| Issue #35, November 24, 2006 |
Barbara Cook At WHBPAC
Singing sensation Barbara Cook will return for the third time to the stage of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center this Saturday night, November 25, over the big Thanksgiving Weekend. She is one of the world’s few singers who is still belting out Broadway and other tunes after a 55-year career which has taken her around the world. In her illustrious career, she has sung on the world’s top stages, from the New York Metropolitan Opera, to Avery Fisher Hall, to Carnegie Hall, to the New York Café Carlyle, to the Royal Albert Hall and other stages in London, to many stages in Australia.
“We are so thrilled to have Barbara Cook come once more to our village,” said Joanna Ferraro-Levy, Associate Director of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, a passionate fan of Cook’s, who has seen her perform at this center in 2000, 2002, and 2005. “She is my favorite entertainer, and I also saw her sing at the New York Metropolitan Opera over last winter. I would strongly urge anyone who has never seen one of her performances to come to our theater for this great opportunity. Barbara Cook is divine – when she opens her mouth, everything else fades away.”
Cook was born in 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, and made her professional debut in 1950 at the “Blue Angel” in New York City. The following year, she made her Broadway debut as the ingénue lead in the musical, Flahooley. She followed with several more Broadway performances, notable as Ado Annie in the City Center revival of Oklahoma!, and in 1954, as Carrie Pipperidge in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. In 1955, she also starred as Hilda Miller in Plain and Fancy, which was her first real Broadway success, and for which she got the Theater World Award. Cook’s radiant stage persona and her equally radiant soprano voice, began earning her a reputation as one of the foremost rising stars during the “golden age” of the American Broadway musicals of the 1940s through the 1960s.
She created the role of Cunegonde in the original production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in 1956. Cook went on to star in two classic roles, as Marian the Librarian in The Music Man (which earned her a Tony Award), and as Amalia in the noted musical, She Loves Me, in 1963. Cook played other significant roles in such leading Broadway shows as The King and I, The Gay Life, The Grass Harp, and also in Showboat. She also played on the dramatic stage in the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center’s Enemies.
Throughout this time, Cook also actively appeared on television and was a frequent guest on such shows as Toast of the Town, The Bell Telephone Hour, and Producer’s Showcase. She also had non-singing roles in the popular Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Kraft Television Theatre.
In 1974, Cook began a creative partnership with musical arranger, accompanist, composer, conductor, and dance arranger Wally Harper, which lasted for almost 31 years, until his untimely death in 2004. During their unique collaboration, Cook re-emerged in a new role as concert singer supreme. Under Harper’s brilliant musical direction, Cook took the cabaret and concert world by storm, becoming one of the most sought-after vocalists worldwide. Together, this team released a live recording of Cook’s legendary 1975 Carnegie Hall debut called Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall. Cook and Harper traveled the world together, from New York to Australia, performing several times at the White House, for such presidents as Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush.
In September of 1985, Cook appeared with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as “Sally” in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. She also recorded The Disney Album for the MCA record label, and she recorded Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein. She also helped to make aware and promote her two causes, AIDS research and the advancement of the performing arts, during her performance at the Carnegie Hall Gala, Music and Remembrance, in October of 1991. She was also one of the only American artists chosen to perform at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival in the Sydney Opera House.
Throughout her illustrious singing career, this lilting soprano has recorded eight original cast albums, two Ben Bagley albums of songs by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, and an album called, Songs of Perfect Propriety, featuring poems by Dorothy Parker. Cook has also appeared as the voice of “Thumbelina’s mother,” in the animated film Thumbelina, by Warner Brothers. Some of her more recent DRG recordings include “Barbara Cook: Live From London,” “All I Ask of You,” and “Count Your Blessings,” a collection of Christmas songs which was nominated for a Grammy.
There is also Barbara Cook-Tribute, Barbara Cook: Songs From the Heart, Barbara Cook’s Broadway, and Barbara Cook: Mostly Sondheim.
In recent years, in addition to her busy concert touring and recording schedule, Cook has become a highly respected music teacher who is in great demand for her Master Classes. She constantly shares her many ideas and her musical philosophy with audiences around the world, where she describes her lengthy career as a “work in progress.” Cook has been described as “enthusiastic” and “passionate” about her work, which she tries to share in motivating younger students. In her teaching, she tries to help each student find his or her “essence” and to communicate this to the audience.
Over her more than 50 years spent performing around the world, Cook has accumulated millions of devoted fans. One of these, Joanna Ferraro-Levy, said she hopes more people will take this opportunity to come to see her sing this Saturday night. “This is a woman who has performed on all the major stages in the world, so we’re really honored to have her here in Westhampton Beach,” she said. “When she sings, magic happens, and it’s about as good as it gets.” For tickets and more information, call the WBPAC box office at (631) 288-1500.
– Debbie Tuma
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