Melissa McCarthy Duets With Barbra Streisand

Actress Melissa McCarthy is still in shock after she was invited to record a musical duet with legendary entertainer Barbra Streisand.

Streisand has been recruiting fellow stars to tackle musical theatre favourites for her upcoming album, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, working with celebrities including Daisy Ridley, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Jamie Foxx.

Mike and Molly star Melissa was also revealed to be among Streisand’s new collaborators, showing off her vocals on a rendition of Anything You Can Do from 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun – and she still can’t believe her luck.

“It’s literally like, I’m in a fever dream, it’s the weirdest sentence I will ever say,” Melissa told U.S. morning show Live! with Kelly on Friday (15Jul16). “I just recorded a duet with Barbra Streisand. It’s crazy.”

The 45-year-old admits she was initially a little hesitant about accepting the collaboration invitation because she was convinced she was being pranked. However, she insists Barbra couldn’t have been more gracious.

“Everything about her is even cooler than I thought it would be,” she continued. “I went to Malibu to record this with her and it was so fun. First I thought it was a prank. I was like, ‘Oh, is this like a weird show where I show up somewhere and they’re like, we know you can’t sing?’ And I was like, ‘Does she know I can’t sing?’ and they said, ‘Yes, they’re aware of that.’

“She’s doing this album that’s like, a real lay on your back and listen to the whole album,” Melissa added. “It’s non-traditional singers and it’s kind of like snippets of scenes that will eventually fade into the song. It’s such a cool concept. She wanted performers that aren’t traditionally singers, but can still perform.”

And the actress praised Barbra for being so patient with her during the recording process.

“She can’t be any kinder and she’s so funny,” McCarthy said. “But there were times she was like, ‘No, just stay on that note,’ and I was like, ‘What note?’ She was like, ‘Just stay on the note,’ and I was like, ‘If I knew what the note was I could sing,’ and she laughed… It was maybe like, one of the best days of my life…”

Barbra Streisand 2016 Tour Dates

August 2 Los Angeles Staples Center
August 4 San Jose SAP Center at San Jose
August 6 Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena
August 9 Chicago United Center
August 11, 13 Brooklyn Barclays Center
August 16 Boston TD Garden
August 18 Washington D.C. Verizon Center
August 20 Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center
August 23 Toronto Air Canada Centre