{"id":2858,"date":"2017-04-04T02:28:55","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T02:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=2858"},"modified":"2018-08-23T18:30:53","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T18:30:53","slug":"diva-alert-9-barbara-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/diva-alert-9-barbara-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Diva Alert #9: Barbara Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diva Alert #9: Barbara Cook<\/h3>\n \"\"<\/a><\/span>

Written by Jackson Upperco<\/p>\n

March 31, 2017<\/p>\n<\/font>

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Welcome back to Diva Alert, Performer Stuff\u2019s series on Great Dames from the Golden Age of Broadway. In these posts, we\u2019re taking a look at some of the American Musical Theatre\u2019s most legendary ladies, along with their seminal stage triumphs. <\/em><\/p>\n

This warm lyric soprano was Broadway\u2019s foremost ing\u00e9nue in the late 1950s. Her turns in several of the most charming musicals of the Golden Age remain electric. Her comeback story remains inspiring. Her voice remains iconic. Her name is\u2026 Barbara Cook.<\/p>\n

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Born in Atlanta to a traveling salesman and a phone operator, Barbara Cook began her professional career when she moved to Manhattan in her early \u201820s. Following a few years as a local club and resort chanteuse, she made her Broadway debut in 1951\u2019s Flahooley<\/em>. Cook spent the next two decades consistently employed \u2013 earning acclaim in revivals of Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King & I<\/em>, and Show Boat<\/em>, while originating roles in Plain And Fancy <\/em>(1955) and Candide <\/em>(1956), in which she introduced songs like the thrilling \u201cThis Is All Very New To Me\u201d and the delicious \u201cGlitter And Be Gay,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n

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Candide <\/em>wasn\u2019t a success, but Cook\u2019s performance was<\/em>, and it helped to secure the now-leading lady her most famous role, that of Marian the Librarian in the original production of The Music Man <\/em>(1957). In the years following, the scintillating soprano found herself in a sea of musical flops (The Gay Life, Something More, The Grass Harp<\/em>) interspersed with one glorious hit, She Loves Me <\/em>(1963), tours of The Unsinkable Molly Brown <\/em>and Funny Girl<\/em>, and even a few straight plays, in which she got to showcase her acting chops.<\/p>\n

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The early \u201870s was a rough time for Cook, who was now a single mom struggling with obesity, depression, and alcoholism. In 1975, she revitalized her career by teaming with musical director Wally Harper for a comeback at Carnegie Hall that launched the diva on her new trajectory as an acclaimed concert performer. Her most recent Broadway credit came in the 2010 revue Sondheim On Sondheim<\/em>, for which she was Tony-nominated. Now approaching her tenth decade, Barbara Cook is as celebrated today as she was when she first sang about white knights and vanilla ice cream. And she glitters gaily.<\/p>\n

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DID YOU KNOW? <\/strong>Barbara Cook played the title character\u2019s mother in the 1988 Stratford-upon-Avon production of Carrie. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Cook Roles You Should Know<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Cun\u00e9gonde in Candide <\/em>(1956)<\/h4>\n