Audra McDonald, Kelli O'Hara, Norm Lewis and More Will Pay Tribute to Barbara Cook

Renée Fleming, Norm Lewis, Audra McDonald, Jessica Molaskey, Kelli O'Hara, John Pizzarelli, and Vanessa Williams are scheduled to perform in A TRIBUTE TO Barbara Cook, directed by James Lapine, on Monday, December 18 at 5pm at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Also scheduled to participate in the tribute to the Tony- and Grammy Award-winner and Kennedy Center honoree, who died on Tuesday, August 8 at the age of 89, are Ms. Cook's son Adam LeGrant; producer Roy Furman; lyricist Sheldon Harnick; Michael Kaiser, President Emeritus of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; actor Frank Langella; and actress Jane Summerhays.

A very limited number of free tickets to A TRIBUTE TO Barbara Cook will be available to the general public beginning Monday, December 11 at 12noon at the Vivian Beaumont Theater box office, with a limit of two per person.

Legendary singer Barbara Cook's silvery soprano, purity of tone and warm presence delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. A 2011 Kennedy Center Honoree, Ms. Cook's most recent notable appearances included her celebratory 85th Birthday concert at Carnegie Hall, her Tony Award-nominated performance in the musical Sondheim on Sondheim and a series of critically acclaimed concerts at New York's Café Carlyle, Feinstein's at the Regency and 54 Below. A leading star of the Broadway stage during the '50s and '60s, her many credits include the creation of three classic roles in the American musical theatre: Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, Marian the Librarian in Meredith Willson's The Music Man (Tony Award), and Amalia in Bock and Harnick's She Loves Me (Drama Desk Award). In 1975 she made her Carnegie Hall debut and embarked on a second career as a concert and recording artist performing to critical acclaim in most of the country's major concert halls throughout the United States as well as internationally. In 2006, she became the first female non-classical singer to be presented in solo concert by the MET. Over her long career the Grammy Award winner released scores of recordings and last year published her memoir, "Then and Now: A Memoir."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride