The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 Vinyl LPs 101: The Gay Life with Barbara Cook

The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP album cover
photo by Styrous®

Barbara Cook died yesterday, Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Cook was one of the bastions of Broadway musical singers.

Barbara Cook ~ The Gay Life -1962

Cook came to prominence in the 1950s. She made her Broadway debut in Flahooley which starred Yma Sumac (1951). She continued performing mostly in theatre until the mid-1970s, when she began a second career as a cabaret and concert singer.

During her years as Broadway’s leading ingénue Cook was lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. As she aged her voice took on a darker quality, even in her head voice, that was less prominent in her youth.

The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®

Cook was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 25, 1927. She began singing at an early age, at the Elks Club. She spent three years after graduating from high school working as a typist.

In 1948, Cook decided to try to find work as an actress in New York. She began to sing at clubs and resorts, eventually procuring an engagement at the Blue Angel club in 1950.

Cook's clear soprano voice enabled her to win the role of Cunegonde in the Leonard Bernstein operetta Candide in 1956. She became famous for the show stopping song, Glitter and Be Gay. Although Candide was not a commercial success, Cook's portrayal of Cunegonde established her as one of Broadway's leading ingenues.

Barbara Cook as Cunegonde, Candide - 1956

Her two most famous roles after Candide were her Tony Award winning portrayal of Marian the Librarian in the Meredith Willson 1957 hit The Music Man and as Amalia Balash in the 1962 Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical She Loves Me.

Robert Preston and Barbara Cook ~ The Music Man

In 1994, Cook was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. In 1997, she celebrated her 70th birthday by giving a concert at Albert Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in November, joined by performers including Elaine Stritch and Maria Friedman. The Times reviewer noted: "The world is usually divided into actresses who try to sing and singers who try to act. Cook is one of the few performers who manage to combine the best of both traditions, as she reminded us in It Might as Well be Spring by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II - and, at the close, in her encore of the Bock and Harnick song, Ice Cream."

On October 22, 2007, Cook sang at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts with the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus in the chorus's concert entitled "An Evening With Barbara Cook". Upon completion of the concert, an almost full house greeted her with a round of Happy Birthday in honor of her impending 80th birthday, which, on December 2, 2007, she celebrated belatedly in the UK with a concert at the Coliseum Theatre in London's West End.

As she entered her ninth decade, Cook performed in two sold-out concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in 2007.

On April 12, 2011, Cook appeared with James Taylor, Bette Midler and Sting, at Carnegie Hall for a gala called "Celebrating 120 Years of Carnegie Hall".

The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP gatefold interior
photo by Styrous®

At the time of her death, Cook was widely recognized as one of the "premier interpreters" of musical theatre songs and standards, in particular the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim. Her subtle and sensitive interpretations of American popular song continued to earn high praise even into her eighties. She was named an honoree at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.

Cook died from respiratory failure yesterday, August 8, 2017 at her Manhattan home. She was 89 years old. The marquee lights of the Broadway theaters will be dimmed for one minute in tribute to Cook, tonight, August 9.

The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP side 1
photo by Styrous®

The Gay Life is a musical with a book by Fay and Michael Kanin, lyrics by Howard Dietz, and music by Arthur Schwartz.

Based on a cycle of seven short plays by Arthur Schnitzler, published in 1893 and first staged in 1910, The Gay Life focuses on womanizing playboy Anatol Von Huber. The score is a mixture of traditional Broadway show tunes and operetta.

The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP side 2
photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 – Herbert Greene    Overture
A2 – The Gay Life Ensemble    What A Charming Couple
A3 – Jeanne Bal    Why Go Anywhere At All?
A4 – Jules Munshin    Bring Your Darling Daughter
A5 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin    Now I'm Ready For A Frau
A6 – Barbara Cook    Magic Moment
A7 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook    Who Can? You Can!
A8 – The Gay Life Ensemble    Oh, Mein Liebchen
A9 – Barbara Cook    The Label On The Bottle

Side 2:

B1 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook    This Kind Of Girl
B2 – Jules Munshin    The Bloom Is Off The Rose
B3 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin    I'm Glad I'm Single
B4 – Barbara Cook    Something You Never Had Before
B5 – Jules Munshin, Lu Leonard, Loring Smith    You Will Never Be Lonely
B6 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook    You're Not The Type
B7 – Elizabeth Allen    Come A-Wandering With Me
B8 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin    I Never Had A Chance
B9 – Barbara Cook    I Wouldn't Marry You
B? – Walter Chiari    And For The First Time
B10 – The Gay Life Ensemble    Finale

Credits:

    Conductor – Herbert Greene
    Lyrics By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
    Music By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz

Notes:

Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo

Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook, Jules Munshin ‎– The Gay Life (Original Broadway Cast)
Label: Capitol Records ‎– SWAO 1560
Format: vinyl LP, Stereo, gatefold
Country: US
Released: 1961
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical

Net links:

Barbara Cook ~
Discography
Stage work
NPR ~ My First Memories Are Of Singing (audio interview)
Variety obit
Playbill obit
Washington Post obit
LA Times obit

YouTube links:

Magic Moment (The Gay Life)
Something You Never Had Before (The Gay Life)
The Label On The Bottle
Glitter and Be Gay (Candide)
Barbara Cook on Candide: Auditioning for Bernstein
PBS ~ An Evening with Barbara Cook (54 min)
Barbara Cook on The Dick Cavett Show, 1982 (28 min)