Papa, can you hear me?

It's the last episode of our Season of Babs, and we're going out strong! That's right: today we look at Barbra Streisand's magnum opus, the 1982 film Yentl – which she both directed and starred in.

We talk about:

• Prayer & Texts: What it means to study sacred texts, and the critical differences between traditionally-Christian and traditionally-Jewish ways of understanding scripture.
• Sexuality & Gender: Is Yentl transphobic, or is it ahead of its time?
• Leadership & Power: Finally, a woman at the helm of a major Hollywood film! What does Barbra’s experience directing and starring in Yentl tell us about leadership and power?
• Boats: Barbra loves a ferry. What is it about boats, water, and crossing over that so compels her? How does it tie into the immigrant story and the American Dream?

You’ll hear:

– Barbra singing “Where Is It Written,” “No Wonder,” “Several Sins A Day” (cut from the final film) and “A Piece of Sky”.

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).

Is it a musical? Is it a $6MM home movie? A contemporary Purim spiel? This is a weird movie, you guys.

The evergreen story of A Star Is Born has attracted legendary performers like Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Lady Gaga. Today, Peter and Nathan focus on the 1976 film version with Barbra and Kris Kristofferson in the context of Gaga and Garland.

We talk about:

• The Backstory: Dorothy Parker, Moss Hart, David O. Selznick, Joan Didion, and all the geniuses who should have made a better movie.
• The Crowd: 1970s, rock-and-roll culture and the phenomenon of contemporary celebrity culture. Is this idolatry in the way that Hebrew Scripture warn against?
• The Addiction: Does addiction help contemporary people understand ancient theological ideas like sin and shame?
• The Money: Why does Hollywood keep spoon-feeding us stories about self-destructive men and the women around them? Why do we keep paying money to see them?
• The Music: Ephemeral moments of artistic, intellectual, and spiritual connection found between two artists. How well does the Oscar-winning "Evergreen" capture this phenomenon?

You’ll hear:

• Kris Kristofferson and Barbra on the 1976 film soundtrack singing "Watch Closely Now," "The Woman in the Moon," and (of course) the 1976-Oscar-Winning classic, "Evergreen."

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).

It may not be a musical, but it sure is close... It's The Way We Were!

It’s 1973. Watergate has happened. Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Arthur Laurents, and Sidney Pollack get together to re-create the weepy romcom in the non-musical—but musical-theatre-adjacent!—classic The Way We Were.

We talk about:

• The Conflict: Streisand & Laurents versus Pollack & Redford, and some of the behind-the-scenes drama that led to the creation of this classic.
• The Song: Marvin Hamlisch’s classic song that put the film on the map.
• The Laughter: What does it mean to sing, "so it’s the laughter we will remember?" Laughter emerges as a marker of class & race in this film. How does that marker intersect with the misty, watercolor nature of memory – and the danger of nostalgia?
• The People & the Principles: the film’s central conflict between personal relationships and principles, and how that conflict maps (and doesn't) onto religious systems. Is Christianity about people, or is it about principles?

You’ll hear:

• Barbra singing the film’s title song from the 1973 film soundtrack, and an excerpt from the 1998 episode of Sex in the City, Episode 18 (“Ex in the City”).

Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter (@gospelofmt).