From Ballet to Broadway and Black and Muriel Cook
Muriel Cook had quite a Broadway career. She was part of the original cast for 4 Broadway productions including Blackbirds of 1939, Swingin’ the Dream (1939), Big White Fog (1940), and Flying Colors (1932). She built up her resumé and reputation over time – while only casted as an extra in her first production, she was casted as a main character (Claudine Adams in Big White Fog) in her last. Her rise in the Broadway community was quick and notable.
She was also part of a photography series (as seen in the picture above) about the show.
Sources:
The Beginning: The Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre and Agnes de Mille’s Black Ritual, American Ballet Theatre
Muriel Cook – Broadway Cast & Staff, IBDB
Muriel Cook, Dorothy Williams, Maudell Bass, and Lewanne Kennaro in “Black Ritual”, NYPL Digital Collections
Muriel Cook, MobBallet
More about Muriel Cook
Born in 1915, Muriel Cook was a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre. She was a part of the original cast of Agnes de Mille’s Black Ritual (1940) with Mabel Hart, Edith Hurd and Lavinia Williams . Cook performed in the original Broadway casts of Flying Colors (1932), Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939, Swingin’ the Dream (1939), and Big White Fog (as Claudine Adams, 1940). Cook worked as a singer, performing in Harlem clubs, at Broadway revues, and on tour in South America and Europe.
Sources:
Sana Jawa
