Barbara Cook at Kennedy Center

I envy your having the chance to go! I read just recently that she had a series of concerts scheduled around the country, but she had to postpone several of them, including the one in Vegas, due to a medication reaction. The Vegas one was to be an "experiment" to see if a veteran Broadway star of her type would draw there.

I had tickets to see her last month in Los Angeles (at the VPAC). She had to postpone due to medication. However, she is rescheduled for June 30th and I am excited.

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What a glorious singer and storyteller she is. I am in awe. I can't believe she's 84... goes to show a gift like that shines through at any age. Highlights included "House of the Rising Sun," "Bye Bye Blackbird," "I Don't Want Love" (if it makes me lose my appetite... haha), "Georgia on My Mind"... so many. All the songs were love songs. She brought me to tears with her encore performance- John Lennon's "Imagine." She sang it without a mike and it was so raw, beautiful, and heartfelt. She was using a cane and said she could barely stand up five weeks ago due to a muscle injury... maybe that was the medication reaction? At 24, I was definitely about 50 years younger than most of the audience... but soo glad I went. I sat next to a lovely old man (who said he is 84 too) whose late wife's maiden name was Barbara Cook and he brought a photograph of his wife posing in front of a Barbara Cook marquis in San Francisco. So sweet. It was a very special show... I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know really anything about Barbara Cook until the Kennedy Center Honors telecast last year... but now I'm a huge fan:).

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 01:18 AM

Harpz: Thanks for the report. Great to hear she is back on her feet, albeit with cane. Some of the songs you reported on (House of the Rising Sun and Bye Bye Blackbird) are, I think, new to her repertoire. May be wrong, as I have not seen her that often, but I love that she is adding new material if so. Will be eager to here from Mormon after Vegas!

What a spirit, to be learning new material in her 80s and to be touring with it. I had not heard of her being injured, just that she was sidelined due to the medication reaction. Now am thinking it might have been pain medication for an injury, given the wheelchair waiting in the wings. She has rebounded from a lot in her life, so I hope she can rebound from this too.

As posted last year on this board, her memoir (co-written with NYT theater critic C. Isherwood) is due out this fall. Can't wait for that!

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 10:56 AM