Luba Mason has appeared in some of the biggest shows on Broadway, starring in such hits as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Jeckyll and Hyde, and Chicago, playing bombshells and killers with equal aplomb. But when she takes the stage at the Metropolitan Room this week in her new show, she is playing only herself, and sharing all of the many different qualities that make her who she is. Reflecting this, she has entitled her cabaret Collage.
Collage began in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, recording artist Rubén Blades, and toured across the country before coming to New York over Thanksgiving weekend of last year. The return engagement at the Met Room will feature songs from her debut album, also entitled Collage, and from her forthcoming second recording, which will mark Mason's debut as a songwriter. "I chose songs that had had some influence in my life, that meant something to me, and incorporated a lot of different material," she says. To honor her Slovak heritage, she sings a Slovak folk tune. "The Riddle Song," the first piano piece Mason ever played during her twelve years of classical lessons, is also featured. A Spanish cover of "The Look of Love" honors her Panamanian husband. And, being a Broadway Baby, she has included a few numbers from her greatest stage hits. "Each song has a little story behind it on why I chose it," she says. "And I get into that a little bit more in-depth in the show, where people really get a chance to get to know me and my background and why I chose the songs that I did... It's become quite a wonderful, eclectic set, which I find is very entertaining for the audience. They don't know what's coming next."Videos