Penn Choir sings backup for Streisand

The fans were screaming. The cameras were flashing. And when the red carpet was rolled out, approximately 40 members of the Penn Choir made their way down the velvet runway alongside the likes of Rosie O'Donnell and Billy Crystal. Walking into a sold-out Madison Square Garden last week, the choir wasn't just there to see what was billed as Barbra Streisand's final performance -- they were a part of it. Selected students, faculty, alumni and Philadelphia community members that comprise the choir had the opportunity to sing with the ageless diva during her final two performances on September 27 and 28. "I was just thrilled," College sophomore Mary Cramer said. "You can sing in a lot of places with a lot of people, but I think Madison Square Garden with Barbra Streisand is about as big as it gets." The opportunity arose last August when Streisand's program director contacted Penn Choir Director William Parberry, specifically requesting that the choir do the show. "I was just personally taken away by it," College senior Steven Gearhart said. "I didn't know that much about Barbra Streisand beforehand, but it was incredible." For four songs, the choir members remained in a room backstage. They used television monitors to coordinate with Streisand, while their voices were piped through the sound system to the audience. The most exciting moment of the show, however, came during the second act, when the choir sang "Happy Days Are Here Again" onstage before the audience of 12,500, who in some cases forked over thousands of dollars for a ticket. "It was pretty overwhelming," said choir member Nancy Hornberger, a professor in the Graduate School of Education. "It gave me a real appreciation of what it must be like for [Streisand] as an individual performer in front of all those people." Interestingly, the choir's expertise is not in popular music, but rather choral arrangements of classical music. So, through a series of 14 rehearsals since early last month, the group had to learn six of Streisand's songs. Both the Penn Choir and the Choral Society perform once each semester. While onstage, the choir not only stood directly in front of Streisand, but arranged themselves less than 20 feet from the front row of celebrity attendees. "We saw Madeleine Albright, Glenn Close, Sarah Jessica Parker," Gearhart said. "That in itself was pretty exciting." But Streisand's show isn't even the first time the Penn Choir has performed with a famous singer. In 1998, the choir sang with Michael Crawford, best known for his role as the original Phantom of the Opera. Their impressive performance with Crawford led to the recent invitation to sing with Streisand. Committing to the show involved signing a lengthy contract with Streisand's company containing specific rules about their behavior. For instance, the contract legally bars the choir from saying anything unflattering about the star. And, in keeping with the terms of the pact -- whether intentionally or not -- several choir members gushed when asked about "Babs." "It's a pretty incredible experience to say that I sang with someone who's been so large a part of American music culture," Cramer said. Though the choir did not actually meet Streisand, they did get to take home souvenirs such as T-shirts, their backstage passes and music from the show. And while some fans paid as much as $2,500 for a ticket -- the highest price ever charged for an event at Madison Square Garden -- the choir members had the best seats in the house for free. Aside from these material bonuses, however, most agreed that their short time in the spotlight was the highlight of the event, whether onstage or off. "I had to exit on the red carpet," Parberry recalled. "One of the practical jokers in the group yelled out OThere's Bill Parberry!' and [the cameras] started flashing."

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