No Return To Oz For Babs?

SYDNEY (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Barbra Streisand is planning a 2008 Asian tour with stops at New Zealand but not Australia. The omission of Australian tour dates has some Australians wondering aloud if its a snub.

She may be ditching Oz after she took some flak for her last tour. The Australian press criticized her for using an autocue for her "off-the-cuff" stage banter and she suffered from sound sound glitches during her date in Melbourne.

"She felt misunderstood," a tour insider told the Courier-Mail "She felt her efforts to reach out to audiences were not fully appreciated."

The Australian leg was still quite profitable for the singer however.

"All up, she grossed $27 million for four shows — how misunderstood is that?" Kevin Jacobsen, promoter of the Timeless tour, said last week.

As for the actual reason though, Streisand's people are playing it close to the vest. According to the Courier-Mail, Australian promoter Andrew McManus tried to lure the singer to Australia for some dates, but was told by her management team that "They said she wants to play markets she did not perform on her last tour. Hence, New Zealand this time and not Australia."

As of yet, no firm dates for the tour have been announced. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers