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US Cook & Feinstein Start Sensations at Haymarket

As previously tipped (See The Goss, 13 Jul 2004), the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket will host a limited six-week season of cabaret this autumn. Though the full schedule of performers has yet to confirmed, “Singular Sensations” will run from 7 September to 16 October 2004, opening with Broadway diva Barbara Cook (pictured) and fellow American Michael Feinstein.

The 76-year-old Cook returns to London after her three-week season at the Gielgud Theatre in May was cut in half due to ill health (See News, 20 May 2004). At the Haymarket, she’ll perform from 7 to 11 September only.

Prior to Barbara Cook's Broadway at the Gielgud, Cook was last seen in London with her 2001 Olivier-nominated show Mostly Sondheim, and has had earlier cabaret seasons at the Donmar Warehouse and the Albery Theatre. In 1997, she celebrated her 70th birthday with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

On her own shores, the American singer is a legend. Broadway's favourite ingenue in the 1950s and 60s, Cook originated important roles in musical theatre such as Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide, Marian the Librarian in The Music Man (for which she won a Tony), and Amalia in She Loves Me.

Feinstein – a four-time Grammy nominated singer, pianist and composer – will perform at the Haymarket from 13 to 25 September. Considered one of top interpreters of American popular song, Feinstein’s standard repertoire includes classics by the likes of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin, for whom he was an assistant for six years. Since his 1988 one-man Broadway show, Isn’t It Romantic, Feinstein has maintained an active performance and concert schedule, including regular holiday sell-outs at his popular jazz nightclub in Manhattan, Feinstein’s at the Regency.

Performers for the additional “Singular Sensations” slots, from 27 September to 16 October, will be announced shortly. Booking for Cook and Feinstein is now open.

Currently at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the screen-to-stage adaptation of romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, now starring Molly Ringwald and Michael Landes, will finish its seven-month run on 4 September 2004.

“Singular Sensations” will be followed by John Caird’s revival of Jean Anouilh’s Becket, starring Dougray Scott in the title role and Jasper Britton as King Henry II, who clashes with the archbishop (See News, 9 Jul 2004). It opens for a 16-week run on 27 October 2004 (previews from 20 October).

- by Terri Paddock

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