Streisand’s Malibu Mall

Only in Malibu could the truth sound more theatrical than the fiction.

Beneath a barn on Barbra Streisand’s Malibu estate really is a private shopping street, complete with cobblestones, an antique shop, doll shop, gift shop, vintage clothing boutique, and even a sweet shop. The catch? Nothing is actually for sale. Streisand already owns everything.

Playwright Jonathan Tolins discovered the extraordinary setup in Streisand’s 2010 book, My Passion for Design, and joked that he wanted to meet “the guy who works down there.” No such employee existed, so Tolins invented one – and Buyer & Cellar was born.

Opening Ensemble Theatre Company’s season at the New Vic, the one-man comedy stars Brian McDonald as Alex, a struggling L.A. actor hired to staff Barbra’s mall – along with an entire cast of characters, Barbra included.

Director Jamie Torcellini and McDonald have history together, having shared the stage in A Tuna Christmas. Jamie writes that the pair “finish each other’s sentences” – chemistry well suited to a show that moves quickly between fantasy, celebrity, loneliness, and connection.

Artistic Director Scott DeVine chose it to launch ETC’s new season, California: Here and Now, noting that it seemed fitting to begin “in Malibu, one floor below ground, in a shopping mall with exactly one customer.”

Among the Visionary Producers are Cheryl Goldberg, The John C. Mithun Foundation, Dana White, and Geof and Laura Wyatt. Also sponsoring are Kathy Weber, Montecito Bank & Trust, Dan and Donna Hone, Gary Justice, and Terry Bickmore. 

It’s a delicious premise rooted in a wonderfully real piece of California eccentricity: a private mall beneath a barn, a fictional clerk behind the counter, and one very famous customer who already owns the merchandise.

Only in Malibu. For the rest of us, only this month at the New Vic.