It was so great seeing Ginny, Richard and Elmore last night at Artie's. Safe trip home, Ginny and Richard and again, happy anniversary.
I also enjoyed the Barbara Cook concert a great deal. I've seen her live close to a dozen times, and the love for her is palpable, especially the way her various flubs of lyrics were treated last night. She's always flubbed lyrics, every time I've seen her, and she handles it with such aplomb that one almost thinks she plans to do it. (Almost.)
Here's the thing, though. She kept on reminding us that she had to start this or that number over so many times that I wondered what the point was, to entertain the audience who spent Broadway prices to see her live at the Met, or was the crucial thing to accommodate the recording needs. I think the recording needs won out, at least in her performance. And I'll bore people one more time and say that this just points out why it's unfair to compare Chita Rivera's accomplishment in her show to a show like Barbara Cook's - Chita Rivera's show is a well-oiled Broadway revue, and she doesn't have the freedom of a do-over the way Barbara Cook has. I think Ms. Rivera's abilities at her current age have been unfairly knocked relative to others like Cook and Stritch, and Ms. Cook's constant stops-and-starts, while delicious because we all love her, reinforced that point in my mind. Both Cook and Rivera (and Stritch, too) are great, especially for what they can do at this point in their lives, but it's simply unfair to compare Rivera unfavorably to Cook. End of plea for tolerance.
