Barbara Cook’s voice has thrilled audiences for 50 years, and yet the incomparable interpreter of America’s Songbook is often nervous before going on stage.
“To calm myself when I’m standing in the wings, I tell myself, ‘Give it back,'” she says. “I was given a gift and I want to share it with others.”
Her Kennedy Center concert tonight is her gift of Broadway showstoppers and melodic selections from her vast repertoire of music by both popular composers and newcomers to the craft.
2008 was a banner year for Cook. She celebrated her 80th birthday performing at the London Coliseum, followed by a Gershwin program with the English National Ballet at Albert Hall. The show was so enthusiastically received that it will be repeated in Australia’s Sydney Opera House and other international venues when the faltering economy worldwide permits. On an earlier trip to Sydney, she attended as the only American invited to perform in the Sydney 2000 Olympics Arts Festival.
Cook first captivated Broadway in 1956 when Leonard Bernstein chose her to create the role of Cunégonde in “Candide.” Her stratospheric rendition of “Glitter and Be Gay” is still regarded as a musical milestone. She next earned a Tony Award for Marian the Librarian in “The Music Man,” then stole hearts as Amalia in “She Loves Me” before moving into starring roles in other Broadway vehicles.
A fortuitous meeting with pianist/composer Wally Harper in the 1970s launched a firm friendship and filled her slate with concerts, cabarets and recordings. Her debut solo concert with Harper at Carnegie Hall produced a live album, the first of many such collections unique for their creative arrangements and unexpected pairings.
Following Harper’s death in 2004, she found a kindred spirit in music director Lee Musiker. The title song of their latest recording, “Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder,” was written by Al Jolson and Billy Rose. The arrangement of partner songs “Lost in the Stars” by Kurt Weill and “No More” by Stephen Sondheim exemplifies the originality that flows between Cook and Musiker. Her heartbreaking delivery of Peter Allen’s “Harbour” is dedicated to her former manager Jerry Kravat, who died shortly after her performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, the first female pop singer so honored.
If you go
Barbara Cook sings favorites from the Great American Songbook
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
When: 8 p.m. tonight
Info: $35 to $70; 202-785-9727 or wpas.org
Barbara Cook is guest of WPAS Conversations with Legends, hosted by Dwight Blocker Bowers, Curator of American Entertainment History, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW
Tickets: $12 for members, $15 general public; 202-785-9727; 202-418-3100; wpas.org
