Timeless concert mirrored cape worn by Savion Glover
To ring in 2022, I’ll be taking a look at some of the costumes from the Timeless Millennium concerts and subsequent tour which consisted of eight additional shows. Timeless was a massive success. The concerts played to over 200,000 people and grossed $70 million. The first two special “Millennium” shows took place on December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. One of my favorite things about this tour was the memorable and moving opening number in which Savion Glover, playing “father time”, tap-danced to lead audiences back in time to a recreation of Streisand’s childhood recording session with her mother at Nola Studios.
Mid-way into the bit, Glover reappeared and opened this dramatic mirrored cape as Lauren Frost sang the opening bars of Something’s Coming from West Side Story. Glover wrapped Frost in the cape and did a quick spin to reveal Streisand in an effect alluding to her transformation from Brooklyn girl to superstar. I love the way they used this simple costume piece to create an exciting grand entrance, which also brings to mind Streisand’s iconic Happening in Central Park pose in her pink pleated Sharaff cape. The sparkling silver lining of this cape as a backdrop to Streisand’s deep chrome outfit truly accentuated it and made it pop onstage. The following duet between Streisand and Frost as young Barbra moves me no matter how many times I watch it.
This cape has elements reminiscent of medieval hooded cloaks. There is a two-piece velvet hood and patchwork style construction of the velvet panels on the exterior.
The cape features long sleeves with thick cuffs. The interior of the cape featured two long rods sewn into the lining. These allowed Glover to reach to each side and fully open the cape to reveal its dramatic mirrored interior. Hundreds of square mirrors in various sizes decorated the inside of the cape in a tiled motif reflective of shapes seen in the cape’s outer patchwork. With the weight of the mirrors, one can imagine keeping it held open for too long would have been quite an arm workout.
This piece of Streisand concert history was sold at a Heritage Auction in 2007 for $896.25, however, it was incorrectly attributed in the listing to having been worn on stage by Streisand herself. Its current owner and location are unknown.
