Rebecca Luker in Fun Home

[starcatchers]

Posted: 4/5/16 at 11:48pm

Pardon if there's already a thread on this...did anyone catch her first performance tonight? I'm curious as to how it was. 

[steven22]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:36am

I'm also super curious to hear how she was! I'm hoping to go back to see her. 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:43am

I'm going to see her tonight and am excited to see how she does and to check in on the show again. As wonderful as this season has been, perhaps only The Humans has been able to rival my love for Fun Home. 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:43am

She will be gorgeous in this role.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:59am

I saw her first performance last night. She is absolutely shattering in the role. It's an entirely invested performance, although she plays the character a little softer than Kuhn. That said, she and Lauren Patten had a real rapport, which made  "Days and Days" even more powerful. Some of the gorgeous soprano bloom in Luker's voice is gone, but she still sings with great beauty and feeling. The show is in great shape.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:14am

Looking forward to seeing it this afternoon!

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:34am

I remember when she showed up in New York in 1994 in the Hal Prince Show Boat as Magnolia. I was excited about seeing that revival anyway, but I developed a real man-crush for Rebecca.

Back then for most people America On LIne was the entire Internet. They never ventured outside it. I was excited when on a Broadway site, probably Playbill, it was announced that she would be taking questions. 

I thought that I would impress her by asking an obscure question that would show that I followed her. I had listened to the 1988 John McGlinn three CD set of every song ever written for every production of the musical. Opera singers Frederica von Stade and  Teresa Stratas had the lead female roles. At the beginning of the Finale, after Gaylord and Magnolia have met, two people walk by and greet them. I believe the second person has all of this to say, "Good evening, Captain." 

In the booklet that came with the CDs, Rebecca Luker received a credit only for the old woman who had said those three words. I asked her how that had come about.and in the response she typed back (not in real time) that she had just arrived in New York and was going to see McGlinn. Maybe this was related to their mutual admiration of Jerome Kern. Anyway he was in the studio recording this Finale and, when Rebecca showed up he needed someone to say those words. She was selected.

That story probably wasn't worth all that typing. But it seems a shame that she has only three Tony nominations for her career. I don't think that her agent/manager did her right.

 

[LarryD2]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:46am

Thanks for that story. I've had a copy of that recording, in one form or another, since it was first issued, and I never realized Luker was on it.

But it seems a shame that she has only three Tony nominations for her career. I don't think that her agent/manager did her right.

It's not that simple. If you're a person who only measures "success" in Tony Awards/nominations, then three nominations with no wins over the course of a 30-year career might not seem impressive. However, I'd say Luker has had a pretty superb career, if you consider the fact that she's worked almost consistently in theater, in leading roles, since she came to New York. She also has a tendency to stay with shows for a long time (SHOW BOAT for almost the entire run, THE MUSIC MAN for the entire run, MARY POPPINS for 4 years); the longer you stay with a show, the fewer new roles you can accept. As a working actor for 30 years in New York I'd say that she's had a lot of success.

 

 

 

 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:15am

I love Rebecca's two songs in Encores' The Boys From Syracuse. "Falling in Love with Love" and "Sing for your Supper." 

Perhaps if that side of her had been showcased more....

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 12:16pm

The clip of her singing "Days and Days" here is brilliant. She is one of my favorite singing actresses ever. I had the pleasure of seeing her as Magnolia in Show Boat as well. Her voice just shimmered, but I was so impressed with her acting as well.

She is a treasure.

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 12:50pm

She's also been featured throughout the years in countless countless concert performances of vintage musicals.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 4:12pm

best12bars said: "The clip of her singing "Days and Days" here is brilliant. She is one of my favorite singing actresses ever. I had the pleasure of seeing her as Magnolia in Show Boat as well. Her voice just shimmered, but I was so impressed with her acting as well.

She is a treasure.

She could well have won her Tony for Show Boat, but she ran into the "Aging Diva Who Is Due For One" in Glenn Close. She never had a chance.against Close in Sunset Boulevard. (Now I'll find a legion of Glenn Close fans ripping into me for this.)

