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September 26-October 2, 2002 artpicks Barbara Cook: Mostly Sondheim
In the 1950s and '60s, Barbara Cook ruled Broadway as the musical ingénue incarnate. This Atlanta native was a Georgia peach indeed, a sweet-faced blond who radiated niceness. Her luminous soprano -- dazzling in the simplest melody or the coloratura complexities of Bernstein's Candide -- assured us everything was right with the world. But musicals limited Cook. Her best roles (Amalia in She Loves Me, Marian the Librarian in The Music Man) brought out some vulnerability, and let her show her acting chops. But she had more to offer. Fast-forward to a triumphant Carnegie Hall concert in 1975 and a new career as a solo performer. Cook's voice retained the soaring top notes, and showed a new power and confidence in the lower register. Her repertoire, still drawn mostly from show tunes, also explored a wider emotional range. Thereafter, Cook embraced concert and cabaret venues. She also largely abandoned theater. She didn't need it. The theater was now in her voice. Even so, pairing the still-sunny, still-soprano Cook with the sardonic music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim seemed off-kilter. Yet in 1985, the maestro chose her to play the tormented Sally in Follies in Concert. She scored another triumph. Now the diva returns the favor with Mostly Sondheim, a solo evening that includes works Sondheim wrote ("Happiness" from Passion, of course "Send in the Clowns" from Night Music) or loves (Arlen and Mercer's "I Had Myself a True Love," Irving Berlin's "I Got Lost in His Arms"). Mostly Sondheim also celebrates Cook's 50-plus years in show business. In fact, next month she turns 75, but seeing her you won't believe it. Presence and voice are astonishingly undiminished by time. Most nights the high B that closes "Ice Cream" (a signature number from She Loves Me) rings out like a chime. Best of all, it turns out that the coupling of Cook's basic goodness with Sondheim's ambivalence isn't a misfit at all -- far from it. Each sheds new light on the other. In a career of highs, Mostly Sondheim may be Barbara Cook's most completely satisfying evening yet. Barbara Cook: Mostly Sondheim, Tue., Oct. 1 through Sun., Oct. 6, $29.50-$59.50, The Merriam Theatre, 250 S. Broad St., 215-732-5446. 
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