Cook Headlines Diva Season at Donmar
Date: 5 August 1998
Divas at the Donmar, a new summer season bringing the art of cabaret to London, opens next week at the Donmar Warehouse. The four-week season begins Monday, 10 August 1998 with the London début of the New York double act of singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway and her sister Liz Callaway with their show Sibling Revelry.
The show premiered at New York's leading cabaret room, the Rockefeller Centre's Rainbow and Stars, three years ago. Ann is an accomplished solo singer, pianist and composer who has made regular sold-out appearances previously at London's Pizza on the Park; kid sister Liz a Broadway regular best known for starring roles in musicals such as Baby, Miss Saigon and Cats, in which she is currently playing ‘Grizabella , and also for her screen performances as the singing voice behind animated cartoons like Anastasia. Both sisters have a number of solo albums to their credit.
The Callaways are followed by the return to the Donmar Warehouse of Broadway dame Barbara Cook, from 24-29 August. Twelve years ago, the Donmar hosted a season by the cabaret legend which quickly transferred to the West End's Albery Theatre for an extended run. Cook, accompanied by her musical director Wally Harper, has been a regular visitor to British shores in the decade since - last year, she celebrated her 70th birthday with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She returns to the Donmar where she will draw from an extensive repertoire of Broadway standards - many of which she sang on the New York stage in productions such as She Loves Me, The Music Man (for which she won a Tony Award), The King and I, Carousel and Candide - and newer songs.
British actress and musical star Imelda Staunton, accompanied by a ten-man big band, concludes the season, appearing 1-5 September. Staunton was seen last year as ‘Miss Adelaide in the National revival of Guys and Dolls - a role she also played in the original 1982 National production. She has previously starred in the National's production of The Threepenny Opera, was the Baker's Wife in the original West End production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods (for which she won an Olivier Award) and played Dorothy in the RSC's production of The Wizard of Oz.
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