Barbara Cook's Birthday Concert

As we were leaving our seats, Noah said, "I always feel like she's just singing to us in her living room." It's true. Barbara Cook is perhaps the most relaxed, most open, most in the moment concert performer alive. I have seen her in three huge houses - the Met, Carnegie and now Avery Fisher and twice at Sondheim benefit concerts - yet, I always feel like I'm sitting at her feet while she tells me stories. Her voice is so warm and sweet, still a bell, sometimes low and warm, with an occasional belt. Before we entered the hall, we saw our friend Marian Seldes who said "Aren't we lucky to be here? I'm so excited. Barbara's so wonderful and I think she's such a great actress." I didn't catch the titles of all the songs, but some were I Got Lost in His Arms, Lucky to Be Me, It Might as Well Be Spring, Lost in the Stars/No More, No One Is Alone, Nashville Nightingale, Lover, Come Back to Me, I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy, Accentuate the Positive, This Nearly Was Mine, I Wish I Could Forget You, Nobody Else But Me, I'm Through With Love, Smile, and My Dog Loves Your Dog (an adorable song that Bernadette needs to sing!). She sang her two final pieces a capella, which just makes that feeling of being in her living room even more profound. The audience offered long applause every chance it got and was hesitant to leave at the end. Marian caught up with us after. I said, "Marian, well, what did you think? Wasn't it perfect?" She replied, "Oh yes, it was perfect. Now we know there is a Heaven and she is an angel."