Barbara Cook
Birthday: 1927-10-25
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Synopsis
Barbara Cook (born October 25, 1927) is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter. She continued performing mostly in theatre until the mid 1970s, when she began a second career that continues to this day as a cabaret and concert singer.
During her years as Broadway’s leading ingénue Cook was lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. As she has aged her voice has taken on a darker quality, even in her head voice, that was less prominent in her youth. Today Cook is widely recognized as one of the "premier interpreters" of musical theatre songs and standards, in particular the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim. Her subtle and sensitive interpretations of American popular song continue to earn high praise even into her eighties.
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Acting
Thumbelina
as Mother (voice)
Born of a flower and growing to only a couple of inches tall, poor Thumbelina is worried she'll never meet someone her own size, until she happens to catch the eye of Prince Cornelius of the Fairies. Just as soon as she finds love, however, it's torn away from her when she is kidnapped by Ms. Toad. Now Thumbelina has to escape Ms. Toad's grasp and search for Prince Cornelius. Luckily, there's a whole city of animals willing to help her.
Follies In Concert
as Herself / Sally Plummer
The 1971 Broadway musical “Follies” contains one of the great Sondheim score. However its original cast album was notoriously problematic and heavily truncated. With a view to recording a more complete version of the score, a staged concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, was performed and filmed on September 6 and 7, 1985. The concert starred Barbara Cook,, George Hearn, Mandy Patinkin and Lee Remick, and featured Carol Burnett, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Liliane Montevecchi and Elaine Stritch. Frank Rich, in his New York Times review, noted that "As performed at Avery Fisher Hall, the score emerged as an original whole, in which the 'modern' music and mock vintage tunes constantly comment on each other, much as the script's action unfolds simultaneously in 1971 (the year of the reunion) and 1941 (the year the Follies disbanded)."
