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Barbara Cook | |
|---|---|
 Cook at the 2009 premiere of the Metropolitan Opera | |
| Background information | |
| Born | October 25, 1927 |
| Origin | Atlanta , Georgia , U.S. |
| Genres | Musical theatre , traditional pop |
| Occupations | Singer , actress |
| Years active | 1951–present |
| Labels | Urania (1958–1959) Columbia (1975–1977) DRG (1993–present) |
| Website | www.barbaracook.com |
Barbara
Cook (born October 25, 1927) is an American singer and actressBroadway musicals Candide (1956) and The
Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony
Award for the latter. She continued performing mostly in theatre
until the mid 1970s, when she began a second career that continues to
this day as a cabaret and concert singer. who first came to prominence in the
1950s after starring in the original
During her years as
Broadway’s leading ingénue Cook was lauded for her
excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly
admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive
interpretations. As she has aged her voice has taken on a darker
quality, even in her head voice , that was less prominent in her
youth.[1] Today
Cook is widely recognized as one of the "premier interpreters" of
musical theatre songs and standards, in particular the songs of composer
Stephen Sondheim . Her subtle and sensitive
interpretations of American popular song continue to earn high praise
even into her eighties.[2]
In
January 2006, Cook became the first female pop singer to be presented
by the Metropolitan Opera in the company's more
than one hundred year history. She presented a solo concert of Broadway
show tunes and classic jazz standards, and was supported on a few
numbers by guest singers Audra McDonald and Josh
Groban . The concert was recorded and subsequently released on CD.
On June 25, 2006, Cook was the special guest star of the Award Winning Gay Men's Chorus of
Washington, D.C. , celebrating GMCW's Silver Anniversary in a
performance at the Kennedy Center in
Washington DC.
Cook was the featured artist at the Arts! by
George gala on September 29, 2007 at the Fairfax campus of George Mason University .[ 6] On October 22,
2007, Cook sang at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (Fort
Lauderdale, FL) with the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus in the
chorus's concert entitled "An Evening With Barbara Cook". Upon
completion of the concert, an almost full house greeted her with a round
of "Happy Birthday" in honor of her impending 80th birthday. On
December 2, 2007, Cook celebrated her birthday in the UK with a concert
at the home of English National Opera - The Coliseum Theatre , in London's West End.
Most notably
as she entered her ninth decade, she performed in two sold-out concerts
with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. The New York
Times reviewer threw his hat in the air, writing of Miss Cook as "a
performer spreading the gospel of simplicity, self-reliance and truth"
who is "never glib" and summoning adjectives such as "astonishing" and
"transcendent," concluding that she sings with "a tenderness and honesty
that could break your heart and mend it all at once."[ 7]
In June
2008, Cook appeared in Strictly Gershwin at the Albert Hall in
London, England with the full company of English National Ballet . She
appeared with the Ulster Orchestra as the Closing Concert of the Ulster
Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on 31 October 2008. Her other 2008
appearances included concerts in Chicago, West Palm Beach and San
Francisco. In 2009 she performed with the Princeton Symphony, Detroit
Symphony, and gave concerts in Boca Raton, Florida and at the McCarter Theatre in
Princeton. She is currently performing in a cabaret show in New York
City which opened in April 2009.
Cook returns to Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre 's Stephen Sondheim revue "Sondheim on Sondheim ", created and directed by
long-time Sondheim collaborator James
Lapine , that begins at Studio
54Vanessa L. Williams
posted on Mar 28, 2010 6:29 PM ()
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