LOS ANGELES: Soprano Rebecca Luker, a three-time Tony nominated actor who starred in some of the biggest Broadway hits of the past three decades, died Wednesday. She was 59
Her death was announced by her husband, veteran Broadway actor Danny Burstein, who said in a statement our family is devastated. I have no words at this moment because I’m numb. Luker went public in 2020 saying she had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs disease, also called ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Luker was a best actress Tony nominee in 1995 playing Magnolia in Showboat, a best actress nominee in 2000 for playing Marian in The Music Man opposite Craig Bierko, and a best featured actress nominee in 2007 as Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins.
Tributes flooded social media, including from Broadway stars like Laura Benanti, who called Luker humble, loving and kind with a golden voice” that would wrap you in peace. Seth Rudetsky said it was a great loss for Broadway and the world. Kristin Chenoweth tweeted that Luker was one of the main reasons I wanted to be a soprano and Bernadette Peters called her one of the most beautiful voices on Broadway and a lovely person.”
Luker was known for staying with shows for extended runs. Yes, Im the queen of long runs, she told the Connecticut Post in 2011. I dont know if Im lucky or if its a curse. But its just how things have happened for me and it is mostly a good thing.
In 2013 she appeared in an off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheims Passion. In addition to many stage credits, Luker appeared on TV in Boardwalk Empire and The Good Wife and in the 2012 film Not Fade Away. Her other off-Broadway credits include Death Takes a Holiday, Indian Blood and The Vagina Monologues.
Broadway stars Stephanie J. Block called Luker an angel-faced and angel-spirited and LaChanze took to Twitter to call Luker’s death a huge loss for the American theater. Tony-winner Michael Cerveris said: There was no one more humble, more unexpectedly funny or more glorious when she sang.
Luker and her husband starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which they played the parents of a transgender youngster killed in an accident after being bullied.
Luker was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and received a bachelors in music from the University of Montevallo, where she later was awarded an honorary doctorate.
Luker made her Broadway debut in 1988 in The Phantom of the Opera first as an understudy to Sarah Brightman and then playing Christine opposite the legendary Michael Crawford. Ill never forget it. It was an out-of-body experience. He was so kind, though, and Ill never forget that, she told Playbill in 2016.
She had Broadway roles in the The Sound of Music and as the original Lily in The Secret Garden. She was a replacement in Nine in 2003 opposite Antonio Banderas, Fun Home in 2016 and in Rodgers + Hammersteins Cinderella in 2013-14.
Her albums include Greenwich Time, Leaving Home, Anything Goes: Rebecca Luker Sings Cole Porter and I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern, featuring 14 classics ranging from Bill/Cant Help Loving That Man to My Husbands First Wife. She also paid tribute to the legendary Barbara Cook at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.
Her final stage role was playing a small-town ministers narrow-minded wife in a 2019 Kennedy Center production of Footloose. Her last performance was in June in a Zoom benefit performance, At Home With Rebecca Luker.
In addition to her husband, Luker is survived by two stepsons, Alex and Zach.
___
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment