing for a bit and having every gesture and intonation in her voice, the audience falls under the spell that they are watching her. You forget I'm not a dead ringer and the singing takes over." From an early age, Brinberg had a gift for imitation. The target was usually friends and teachers, although Streisand was a favourite even then. Although his natural voice can be found somewhere between a high baritone and low tenor, he can still duplicate her mezzo- soprano. His father once found a cassette tape of Brinberg singing like Barbra and thought it was the real thing. The most famous male he could impersonate was the British vocalist Anthony Newley and that was never going to be profitable - even in England. " Male stars, in general, are not as larger- thanlife as female stars. Because of the dresses, there is more to look at. " I always loved Sammy Davis Jr., but I couldn't do him even if I sounded like him." kevin. prokosh@ freepress. mb. ca JAMES & JAMESY IN THE DARK James & Jamesy School of Contemporary Dancers ( Venue 19), to Saturday THE latest offering from James and Jamesy ( England's Aaron Malkin and Alistair Knowles) features the gifted physical comedians wearing lampshades on their heads, but the humour here is not so broad: think Waiting for Godot meets Who's on First , as two suit- clad creatures topped with spotlights meet in the dark and make discoveries about themselves and the space around them. Is it just silliness or are they asking big questions? Spectators might be in the dark about the play's meaning, but it's worth watching for the meticulous clown choreography alone. Unfortunately, that's undermined when the actors' bodies block their hand movements and when they go into the seats, rendering themselves invisible to part of the audience. However, some masterful participatory moments near the end bordered on magical. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it makes a lasting impression. The show runs 10 minutes shorter than its advertised hour. �s �s �s � - Jill Wilson STEVEN BRINBERG IS SIMPLY BARBRA Theater Lab Houston Planetarium Auditorium ( Venue 10), to Thursday STEVEN Brinberg is simply amazing. Not only is the New York performer an excellent female impersonator, he's a professional Barbra Streisand impressionist, convincingly duplicating her gestures, speaking voice, accent and - except for a few notes - her iconic singing in this one- hour cabaret. But that's not all. At one point, " Barbara" mentions how many other female entertainers have covered her songs, and immediately demonstrates this by impersonating Eartha Kitt, Cher and Julie Andrews - and they all sound accurate. Brinberg treats his subject with admiration and affection, but refreshingly never strays into hero- worship: There are many lines that ( gently) mock Streisand's infamous controlling personality and physical business ( brushing the hair aside in photo- op slow motion, opening the eyes a bit too wide) that remind the audience this is done in fun. And if you're not a Streisand fan, buy a ticket anyway. You'll see an expert impersonation and hear some highly skilled vocals. �s �s �s �s �s - Janice Sawka DRINKING & DRAGONS Monkey Centurion Productions John Hirsch Mainstage ( Venue 1), to Saturday LOCAL playwright Gio Navarro had a vision... and it was really, really weird. The mind behind such previous fringe works as Monkey Puppet and N. C. S. I. S. N. Y. P. D. returns with this brisk and bawdy 45- minute show that combines the geekified affection for Dungeons & Dragons with the popculture appeal of FX's adult- themed animated series Archer ... with excessive imbibing added to loosen the characters' tongues. The result is, on one side of the stage, a drink- fuelled fantasy roleplaying game whose three participants are, in order, nerdy, needy and nearly obscene; on the other side of the stage, their D& D alter egos are brought to life in dizzyingly ridiculous fashion as they slay dragons, fight wizards and, eventually, begin to wonder why the obviously hammered voices in their heads are telling them to do the stupid things they do. The story is pure, fantastical nonsense, but the seven- member cast's commitment to selling the jokes makes this a brief but genuinely funny fringe- fest interlude. �s �s �s - Brad Oswald THE DEATH OF BRIAN Theatre Simple MTYP - Mainstage ( Venue 21), to Friday AS zombies continue their inescapable invasion of every aspect of our society, it should come as no surprise that they're invading the fringe. This tour de force isn't even the only zombie show at this venue. It is, however, a unique concept, one that should not have even been possible: a one- man zombie show. Writer and performer Ricky Coates ( totally committed, emotionally and physically) and director K. Brian Neel, of Seattle, find a way to make zombies new again by giving Brian, an Everyman turned undead fiend, something no zombie character has ever had: a character arc. Although Coates is alone onstage, the ingenious sound design by Dan Yost provides disembodied, recorded voices playing a number of other characters. The fact that they aren't present onstage only serves to underline the isolation and desperation of the title hero. �s �s �s �s - Ben Wiebe GOD IS A SCOTTISH DRAG QUEEN III Mike Delamont Tom Hendry Warehouse ( Venue 6), to Saturday THURSDAY night's nearly sold- out crowd loved this latest incarnation of the frumpy, profane Scottish deity, despite some shortcomings. This year, Mike Delamont, the Victoria, B. C.- based comedian and fringe veteran, brings us Part 3 of his standup act starring God in a polyester power suit, riffing this time on corrupt evangelicals, sexism in religion and rules she forgot to put in the Ten Commandments. God has some zingers, made funnier by her lilting brogue, and she earned sustained guffaws, especially for her most blasphemous bits, but some of her targets were too easy - Winnipeg's mosquitoes, Stephen Harper, dumb Americans - and her hour- long patter was unfocused and occasionally halting. �s �s �s � - Mary Agnes Welch Preview Steven Brinberg is Simply Barbra . Planetarium Auditorium ( Venue 10) Next show: 1: 45 p. m. Thursday . Tickets: $ 10 SUPPLIED PHOTO For impressionist Steven Brinberg, Barbra Streisand is an evergreen source of material. Check out winnipegfreepress. com/ fringe for more reviews Crazy In Love - �s �s �s �s �s Crazy ' Bout You, Baby - �s �s �s �s My Kinda Crazy - �s �s �s A Little Bit Crazy - �s �s Crazy Train - �s Fringe Ratings James & Jamesy In the Dark winnipegfreepress. com THE FRINGE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 C3 By Kevin Prokosh He's got great Babs New York performer flexes impersonation muscles in show devoted to Streisand AT the beginning of the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, executive producer Chuck McEwen said the festival's popularity could withstand wind, rain, heat and even recessions. He's got the numbers to back up his boasts. The fringe set another daily attendance record on Monday, as 9,211 tickets were sold for the day's slate of 123 shows, 21 of which were sellouts, he said Tuesday. Monday's record attendance was the fourth new daily mark set for this year's festival, which wraps up Sunday night. Fringe sets fourth daily attendance record C_ 03_ Jul- 22- 15_ FP_ 01. indd C3 7/ 21/ 15 6: 09: 58 PM ;