At the Met

What's left for singers who already have Carnegie Hall under their belts? The Metropolitan Opera. Except it's not that easy for non-classical performers. On January 20, 2006, Barbara Cook--a Carnegie habitué, where she performed, for instance, her Sondheim tribute--became the first cabaret singer to perform at the Met as part of the house's regular season. It's a fitting choice: Cook, after all, is acknowledged as one of the very finest interpreters of the American Songbook. Backed simply by a quintet, the 78-year-old singer is at the top of her game, and even if her voice has lost its smooth luster, it's not about crystalline purity anymore, but about a woman filling every word and breath with decades of experience. She starts off with a tweaked version of Sweet Charity's "If They Could See Me Now" ("If they could see me now, that little gang of mine/Standing where Domingo sings with James Levine") then goes down an impeccable list of standards, most of which she's recorded before (but hey, it's gotta be classics at the Met). Cook is joined by two guests (Elaine Stritch was also at the show but isn't on the CD): Audra McDonald (sounding a little less smooth than usual on the solo "When Did I Fall in Love?" but recovering nicely for a duo with Cook on "Blue Skies") and Josh Groban (a lovely rendition of Sondheim's "Not While I'm Around" on his own, and another Sondheim piece, "Move On," with Cook). --Elisabeth Vincentelli