The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
#1The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:31pmSorry, but that other thread just disgusts me and I want to talk about how wonderful Barbara Cook is and the fact that we have a living legend performing nightly on Broadway again after so many years. Let's celebrate this woman and her brilliant voice! =)
#2The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:34pm
<3
Her Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall album is amazing. Everyone should be required to listen to her in her prime, so they can hear how wonderfully that voice has held up!
#2The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:34pm
Off-topic: Oh, good, the big June feud for the year is getting started.
On topic: Haven't seen SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM yet, but the recording of "Loving You" on Roundabout's website is what sold me to see the show. Can't wait to see Barbara Cook live!
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
TalkinLoud
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/09
#3The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:39pm
I've never heard Barbara Cook before, so Sondheim on Sondheim was obviously my first time seeing her live. It was a delight. I need to go out there and obtain a couple albums. Any suggestions other than the Carnegie Hall one?
And she was an absolute delight at the stage door. Such a very, very sweet woman! And funny!
Updated On: 3/21/10 at 10:39 PM
#4The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:53pm
Even though I love me some Sondheim, Barbara Cook is perhaps the largest reason I am making a trip to New York to see this. I love so much of what she's done, whether it's as Cunegonde in Candide, Amalia Balash in She Loves Me, or (my secret favorite) Margaret White in Carrie.
Even though I'm positively thrilled that I'll soon get to see (understudies aside) Raúl Esparza, Bebe Neuwirth, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Nathan Lane, Norm Lewis, etc., the thought of getting to see Cook on stage is perhaps only equaled by the fact that I'll (hopefully) get to see Angela Lansbury in a musical. I was fortunate enough to see her in Blithe Spirit, but singing in a Sondheim show might make me explode. On that note, it really makes me smile that I will be visiting at a time when four Sondheim musicals are playing.
#5The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 10:55pmmormonophobic, it sounds like you're going to have an amazing trip! You must not be able to sit still from being so excited!! :)
#6The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 11:07pm
I changed the subject line in that other thread, perhaps a little harshly, but it was less violent than my other ideas, which involved torture and dismemberment.
It is a privilege to see Barbara Cook live. Her "Loving You" is not just a performance, it is an act of love, from a great performer to a great writer, and we the audience both observe and assist, because she could not completely give Sondheim this gift without the presence of an audience.
Somewhere on an old BWW thread, I told the story of my mother and my Aunt Sally taking me as a teenager to see Barbara Cook in The Gershwin Years, a 1971 (?) touring summer stock show that was her first public performance after the period of early retirement that saw her depression and shocking weight gain.
I'll see if the search mechanism is working here again...
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#7The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/21/10 at 11:48pm
Thanks for the thread Jordan.
Any recording of Barbara is special.
One of my favorites is her recording of Disney songs,
and of course SHE LOVES ME, and you get to hear how she acts her songs.
When I was in High School our theatre director had some kind of in with Broadway and we got sets that were to be burned when a show closed.
When SHE LOVES ME was closing he sent me and a friend to see the show, we went to the box office they sent us to the stage door where the Stage Manager greeted us and gave us a tour of the stage and said he had two great seats for us. he took us to a corner with two folding chairs off stage left and said
"I hope you don't mind sitting here, just be still and quiet", and we watched SHE LOVES ME off stage.
Every actor in that show was amazing, but when Barbara Cook started the Music/Candy box sequence, I was frozen,
And when I saw SONDHEIM on SONDHEIM the other night and she started singing TAKE ME TO THE WORLD, I was transported, to a time, a place and a voice, that has no equal.
theatreguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/31/03
#8The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 12:21am
No one has sung Glitter and Be Gay better. Her phrasing, placement . . . everything is absolutley perfect.
I've only seen her live twice, but both times I've been so impressed with how wonderfully clear her voice is - she has wonderful control of it and knows exactly how to use it for maximum effect. And just the fact that she's 82 and still sharing her talents with us - at that age no one would hold it against her if she decided to take a break.
I'm so glad she's FINALLY back where she belongs, and in a production that gives her ample opportunities to show off everything she's capable of.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#9The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 5:22am
Barbara Cook is glorious. I thank her for all the joy she has given theatregoers through the years.
I don't think the show she's in now is great, but she certainly is, and always has been.
