Apr 3
Watch: Jonathan Groff 'Died a Thousand Gay Deaths' When Meryl Streep Sent Streisand a Video of His Backstage 'BAR bra'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
"Looking" star and Barbra Streisand fanatic Jonathan Groff regaled "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon with the tale of the time Meryl Streep paid a visit to his dressing room speakeasy, the "Bar-bra" – and sent Streisand a video.
Appearing on "The Tonight Show" on April 1, Groff – currently starring on Broadway in a production of "Merrily We Roll Along" – "explained that on April 5, 1961, 'Funny Girl' star Streisand, now 81, made her television debut on 'The Tonight Show,' which was being shot at the Hudson Theater at the time, which is also where his Broadway play is currently being shown," People Magazine recounted.
As if that wasn't "connectivity" enough – Groff's word – he turned his dressing room into an informal watering hole named in Streisand's honor, with a blue neon sign proclaiming "BAR bra."
"In honor of Barbra Streisand – that's how she spells her name – I turned my dressing room into a bar," Groff told an amused Fallon, before listing some of the patrons his dressing room bar has drawn.
"We've had the divas. We've had Sutton Foster and Patti LuPone," Groff detailed. "And Glenn Close sent a bottle of champagne back."
But all of that paled to the double whammy of Meryl Streep gracing Groff's "BAR bra" with her presence. "I was, like, 'Meryl's in BAR bra,'" Groff recounted. "Like, I can't believe this is happening!"
Streep, Groff recounted, asked him to pose under the neon sign and took out her phone. Groff assumed she was taking a photo – until Streep began narrating, and Groff realized that the Oscar-winning actress was making a video of him and the space... and addressing her narration to none other than Streisand.
Groff illustrated the impact the moment had on him, dropping out of his chair and onto the floor. "I died!" Groff cried, climbing back into the chair. "I died! I fucking died!"
As the audience laughed and clapped, Groff added, "Meryl made a video for Barbra. I died a thousand gay deaths!"
Watch Groff tell the story below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
