These are frightening times, and we all must take necessary precautions as we social distance and self-isolate. That being said, you deserve a break every now and then. Welcome to Playbill's Daily Distraction.
Day 37: Then There Was Music and Wonderful Roses
Ten years ago today, Barbara Cook opened her final Broadway show: Sondheim on Sondheim. The retrospective revue earned the performer her third Tony Award nomination (having previously won for The Music Man). As we remember her many career triumphs, take a moment (11 minutes, to be exact) to revisit this perfect tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors.
The performance from the 2011 ceremony features a parade of fellow sopranos and Broadway stars: Kelli O'Hara (who welcomed Cook to the stage at her Carnegie Hall concert, marking one of Cook's final public appearances), fellow Marian Paroo Rebecca Luker, Marian-to-be Sutton Foster, Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Laura Osnes, and Audra McDonald.
Each moment builds off the previous, culminating in the curtain rising to reveal a choir joining in for the final verse of Candide's "Make Our Garden Grow."
For these 11 minutes, everything is perfect. The sound mix amplifying Audra on the Soprano 2 line is perfect. Fellow honoree Meryl Streep emoting is perfect. Glenn Close and Patti LuPone sharing a stage is perfect. Being neither pure nor wise nor good has never sounded so perfect.
Need more distractions? Click here.
