Barbara Cook's silvery soprano, purity
of tone, and warm presence have delighted audiences around the
world for more than 50 years. Recently inducted into the
Broadway Hall of Fame, Tony, Grammy, and Drama Desk Award winner
Barbara Cook was considered "Broadway's favorite ingenue" during
the heyday of the Broadway musical. In subsequent years she
launched a second career, as concert and cabaret artist. Whether
in the intimate setting of New York's Café Carlyle or on the
stages of major international venues the world over, Cook's
popularity continues to thrive—as evidenced by her 1997 birthday
concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Albert Hall
in London, her triumphant returns to Carnegie Hall in 1998 and
again in 2001, and her New Year's Eve Millennium concert with
the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Along with her longtime accompanist Wally
Harper, Cook recently completed a critically acclaimed
seven-week engagement at the Lincoln Center Theater (where they
will return in summer 2002), performing their popular sensation
Mostly Sondheim. They will also bring that show to the Kennedy
Center. Mostly Sondheim was recently mounted as a theater piece
for the London stage and proved to be the smash hit of the 2001
summer season, garnering two Laurence Olivier Award nominations.
Last year Cook performed with
composer-conductor Marvin Hamlisch at the Hollywood Bowl with
the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as at the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts. And she was one of the only American
performers chosen to perform at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts
Festival in the fabled Sydney Opera House.
The Atlanta native made her Broadway debut in
1951 as the ingenue lead in the musical Flahooley. Next, she
played Ado Annie in the City Center revival of Oklahoma!, which
was followed by a national tour of that perennial favorite. Her
1954 performance as Carrie Pipperidge in Rodgers and
Hammerstein's Carousel led to the role of Hilda Miller in
the original production of Plain and Fancy. She went on
to create the role of Cunegonde in the original production of
Leonard Bernstein's Candide, a part she followed up with
her portrayal of Marian the Librarian in the premiere production
of Meredith Willson's The Music Man; for this
performance, Cook earned a Tony. In addition to starring roles
in She Loves Me, The Gay Life, and The Grass
Harp, Cook also played Mrs. Anna in the legendary City
Center revival of The King and I. She appeared in a
second production of Carousel at the City Center, this time in
the Julie Jordan role. Some time later she played Magnolia in
the New York State Theatre production of Jerome Kern and Oscar
Hammerstein's fabled Showboat. Cook originated the role
of Patsy in Jules Feiffer's Little Murders, and in 1972
she again returned to the dramatic stage in the Repertory
Theatre of Lincoln Center's production of Gorky's Enemies.
In 1974 Cook began a creative partnership
with musical arranger, accompanist, composer, dance arranger,
and conductor Wally Harper; theirs is a shining model of
artistic collaboration and enduring friendship. Numerous
recordings mark the journey of this unique 25-year partnership,
beginning with BARBARA COOK AT CARNEGIE HALL, a live recording
of their legendary 1975 Carnegie Hall debut, now freshly
re-released by Sony Records. A subsequent engagement at Carnegie
Hall in September 1980 was captured on IT'S BETTER WITH A BAND,
produced and arranged by Harper. Cook and Harper have traveled
the world together and performed a number of times at the White
House—for Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.
In September 1985 Cook appeared with the New
York Philharmonic Orchestra as Sally in the renowned concert
version of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. She also recorded
Rodgers and Hammerstein's CAROUSEL and THE DISNEY ALBUM for MCA.
Nominated in 1986 for an Olivier Award for her one-woman show at
London's Albery Theatre, Cook received the Drama Desk Award in
1987 for her Broadway show A Concert for the Theatre, a
highlight of her then-13-year collaboration with Wally Harper.
In October 1991 Cook's appearance as a featured artist with
Harper at the Carnegie Hall Gala Music and Remembrance: A
Celebration of Great Musical Partnerships underscored their
commitment to two important causes: the advancement of the
performing arts and support of AIDS research.
Cook's studio recordings include eight
original cast albums; two Ben Bagley albums of songs by Jerome
Kern and George Gershwin; an album called SONGS OF PERFECT
PROPIETY, featuring poems by Dorothy Parker set to music by
Seymour Barab; and AS OF TODAY on the Columbia label. Cook can
also be heard as the voice of Thumbelina's mother in the Warner
Bros. animated film Thumbelina, with music by Barry
Manilow, now available on homevideo. Her most recent recordings
have been for DRG Records: CLOSE AS PAGES IN A BOOK, featuring
the lyrics of Dorothy Fields; BARBARA COOK: LIVE FROM LONDON;
OSCAR WINNERS: The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein; ALL I ASK OF
YOU; THE CHAMPION SEASON: A Salute to Gower Champion; and her
latest release, BARBARA COOK SINGS MOSTLY SONDHEIM.
