Cook croons at Center

Jennifer K Mahal

For Barbara Cook, life has become filled with cabaret. The 72-year-old

soprano, known for her Tony award-winning turn asMarian the Librarian in

“The Music Man,” has not performed in theater since 1987.

Instead, Cook has brought her melodious voice and patter to concert

venues and intimate places around the world. This weekend she opens the

Orange County Performing Arts Center’s 2000-01 Cabaret Season in

Founder’s Hall.

“In a sense, I have a second career,” Cook said.

The Atlanta native went to New York in the last 1940s to seek her fame

and fortune in musical theater. She found the road difficult.

“I had show at the end of three years, which wasn’t all that long,”

said the Broadway Hall of Fame inductee. “But it seems long when you

don’t know that it’s coming.”

Cook first made her mark on the City that Never Sleeps in 1950,

performing standards at New York’s Blue Angel club.

A year later, she was cast as Sandy in the short-lived “Flahooley” on

Broadway. This started a career on the boards filled with ingenue roles

in such musicals as “Candide” and “Carousel.”

In 1973, Cook began performing in clubs again. She made her Carnegie

Hall debut in 1975 and has been placing her personal stamp on songs

since.

“I’ve seen Barbara probably 10 times,” said Jerry Mandel, Center

president. “When I say ‘cabaret singer,’ Barbara Cook comes to mind.

She’s very special.”

Cook, who performed recently at the Olympic Arts Festival in

Australia, said she finds singing cabaret style is a wonderful way to

communicate.

“The music is not so different” from musical theater, Cook said. “The

only thing that is different is that because I’m not singing as a

character in a show, I am sometimes able to play around with the music in

the show. This is the way Barbara does it, not necessarily the way the

character does it.”

She plans to do some theater songs, including work from “Annie Get

Your Gun,” along with music by Rogers and Hart, Rogers and Hammerstein

and Irving Berlin, during her performances this weekend.

The Cabaret Season is in its third year at the Center. As its name

implies, the series features musical talent in an intimate setting.

Audience members, 250 at most, are seated at small tables with drink

service offered.

“It’s very sophisticated,” Mandel said. “The setting really caters to

the singers, for singers to identify with the audience.”

Other performers featured this season will include Anne

Hampton-Calloway, Aussie David Campbell, Keely Smith and Faith Prince.

Cook may be a star, but she doesn’t act like one.

Even though she has recorded numerous compact discs, won a Grammy for

her work on “Follies in Concert,” is recognized in New York when she goes

to the theater, sung for four presidents and has been at the White House

six times -- “not that I’m counting or anything” -- Cook still wants to

pinch herself.

“I think of that little girl in Atlanta who wanted to sing,” Cook

said. “It amazes me still. I don’t take it for granted.”

FYI

WHAT: Barbara Cook

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center Founder’s Hall, 600 Town

Center Drive, Costa Mesa

COST: $49 for early shows, $45 for 9:30 p.m. show and matinee.

MISC.: Full beverage service available

CALL: (714) 556-2787