Barbara Cook

[suzyq]

It's not often that we are fortunate enough to hear Barbara Cook perform - she's in fine voice and truly gifted.

She was given a standing ovation as she entered the stage and this was before she sang a note.  This was last night (5/30/09) Avery Fisher Hall - my brother was attended this performance said and so do I "I'm glad I went, we won't see her like again". 

Did Good Music member attend?

[SonicMan46]

Hi Suzyq - wife & I are great fans of this Broadway legend - did not see the performance mentioned, but own a couple of CDs of her preforming and also saw her in San Francisco a number of years ago @ the Fairmont Hotel - kind of a small room so we were quite close to her - really enjoyed!   

P.S. Image (left) - kind of look like this when we saw her; but (right) much earlier in her Tony winning role in the Music Man - 

 

[suzyq]

I wish I had seen her in Music Man - she is a true artist in every sense of the word.

She did not use a Mike to sing her encore - and it's a big theatre - thanks for the pictures - they are wounderful.

[zamyrabyrd]

I like the black and white picture.
Music Man:
"Ya got trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for POOL!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI

ZB

[karlhenning]

Gary, Indiana, aught-5

[SonicMan46]

Yep, Robert Preston as Harold Hill is one of my favorite roles in a musical (and I own a LOT of musicals!) - he won the Tony for that role when on Broadway, but don't believe that he was even nominated for the Oscar in the 1962 film - oh well.

BTW, for those who like Cook and Sondheim music (which is my wife!) - we have the DVD pictured below - only $10 on the Amazon Marketplace.  

[karlhenning]

Yep, Robert Preston as Harold Hill is one of my favorite roles in a musical (and I own a LOT of musicals!) - he won the Tony for that role when on Broadway, but don't believe that he was even nominated for the Oscar in the 1962 film - oh well.

It was a rich field . . . the nominees for Best Actor that year were Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird), Burt Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz), Jack Lemmon (Days of Wine and Roses), Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce - Italian Style . . . a subtly scandalous title, si?) & Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia).

[SonicMan46]

It was a rich field . . . the nominees for Best Actor that year were Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird), Burt Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz), Jack Lemmon (Days of Wine and Roses), Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce - Italian Style . . . a subtly scandalous title, si?) & Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia).

Karl - yep, I own most of those films - where have those days gone!  Dave

[zamyrabyrd]

I nominate Basil Fawlty!!!

[Harpo]

...own a couple of CDs of her performing and also saw her in San Francisco a number of years ago @ the Fairmont Hotel - kind of a small room so we were quite close to her - really enjoyed!  

At 70+ she's still got a great voice--light, rather than "operatic." Since she started as a musical actress, her facal expression and body language really put across the songs. The DVD has a "special feature" of a master class, teaching young singers how to interpret songs. I would have loved to be there, since I studied voice a long time ago and still love to sing.

[Tsaraslondon]

At 70+ she's still got a great voice--

According to Wikipedia, she was born in 1927, which would make her 82!. I heard her last year in London. Though she may choose lower keys now than she used to, her voice seemed utterly untouched by the passage of time - a remarkable feat indeed. I remember seeing an interview with her some years ago, in which she talked about performing in Candide. She said that if she'd had any idea how difficult Glitter and be gay was, she'd have never even attempted it. As it was, she was young and just got on with it, and, IMO, she gets more out of it, on the Broadway recording, than any operatic soprano I have heard sing it since; not to mention that, uniquely in this piece, you can hear every word.