# Round 2: Glitter And Be Gay: Cook, Chenowith, Kahn



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

A note about Madelyn Kahn: She sang in La Boheme when she was young but never had any voice lessons in order to sing with an operatic sound. She was totally self taught when it came to her classical sounding voice. I hear some similarities in her voice to her fellow Jewish songbird Beverly Sills.


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Is that the same Kahn who’s in all those wonderful Mel Brooks films?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Ludwig Schon said:


> Is that the same Kahn who’s in all those wonderful Mel Brooks films?


Oh Sweet Mystery of Life At Last I Found You


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)




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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)




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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Barbara Cook takes a lot of beating in this piece and, as far as I'm concerned, still emerges ahead of the competition. Of the three musical theatre performers here, hers is the most lovely voice and she manages the coloratura brilliantly. Recording quality helps of course and she is recorded in the studio here, but her facility is astonishing and she is funny without overdoing the humour or hamming it up.

Kahn is not so well recorded, but you can hear from the audience reaction that she was clearly very funny. She also manages the coloartura well, but I prefer the sound of Cook's voice.

Chenoweth is very funny in the video, but I don't really like her pip-squeek voice.

Cook has it easily.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Well for sheer comedic brilliance and fun there is no question that Chenoweth takes the cake. 
But the scepter must go to the brilliantly conceived original Bernstein envisioned performance given by the queen herself, Barbara Cook with her smooth, fun, and masterful delivery.

(By the way, her name is spelled Chenoweth (no "i" in her name)


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> Well for sheer comedic brilliance and fun there is no question that Chenoweth takes the cake.
> But the scepter must go to the brilliantly conceived original Bernstein envisioned performance given by the queen herself, Barbara Cook with her smooth, fun, and masterful delivery.
> 
> (By the way, her name is spelled Chenoweth (no "i" in her name)


Actually, there is an "i" in her name - two in fact, both in "Kristin" (not Kristen).  

And I wonder how much of her top end squeak in "Glitter" was an intentional part of the comedy. 

I do love Barbara Cook, though.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Ludwig Schon said:


> Is that the same Kahn who’s in all those wonderful Mel Brooks films?


The very same!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

jegreenwood said:


> And I wonder how much of her top end squeak in "Glitter" was an intentional part of the comedy.


 I don't know, but it does remind me of Minnie Mouse!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

It would not be a contest by me without a misspelling of a key player's name. I thought I checked her name. Alas. I am glad my mom is not still around to see my shame


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Barbara Cook, hands down.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Cook is impeccable but a bit proper, and the voice is pleasing but doesn't "glitter." Kahn is more exciting, ripping into the fast stuff at breathtaking speed, and her sound is more vibrant, or at least seems so (the acoustics are very different and distance may flatter her). Chenoweth's girlish tone doesn't bother me much in this music - it isn't Lucy of Lammermoor, after all - and she's hilarious. 

Unlike my fellow members, I find Cook the least entertaining of these ladies, although all three are fine and it's a close race. I'm going with Kahn.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Some other contenders.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Cook is impeccable but a bit proper, and the voice is pleasing but doesn't "glitter." Kahn is more exciting, ripping into the fast stuff at breathtaking speed, and her sound is more vibrant, or at least seems so (the acoustics are very different and distance may flatter her). Chenoweth's girlish tone doesn't bother me much in this music - it isn't Lucy of Lammermoor, after all - and she's hilarious.
> 
> Unlike my fellow members, I find Cook the least entertaining of these ladies, although all three are fine and it's a close race. I'm going with Kahn.


A few words in defense of Cook. Her recording of a brand new song, unlike anything else heard on Broadway, was made in a studio, several days after _Candide_ opened to lousy reviews. By the time all[?] of the other recordings were made, Lillian Hellman’s heavy handed, highly political libretto had been replaced entirely by a much more freewheeling one by Hugh Wheeler, originally conceived for an immersive production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (which transferred to Broadway). Although the libretto was further reworked, it remains Wheeler’s version.

I don’t know how Tyrone Guthrie staged the number, but I doubt it was in the style that Lonny Price used for the 2004 semi-staged version. The beginning with Patti LuPone attests to that.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Cook is impeccable but a bit proper, and the voice is pleasing but doesn't "glitter." Kahn is more exciting, ripping into the fast stuff at breathtaking speed, and her sound is more vibrant, or at least seems so (the acoustics are very different and distance may flatter her). Chenoweth's girlish tone doesn't bother me much in this music - it isn't Lucy of Lammermoor, after all - and she's hilarious.
> 
> Unlike my fellow members, I find Cook the least entertaining of these ladies, although all three are fine and it's a close race. I'm going with Kahn.


I feel in esteemed company. I LOVE Barbara Cook, but this doesn't excite me like Kahn's version does. There are other things Cook sings that floor me like Dancing in the Dark. I think I liked her voice better as she matured. Chenoweth would be great to see live!!!!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

This guy was impressed!


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