Editing Barbra Streisand (section)

=== Education ===
Streisand began her education at the Jewish Orthodox [[Yeshiva]] of Brooklyn when she was five.<ref>{{cite web |title=Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/luminary/streisand-barbara |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117111843/https://dbs.bh.org.il/luminary/streisand-barbara |archive-date=November 17, 2019 |website=dbs.bh.org.il |publisher=Beit Hatfutsot}}</ref> She was considered bright and inquisitive; however, she lacked discipline, often shouting answers to questions out of turn.<ref>{{cite news |last=Usborne |first=David |date=January 29, 2005 |title=Barbra Streisand: A star is reborn |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/barbra-streisand-a-star-is-reborn-488708.html |access-date=May 11, 2018 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref><ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|3}} She next attended Public School 89 in Brooklyn, and during those early school years began watching television and going to movies. "I always wanted to be somebody, to be famous... You know, get out of Brooklyn."<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|3}}

Streisand became known by others in the neighborhood for her voice. She remembers sitting on the stoop in front of their apartment building with the other kids and singing: "I was considered the girl on the block with the good voice."<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|3}} That talent became a way for her to gain attention. She would often practice her singing in the hallway of her apartment building, which gave her voice an echoing quality.<ref name="Rossi2" />

She made her singing debut at a PTA assembly, where she became a hit to everyone but her mother, who was mostly critical of her daughter. Streisand was invited to sing at weddings and summer camp, along with having an unsuccessful audition at MGM records when she was nine. By the time she was 13, her mother began supporting her talent, helping her make a four-song demo tape, including "[[Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart]]" and "[[You'll Never Know]]".<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|4}}

Becoming an actress was her main objective. That desire was made stronger when she saw her first Broadway play, ''[[The Diary of Anne Frank (play)|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'', when she was 14. The star in the play was [[Susan Strasberg]], whose acting she wanted to emulate.<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|4}} Streisand began spending her spare time in the library, studying the biographies of various stage actresses such as [[Eleanora Duse]] and [[Sarah Bernhardt]]. In addition, she began reading novels and plays and studying the acting theories of [[Konstantin Stanislavski]] and [[Michael Chekhov]].<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|4}}

In 1956, she attended [[Erasmus Hall High School]] in Brooklyn, where she became an honor student in modern history, English, and Spanish. She also joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, where she sang with another choir member and classmate, [[Neil Diamond]].<ref>Jackson, Laura. ''Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion,'' ECW Press (2005) p. 155</ref> Diamond recalls, "We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes." The school was near an art movie house, and he recalls that she was always aware of the films they were showing.<ref>''Rolling Stone'', March 21, 1996, p. 36</ref> She had a crush on 15-year-old US Chess Champion and fellow student [[Bobby Fischer]], whom she found to be "very sexy".<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Fischer Mysteries by Edward Winter |url=https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fischer1.html |accessdate=July 2, 2022 |website=Chesshistory.com |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Boyer |first=David |date=March 11, 2001 |title=Neighborhood Report: Flatbush; Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-flatbush-grads-hail-erasmus-as-it-enters-a-fourth-century.html |accessdate=August 15, 2009 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

During the summer of 1957, she landed her first stage experience as a walk-on at the Playhouse, in [[Malden Bridge, New York]]. That small part was followed by a role as the kid sister in ''Picnic'' and as a vamp in ''Desk Set''.<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|4}} In her second year, she took a night job at the [[Cherry Lane Theatre]] in [[Greenwich Village]], helping backstage. When she was a senior, she rehearsed for a small part in ''Driftwood'', a play staged in a midtown attic space.<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|5}}

She graduated from Erasmus Hall in January 1959 at age 16, and despite her mother's pleas that she stay out of show business, she set out trying to get roles on the New York City stage.<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|5}} After renting a small apartment on 48th Street in the heart of the theater district, she accepted any job she could involving the stage, and at every opportunity, she "made the rounds" of the casting offices.<ref name="Nickens" />{{rp|5}}