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Barbara Cook
The recipient of a Tony, a Grammy, and a Drama Desk Award -- and most recently inducted into
the Broadway Hall of Fame -- Barbara Cook continues to delight musical and theatrical audiences
around the globe with her extraordinary performances.
Miss Cook appeared at the Sadlers's Wells Theatre in London in 1994, where her triumphant
performances garnered rave reviews: "Barbara Cook is the greatest singer in the world -- Cook is
the only popular singer active today who should be taken seriously by lovers of classical music -Has any singer since Callas matched Cook's sense of musical architecture? I doubt it." Alistair
McCauley -- Financial Times.
A native of Atlanta, Miss Cook made her Broadway debut as the ingenue lead in the musical
Flahooley and subsequently played Ado Annie in the national company of Oklahoma! During the
initial season of musical theater at New York's City Center, she appeared as Carrie in Carousel, a
performance that was followed by the role of Hilda in the original production of Plain and Fancy.
Miss Cook went on to create the roles of Cunegonde in Candide and Marian in The Music Man, the
latter portrayal earning her a Tony Award. IN addition to starring roles in She Loves Me, The Gay
Life, and The Grass Harp, Miss Cook played Mrs. Anna in the City Center revival of The King & I.
She also appeared in a second City Center production of Carousel playing Julie, and she portrayed
Magnolia in the New York State Theater production of Show Boat. Miss Cook originated the role
of Patsy in Jules Feiffer's Litter Murders, and she starred in the Broadway production of Any
Wednesday for a year. In 1972 she returned to the dramatic stage in the Repertory Theatre of
Lincoln Center's production of Gorky's Enemies.
In the world of fleeting fame and uncertain relationships, the nearly 25-year creative partnership of
Barbara Cook and musical arranger, accompanist, composer, dance arranger, and conductor, Wally
Harper is a shining model of artistic collaboration and enduring friendship. Together these two
extraordinary music-makers have played to ecstatic audiences in concert halls throughout the
world. Adding the most recent four Presidents to their long list of admirers, they have performed
six times at the White House. Numerous recordings mark the journey of this unique and productive
partnership, from the earlier work of Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall -- a live recording of their
legendary 1975 concert now freshly re-released, up to their just-completed recording of Oscar
Winners -- The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II.
In 1975 Barbara Cook made her Carnegie Hall debut and appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. She later became the first popular artist to perform at San Francisco's Davies
Symphony Hall. An international artist, Ms. Cook has performed at the Carre Theater in
Amsterdam, La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Espace Cardin and The Rond Point Theatres in
Paris, and she continues to perform on a regular basis at major venues in England and Australia.
Barbara Cook's recordings include eight original cast albums, two Ben Bagley albums of songs by
Jerome Kern and George Gershwin; an album entitled Songs of Perfect Propriety, featuring poems
by Dorothy Parker set to music by Seymour Barab; and two recordings on the Columbia label,
Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall and As of Today. Her triumphant return engagement at Carnegie
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Hall in September 1980 was captured on It's Better with a Band, produced and arranged by her long
time accompanist Harper. That album was named "Best of the Year" in the pop category by Stereo
Review magazine.
In September 1985 Miss Cook appeared with the New York Philharmonic as Sally in the now
legendary concert version of Follies, the RCA recording of which received a Grammy Award. She
also recorded Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel and The Disney Album for the MCA label.
Barbara's next three albums were for DRG records; Close as Pages in a Book, featuring the lyrics
of Dorothy Fields, Barbara Cook: Live from London, and Oscar Winners: The Lyrics of Oscar
Hammerstein II. Miss Cook can also be heard as the voice of Thumbelina's mother in the Warner
Bros. animated film, Thumbelina, with music by Barry Manilow, which is now available on
videocassette.
Nominated in 1986 for an Olivier Award for her one-woman show at London's Albery Theatre, Ms.
Cook received the Drama Desk Award in 1987 for her Broadway show, A Concert for the Theatre,
a highlight of her then thirteen year collaboration with Mr. Harper. In October 1991, Miss Cook's
appearance as a featured artist with Mr. Harper at the Carnegie Hall Gala, Music & Remembrance:
A Celebration of Great Musical Partnerships, underscored their commitment to two important
causes: the advancement of the performing arts and support of AIDS research.
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