 

You probably have or have heard her recent Jerome Kern album, "I Got Love." Really like the album, but it may be a weakness of mine that I wish she had included one or two more of Kern's classics. "Long Ago and Far Away" is a lovely ballad that perhaps is not heard so much due to its association with the Second World War." "Who" or "I Won't Dance" would have been a little cheerful deviation from all the ballads.

Kelli O'Hara said in a BWW interview that her favorite composer is also Jerome Kern, but I can't recall her ever singing or recording a Kern song.

Thanks for the song link. I agree with you.

"

 

Updated On: 4/6/16 at 04:12 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 4:27pm

OlBlueEyes said: She could well have won her Tony for Show Boat, but she ran into the "Aging Diva Who Is Due For One" in Glenn Close. She never had a chance.against Close in Sunset Boulevard. (Now I'll find a legion of Glenn Close fans ripping into me for this.)
 

"

Not a Glenn Close fan, but I find your characterization disingenuous. Glenn Close didn't win because she was "due for one." She already had won two prior Tonys. Sunset Blvd. was a juggernaut that year; there was no way anyone other than Close was going to win.

[starcatchers]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 4:31pm

These replies are making me even more excited to see her, and to revisit the show! 

[Harriet Craig]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 7:52pm

OlBlueEyes said: "I love Rebecca's two songs in Encores' The Boys From Syracuse. "Falling in Love with Love" and "Sing for your Supper." 

Also loved her duet with Howard McGillin on  "Lovelier Than Ever" in Encores' Where's Charley?

 

"

 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:19pm

Ms. Luker was the only celebrity I actually got the autograph for at BroadwayCon (I lost my other three due to the blizzard). Since I didn't have any of her shows on CD, she was kind enough to sign the Barbara Cook recording of Show Boat that I brought. I mentioned how Magnolia is a top dream role of mine- and she was the first person to encourage faith in my own ability to play the part someday. :)

I'm very interested in how she plays Helen Bechdel "softer" than Judy Kuhn, however...

[DAME]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:33pm

Beautiful voice.  Nice person.  But as an actress I have always found her very stiff and bland.    I hope she is wonderful in this. 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:41pm

I'm back from tonight's performance and I truly fell in love with this show and production all over again. It wasn't just the magic of the original cast that made this piece so special- it's still in tip top shape and this new cast is absolutely "must-see" theater. 

 

I loved, loved, loved the new medium Alison, Lauren Patten. In fact, she's my favorite of the three medium Alisons thus far. Her two early book scenes with Joan contained some newfound humor and Changing My Major was downright inspired. Didn't know her before this, but hope she finds lots of work in New York after this. 

 

The video posted above doesn't really do Luker's performance justice. She is softer than Kuhn, but Days and Days is just as devastating. When she gets to the final "welcome to our house on Maple Avenue" this is so much exasperation and pent up feeling that's she's been holding back. Got misty-eyed and stayed that way through Telephone Wire (Malone continues to slay with all her moments) and the finale. 

 

Gabriella Pizzolo had perhaps the toughest shoes to fill and I think she did a great job. She's a little more spunky than Sydney, but was also able to find that introspection needed for Ring of Keys. 

 

Cerveris and Colindrez continue their excellent work. 

[asmith0307]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:24pm

Thanks for the report Whizzer! I am excited to see the new cast members, and as soon as Luker was announced I hoped online to get a ticket for the fourth time. I happened to be at Gabby's first performance as Small Alison (when she had a 15 min warning) so I am curious to see how she has grown in the role. 

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 10:24pm

I didn't think I'd see this again since it will be coming to Chicago, but sounds like it's time to revisit it again. Emily Skeggs is a talented young lady but for some reason I just didn't connect with her middle Allison so it sounds like it might be worth seeing the new middle Alison. Particularly because I have the feeling it will lose something in our barns when it plays here...

