Barbara or Kristin?

[JLY's Jersey Gal]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:17am

Which soprano would you prefer, Barbara Cook or Kristin Chenoweth? Well, Kristin is the next Barbara Cook because she has played some of Barbara's legendary roles before so it's up you all. This is just your opinion. There is no right or wrong answer.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:18am

Kristin

:)

[sally1112]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:19am

Are you sure there is not a right answer?

[TheaterJunkie]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:30am

Kristin!

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:34am

Kristin She is more operatic and versatile.

EDIT: See my next post. *sings* "I feel stupid, oh so stupid..."

Updated On: 10/14/06 at 09:34 AM

[elphieandglindabffl]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:41am

kristin!

[coolphantom919]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:49am

KRISTIN!

[mominator]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:57am

Long before there was Kristin there was Barbara Cook (by the way Ms. Cook is NOT called Babs!) Remember that Bernstein hand picked ms. Cook for her role in Candide.
Oh and by the way I do like Kristin very much. So please no hate PMs.

Updated On: 10/14/06 at 09:57 AM

[tthomas76]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:58am

I like both, however my fav is Kristin.

[AngusN]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:59am

Got to be Kristin. That girl could sing the phone book and make it sound beautiful.
Love her!

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 10:05am

*slaps hand to head* I am feel sooo silly. I totally missed that this was Barbara COOK, not Streisand... I still say Kristin

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 10:07am

While Cook has impeccable technique, and a great warmth, there is a texture to her voice that I have always found unappealing.

Kristin.

[DBillyP]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:13am

Eponine, you should have know from the spelling that it was not Streisand, who leaves out the second "a."

[anotherhundredpeople]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:17am

I love both. I think Kristin has just benefitted more from the newer vocal techniques. She IS more versatile than Barbara Cook, but back in the day, Cook was the one. You're trying to compare two different generations and two different levels of techniques being taught, which is pretty impossible.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:18am

Like them both. Kristin's stage persona is often of a ruthless comic sharpie and vulnerability does not come easily to her. So I'd give the versatility edge to Barbara Cook. Of course, Cook hasn't given a performance in a Broadway musical since The Grass Harp in 1971, (not including the concert Follies of Carrie in London), so very few of us are able to legitimately compare them as stage performers.

Updated On: 10/14/06 at 11:18 AM

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:19am

*lol* You are quite right, DBillyP

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:19am

I think it's hard to compare, but I'd have to go with Kristin beacuse she's more versatile.

[kyle.]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:39am

I enjoy Kristin very much, but I would much rather turn on a Cook album or cast recording than a Chenoweth one. I would also rather turn on Follies in Concert then Candide in Concert, etc. etc.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:44am

Also... forgive me for this, but Kristin is a bit shrill on the higher portions of "Glitter And Be Gay" in the Candide concert. But the number is overstaged, and she has sung it better elsewhere. I fault all of that business she had to do with swinging the pearls. (And Hal Prince's City Opera staging of that number is a thousand times funnier).

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:45am

Duh...
Barabra Cook is a Goddess.

Barbara, Barbara, Barbara.

[kjklo]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 11:48am

That this would even be a question (much less the answers being given) is more than a little depressing.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 12:05pm

Cook is a classic and the original.

Chenoweth has yet to prove herself as a real interpreter on songs.

She's funny as hell, but she does lack in the vulnerability. She's yet to show her versatility role wise. They've all been cute funny blondes.

Cook is the original ingenue. Of course, I've never seen her, but even in her recordings she has such a genuine understanding of the songs that shines through.

While I do love Kristin, I must say Cook until further evidence is presented.

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 12:44pm

I would be more likely to compare Kristin to Barbara Harris, seeing as how they are both comic sopranos. And Harris was in the original casts of both The Apple Tree and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, both of which Kristin did.

Updated On: 10/14/06 at 12:44 PM

[luvliza89]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 1:00pm

I can (and I'm guessing many who have posted so far) go on what I hear on cast/concert recordings etc. Based only on "Glitter and Be Gay", the winner for me would have to be Barbara. While Kristin is fanatastic in this song, she is often more shrill in places where Ms. Cook is not.

Both, I think, are beyond fabulous.

[kjklo]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 1:04pm

Cook may no longer be performing on Broadway, but, fortunately, we all still have the opportunity to experience her sublime concert appearances.