Barbara Cook

Cook starred in an acclaimed 1960 City Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and in the short-lived 1961 musical The Gay Life. In 1963, she created the role of Amalia Balash in the classic Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical She Loves Me.[17] Her performance prompted Norman Nadel of the World-Telegram & Sun to write, "Her clear soprano is not only one of the finest vocal instruments in the contemporary musical theatre, but it conveys all the vitality, brightness and strength of her feminine young personality, which is plenty."[17] One of the songs from She Loves Me, "Vanilla Ice Cream," became one of Cook's signature songs. She starred in national tours of The Unsinkable Molly Brown in 1964 and Funny Girl in 1967.[3] Her last original "book" musical role on Broadway came in 1971 when she played Dolly Talbo in The Grass Harp.[5][21] In 1972, Cook returned to the dramatic stage in the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center's production of Maxim Gorky's Enemies In the mid-1970s Cook's fortunes changed for the better when she met and befriended composer and pianist Wally Harper. Harper convinced her to put together a concert and on January 26, 1975, accompanied by Harper, she made her debut in a legendary solo concert at Carnegie Hall that resulted in a highly successful live album. Continuing a collaboration with Harper that lasted until his death in 2004, Cook became a successful concert performer. Over the next three decades, the two performed together at not only many of the best cabaret spots and music halls like Michael's Pub and the St. Regis Hotel in New York City but nationally and internationally. Cook and Harper returned to Carnegie Hall in September 1980, to perform a series of songs arranged by Harper. In 1998, Cook was nominated for an Olivier Award "The Observer Award for Outstanding Achievement" for her one-woman show, accompanied by Harper, at London's Donmar Warehouse and the Albery Theatre.[27] She won the Drama Desk Award "Outstanding One Person Show" in 1987 for her Broadway show A Concert for the Theatre, again with Harper.In October 1991, they appeared as featured artists at the Carnegie Hall Gala Music and Remembrance: A Celebration of Great Musical Partnerships which raised money for the advancement of the performing arts and for AIDS research.[29] In 1994, they performed a critically acclaimed concert series at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London,[30] which was recorded by DRG as Live From London. "Cook still comes across with consummate taste and with a voice that shows little sign of wear after 40 years."[31] Alistair Macauley wrote in the Financial Times about the concert, "Barbara Cook is the greatest singer in the world ... Ms. 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." Cook married acting teacher David LeGrant (December 8, 1923 – July 28, 2011) on March 9, 1952, after meeting at a resort on the Borscht Belt. They performed together in a national stage tour of Oklahoma in 1953. The couple divorced in 1965. They had one child, Adam (born 1959). Cook died, at the age of 89, of respiratory failure on August 8, 2017, at her Manhattan home. The marquee lights of the Broadway theaters were dimmed for one minute in tribute to Cook on August 9.