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/6/16 at 11:54pm

I don't know if people are familiar with the My Favorite Broadway concerts at Carnegie Hall, of which there were at least two, both hosted by Julie Andrews and full of major talent. I don't know if you could find them on DVD, but the entire 99 minutes of "Leading Ladies," was put up on YouTube in 2014. This concert, originally recorded in September, 1998, features Rebecca singing "Falling In Love" in full gown while Julie Andrews comments on what good friends they had become that week.

A lot of other good stuff. Audra sings "Love Changes Everything" and "Down with Love," Marin Mazzie "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," Linda Eder "Man of La Mancha," Judy Kuhn "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Faith Prince "Adelaide's Lament," Elaine Stritch "The Ladies Who Lunch."

Karen Ziemba sings "I Wanna Be a Rockette," assisted by the real Rockettes and joins with Bebe Neuwirth to perform "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag," complete with cartwheels.

Maybe the most talked about act was 13 year old Anna Kendricks, impeccably dressed, singing "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" as she holds off the Kit Kat Girls from Cabaret, who are stalking her in full grunge,.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this concert, it's worth a look.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 7:12am

Chi, I honestly think it is worth revisiting, especially in the intimate Circle in the Square. After feeling like my ears had been assaulted in several over-amplified shows recently, it was refreshing hear music coming out of instruments and voices actually emanating from a mouth and not a speaker. The sound design is so subtle that I wouldn't even have know they were wearing microphones if I hadn't seen the mic packs myself.  

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 8:27am

Thanks for the thoughtful revisit.  I saw it again on 12/27, and couldn't believe how fully invested and fresh Malone remained.  Her performance of the final sequence leading into "Fly Away" just levels me. "Daddy, come here..."  And like you, find "Telephone Wire" heart-stopping, still one of the fullest 11 o'clock spots in musical theater, culminating in the wrenching moment when she stands and demands her father see her.  

 

The show is both cathartic in the best sense, and yet determined not to make facile pronouncements: as satisfying as its end truly is, it scrupulously avoids tying up the whole story in a neat conclusion. The elusive and tragic Bruce's resolution is appropriately incomplete, even as his brilliant, wounded daughter does indeed manage to fly away.  .   

Updated On: 4/7/16 at 08:27 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 9:10am

Telephone Wire is so marvelously constructed. I too love the moment when she begs her father to final see her.

 

Kron uses a technique similar to what Sondheim did in Being Alive. Just like he changed "Someone to hold you too close/Someone to hurt you too deep" to "Somebody hold me too close/Somebody hurt me too deep," Kron changes "Say something talk to him/Say something, anything" to "Say something talk to me/Say something, anything!" The power of simply changing "him" to "me" kills me and Malone is particularly quivering with emotion as she stands and pleads with the father in her head.   

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 9:14am

OlBlueEyes said: "I don't know if people are familiar with the My Favorite Broadway concerts at Carnegie Hall, of which there were at least two, both hosted by Julie Andrews and full of major talent. I don't know if you could find them on DVD, but the entire 99 minutes of "Leading Ladies," was put up on YouTube in 2014. This concert, originally recorded in September, 1998, features Rebecca singing "Falling In Love" in full gown while Julie Andrews comments on what good friends they had become that week.

A lot of other good stuff. Audra sings "Love Changes Everything" and "Down with Love," Marin Mazzie "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," Linda Eder "Man of La Mancha," Judy Kuhn "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Faith Prince "Adelaide's Lament," Elaine Stritch "The Ladies Who Lunch."

Karen Ziemba sings "I Wanna Be a Rockette," assisted by the real Rockettes and joins with Bebe Neuwirth to perform "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag," complete with cartwheels.

Maybe the most talked about act was 13 year old Anna Kendricks, impeccably dressed, singing "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" as she holds off the Kit Kat Girls from Cabaret, who are stalking her in full grunge,.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this concert, it's worth a look.

 

They were released on DVD. I own them. Not sure if they are still available. Audra is part of a Weber trio and it is fantastic.

 

"

 

Updated On: 4/7/16 at 09:14 AM