Barbra Streisand - Timeless (Live in Concert) - Region 1 DVD

Wow. Who else but Streisand could still pull off such an audacious moment of sentimental psychodrama, the way that only a true star could? Yet nestled within the autobiographical meringue of the legendary singer's Millennium's-End concert, performed at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on December 31, 1999, that scene--and many other such self-referential moments reliving the sundry chapters of Streisand's life and career--is quite moving in its laid-bare honesty. A fuller experience than listening to the double CD of the concert, this video record of a magical night (does anyone remember our collective Y2K anxieties that New Year's Eve?) provides the most bang for the buck when it comes to reliving all those special scenes: surprise guest appearances (Barry Gibb, Bryan Adams, Neil Diamond, and Streisand's son, Jason Gould), duets with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra (via video footage, of course), an appearance by dance master Savion Glover as Brother Time, a humorous bit with Shirley MacLaine, and several collaborations with Frost. If Timeless: Live from the MGM Grand was indeed, as Streisand claimed, the first step of a short farewell tour that ended in early 2000, it was the perfect way to exit the stage forever. --Tom Keogh