Tribute Shows Don’t Get Any Better Than ‘Barbra: The Greatest Star’

Singer, songwriter, actress, director and all-around icon: there’s a reason that Barbra Streisand is one of the world’s most ubiquitous cultural figures, which is brilliantly displayed in the Hayes Theatre’s delightfully sumptuous tribute show to the multi-hyphenate, Barbra: The Greatest Star.

Directed by and starring superstar Brittanie Shipway, who extended her brilliance to both The Pirates of Penzance and Once On This Island in the Hayes’ 2025 program, Barbra: The Greatest Star feels like the best version of a tribute show possible. You’ll rarely be able to hear Streisand’s songs – or music, full stop – sound this good in a venue as wonderful as Sydney’s lovely Hayes Theatre.

Unlike other tribute shows like the recent Putting It Together, this production doesn’t try to create any connective narrative tissue between its various musical numbers. Indeed, despite the luscious set design that feels like stumbling into an extravagant New York ballroom, Barbra feels charmingly casual and cheeky in between and during its remarkable numbers, despite the glamorous costumes and set.

It makes the show feel very much like a concert, albeit one obviously created by a team with theatrical inclinations. That means that Barbra can fully capture the breadth of its namesake’s body of work and talent, quite wonderfully capturing her variety as an artist despite a breezy 75-minute runtime.

The main reason for this is, of course, the incredible quality of performance present from the very first moments of The Greatest Star. The quartet of singers in this show are the previously mentioned Shipway, Tana Laga’aia, Laura Murphy and Stellar Perry, each of whom self-admittedly reflect a different element of the icon’s mode of musical delivery.

The terrifically talented musicians of Barbra: The Greatest Star

None of this would be possible without a truly sensational band under the direction of composer and arranger Nicholas Gentile. It’s a relatively simple four-piece band with Gentile on piano, but they are supremely impressive; it’s no stretch to say that they drive the energy of the show as much as the singers.

Speaking of them; sometimes in a tribute show like this, there’s a clear standout or someone with just one or two more good songs than everyone else. In Barbra: The Greatest Star, that’s not the case – each of these four singers shares the spotlight with their peers equally, and I walked out of the show holding all of them in extremely equal and high regard.

Many of these renditions of Streisand’s most iconic songs are, to put it simply, stunning. Whether it’s the full company performing a medley of Get Happy / Happy Days Are Here Again, Laga’aia swooning on the piano or Shipway, Murphy and Perry delivering an absurdly good rendition of Don’t Rain On My Parade, the load feels truly shared and the music sounds utterly sublime.

The sheer quality of musicianship on display in Barbara: The Greatest Star means that the show itself is totally flexible to your own relationship with Streisand. It could be a wonderful celebration of her music, performed in one of Sydney’s best-sounding musical theatre venues, or a crash course in the discography of an iconic artist. Either way, tribute shows don’t get much better than this.

Barbra: The Greatest Star is playing now at the Hayes Theatre.