The Night Barbra Streisand Passed Up a Moment of Personal Emmy Glory

If you have watched PBS within the final week or two, you have seen it: an airing of Barbra Streisand: Timeless, Barbra Streisand‘s 2000 Fox particular which was taped stay on New Year’s Eve 1999 and New Year’s Day 2000 on the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. If you have not seen it but, make it a level to observe it. The singer, 57 on the time, was in nice voice, and was personable and even playful with the viewers.

Streisand’s efficiency on the particular introduced her a Primetime Emmy nomination for excellent particular person efficiency in a selection or music program. She was up in opposition to sturdy competitors: Steve Martin for internet hosting the 2001 Oscars, David Letterman for internet hosting Late Show With David Letterman, Will Ferrell for internet hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live, Ellen DeGeneres (who hosted that yr’s Primetime Emmys) for one of her HBO specials and Wayne Brady for internet hosting Whose Line Is It Anyway?

The votes had been in, the ballots had been tallied — after which, simply 5 days earlier than the Emmys had been to be offered, 9/11 occurred. The Emmys, which had been initially scheduled for Sept. 16, 2001, had been rescheduled twice: to Oct. 7 and, after the beginning of the War in Afghanistan, to Nov. 4. These had been scary occasions. The awards ceremony was moved from its deliberate location, the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, to the smaller Shubert Theater in Century City. To heighten safety, sharpshooters had been positioned on rooftops, attendees handed by steel detectors, close by companies had been closed, and the Shubert advanced’s two lowest underground parking ranges had been blocked off because of the threat of automotive bombs.

Will & Grace stars Eric McCormack and Debra Messing offered the award for excellent particular person efficiency in a selection or music program. Messing introduced Streisand because the winner and stated “Barbra Streisand was unable to attend this evening. We congratulate her on this honor.”

Streisand was certainly current on the Shubert, however in a present of outstanding self-discipline and sacrifice, she handed up the chance to go onstage and provides an acceptance speech. She knew that it will reduce the dramatic affect of her shock, show-closing efficiency of Rodgers & Hammerstein‘s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” by which she used her skills to attempt to heal a nation’s uncooked wounds.

She was backed by a gospel choir on the efficiency, which was dramatically staged, with names of some of these killed within the assaults on show. An indication learn, “Our hearts are broken. Our spirit is not.” That summed up the spirit of the efficiency, which introduced a standing ovation from the viewers.

Streisand’s efficiency got here three nights earlier than Alan Jackson carried out his 9/11 rumination“Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” on the Country Music Awards ceremony on the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

Gary Smith was government producer of the 2001 Emmy telecast. He had labored with Streisand for a few years, each on her personal specials and when she appeared on different reveals he labored on, reminiscent of The Judy Garland Show (1963) and Singer Presents Burt Bacharach (1971), the place Streisand memorably sang a duet with herself on “One Less Bell to Answer”/“A House Is Not a Home.” Smith additionally government produced the May 2, 2001 particular the place Streisand acquired the AFI Life Achievement Award. He died in August 2025 at age 90.

Barbra Streisand: Timeless gained a whole of 4 Emmys, additionally together with one for Marvin Hamlisch for excellent music course. It was Streisand’s fifth particular to win a number of Primetime Emmysfollowing My Name Is Barbra (1965), Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park (1969), Barbra Streisand…And Other Musical Instruments (1974) and Barbra Streisand: The Concert (1995).

TO Timeless: Live in Concert album was launched on Sept. 19, 2000. The double-disk set, Streisand’s fifth stay album, debuted and peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and charted for 17 weeks. It acquired a Grammy nomination for finest conventional pop vocal album, one of 14 nods Streisand has acquired in that class.

Here’s that efficiency from the evening of Nov. 4, 2001.