Broadway's Barbara Cook to Celebrate 85th Birthday at Segerstrom Center, 4/13

Broadway legend Barbara Cook returns to Segerstrom Center to celebrate her 85th birthday year with a performance in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on Saturday April 13 at 8 p.m.

Cook's charisma, charm and amazing talent have delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. The Los Angeles Times calls her, "A force of musical nature. This is everywhere apparent - in her commitment to interpretive truth, her searching intelligence and certainly her joyous soprano, one of the most celebrated in Broadway history. Such magic is the stuff that creates legends and designates Cook as a National Treasure." To make the occasion even more special for her audience, Cook will remain on stage following the concert and answer questions that have been submitted via Facebook and Twitter. ASCAP Director of Musical Theatre Michael A. Kerker will be on hand to pose the questions to her.

Tickets for Barbara Cook start at $26 and are available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

Barbara Cook, who received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2011, returned to the Broadway stage in 2010 after a 23-year absence. She starred in the musical revue Sondheim on Sondheim directed by James Lapine for the Roundabout Theater Company, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her ever-growing mantle of honors includes the Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, two Olivier Award nominations, her citation as a Living New York Landmark and her induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Cook's popularity continues to thrive with a succession of seven triumphant returns to Carnegie Hall (the most recent being her celebratory 85th birthday concert), where she made a legendary solo concert debut in 1975.

In November 2007, Cook celebrated her 80th birthday in a concert with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Due to intense popular demand, she returned for two encore concerts, singing to sold- out houses. In January 2006, Cook made her solo concert debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, becoming the first female pop singer to be presented by the Met in the company's 123 year history. The sold-out event was recorded and released as a live performance CD by DRG Records.

A native of Atlanta, Cook made her Broadway debut in 1951 as the ingénue lead in the musical Flahooley. She subsequently played Ado Annie in the City Center revival of Oklahoma!, followed by a national tour of that hit show. In 1954 her performance as Carrie Pipperidge in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel led to the role of Hilda Miller in the original production of Plain and Fancy. Cook went on to create the role of Cunegonde in the original production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. This was followed by her creations of two classic roles in the American musical theatre - Marian the Librarian in the premiere production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, a performance which earned her the Tony Award, and Amalia in the Bock-Harnick-Masteroff musical She Loves Me. Cook appeared in two other celebrated City Center revivals: as Mrs. Anna in The King and I and a second production of Carousel, this time playing the role of Julie Jordan. She was Magnolia in the New York State Theatre's production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's Showboat. Cook originated the role of Patsy in Jules Feiffer's Little Murders and, in 1972, she returned to the dramatic stage in the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center's production of Gorky's Enemies.

More Articles by This Author...