#10The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 7:45amShe's the bsst singer of American popular song. Period. The other thread was just a little to mean, and despire the fact that I was mixed on Sondheim on Sondheim, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Ms. Cook and her performance. Brava!
#11The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 11:58am
I have already listened to PLAIN AND FANCY and THE GAY LIFE today. Next up is THE GRASS HARP.
Ms. Cook was a true wonder to behold on Friday night and I felt honored to be part of the audience that welcomed her back to the Broadway stage.
We love you, Barbara Cook!
#12The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 4:29pmI've loved Barbara Cook for years. I've owned her Live at Carnegie Hall in every format it's ever been sold. My board name is a tribute to one of her most iconic characters. I've been fortunate enough to hear her live several times (nowhere near often enough). Her personality always makes me smile even while her voice can move me to tears.
#13The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 7:57pm
I saw Ms. Cook's Mostly Sondheim concert here in Seattle several years ago. I am greatly looking forward to seeing her Broadway return in about a month. I own every solo and cast album she's made, and I consider her one of the greatest interpreters of American Musical Theatre. Period. Welcome back to Broadway Dame Cook!
I wish DRG would release her Disney Album on CD but I imagine there's some kinds of rights issue. It's really a beautiful record.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
JJC
Chorus Member Joined: 5/18/07
#14The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/22/10 at 8:48pm
Barbara is my favorite singing actress, her artistry is truly incomparable!
Fans of Barbara Cook
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
#15The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 3/23/10 at 12:33amShe is one of my favorite singers of all time. I love her.
#16The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/3/10 at 11:22pm
Unavailable on VHS, laser or DVD, never before on YouTube, Barbara Cook singing Janis Ian's "Stars," from PBS 1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUjb9cHJiU
2631
#17The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 8:40am
For me, her Losing My Mind on the 1985 Follies recording is the best.
You can almost hear the audience holding its collective breath in anticipation.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#18The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 8:51am
Thank you, PalJoey. I used to love to hear her sing "Stars". I think that was from a terrific special she did for PBS in 1980 or so. It isn't available on DVD, so thanks again for the link.
She looks great in that video, too!
#19The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 9:16amIt's from the PBS video in that link and it's on the CD "It's Better with a Band"
#20The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 9:54amI have loved Barbara Cook since I first saw her in FLAHOOLEY in 1951 when my Philadelphia aunt took me to see the pre-Broadway show. I next saw her in PLAIN AND FANCY, also in Philadelphia. Then I saw the closing performance of SHE LOVES ME in NYC and marveled once again. I missed CANDIDE, but when her Carnegie Hall concert was announced, I immediately bought a ticket--Barbara Cook is back! I was especially impressed with her singing of the extended version of "My White Knight" from THE MUSIC MAN. The last time I saw her live was at the memorial for Jule Styne at the Majestic in the mid 1990's. She sang an exquisite "Neverland" from PETER PAN. I stage doored that one and got to speak briefly to her as she signed her autograph. When I mentioned that I had seen her in FLAHOOLEY, she joked that I must have been one of a very few; the show had a brief run of 40 performances. I own and treasure most of her CD's, including her lovely Christmas album. She is truly one of a kind.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#21The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 11:08am
I just saw Sondheim on Sondheim yesterday and Barbara Cook really blew me away with her numbers. This was my second time seeing Ms. Cook perform and I am so grateful to have had the privilage to see her live.
After seeing Ms. Cook the first time in 2004 I bought every recording I could get my hands on.
She is the epitome of a Legend and she never disappoints. Her "Send in the Clowns" and "Beautiful" sent shivers down my spine and a few tears. I hope to see her again and get my friends to see her too.
"Love the Art in Yourself. Not Yourself in the Art." -- Stanislavski
#22The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 1:35pmWatch the "Stars" video! She is young and magical.
#23The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 1:50pm
I adore her and think that it is her duty to sing every Broadway song ever written, so that singers in the future will know how they should be sung.
The downside of that is that they will discover that they will never be able to achieve what she does so effortlessly.
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music
"Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70
"Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
#24The Barbara Cook Appreciation Thread
Posted: 4/4/10 at 5:55pmWhat she does is beautiful and amazing now, but you can see on that video what she was like when she first began to do her solo work.
