If her name sounds familiar, it's because Ms. Cook has been delighting Broadway audiences for more than 50 years. She made her Broadway debut in 1951 as the lead in the musical Flahooley.Beloved as Marian the Librarian in The Music Man, Cungonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide and Amalia in She Loves Me, Cook was once Broadway's favorite ingnue.Her many recordings include eight original cast albums, two albums of songs by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, Songs of Perfections, an album featuring poems by Dorothy Parker, Close as Pages in a Book, featuring the lyrics of Dorothy Fields, As of Today, Barbara Cook: Live from London, Oscar Winners: The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein, All I Ask of You and The Champion Season: A Salute to Gower Champion. At Tilles Center, Cook performs Mostly Sondheim with Wally Harper, her longtime collaborator, pianist and musical director. They've been working hand-in-hand since 1974; theirs is a shining model of artistic collaboration and enduring friendship."Wally and I chose the songs together," she explains. "It came about because we were looking for an idea and I said why don't we do songs from shows I wish I had been in?" she laughs. "And we worked on that for a little bit then Wally said why don't we do some of Stephen's list of songs that he wishes he had written-shows I wished I been in-songs he wished he written-that's how it came about."We've been doing this for about 2 years. Since it's mostly Sondheim, I was able to choose songs that I already knew...and Stephen has very good taste in songs so it was a very easy thing to put together, really." Cook has known Sondheim for quite some time and says he's very happy with the show, which was actually created to honor his 70th birthday. Cherished for her seemingly effortless vocalizing and wonderful delivery of lyrics, Cook is ideally suited for Sondheim's sophisticated musical constructions and witty lyrics. Last year she 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. She was recently inducted into the Broadway Hall of fame, which she is very pleased about. She's starred in Oklahoma, Carousel, Candide, The Music Man, She Loves Me, The King and I (she says Mrs. Anna was her favorite role) and Showboat-and has been declared a living landmark in New York City. "That means they can't do without me," she laughs.
Why is clear when you see Mostly Sondheim. Cook's silvery soprano and purity of tone are breathtaking. The show begins by grabbing you with the song Everybody Says Don't by Sondheim and never lets you go. Other hits in the show include I got Lost in His Arms by Irving Berlin, You Can't Get A Man With a Gun also by Irving Berlin, Send In the Clowns by Sondheim, Loving You by Sondheim, Ice Cream by Bock and Harnick, and many more memorable tunes.
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, C.W. Post Campus, Brookville.
Tickets: $60, $50, $38. Seniors: $57, $47, $35. For more info call 299-3100.
