Rebecca Luker

Rebecca Luker (April 17, 1961 – December 23, 2020) was an American actress, singer, and recording artist whose Broadway career spanned from 1988 to 2015. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in the suburb of Helena, she was the daughter of Martha (Baggett), a high school treasurer, and Norse Doak Luker, Jr., a construction worker. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Montevallo, taking a year away from her studies in 1984 to perform the role of Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd at the Michigan Opera Theatre. Known for a crystal clear operatic soprano, Luker was frequently compared by The New York Times to performers such as Barbara Cook and Julie Andrews.

Luker entered Broadway in 1988 as an understudy to principal actress Sarah Brightman and her alternate Patti Cohenour in The Phantom of the Opera, eventually taking over the role of Christine after both actresses departed the production. She performed the role opposite Cris Groenendaal and Steve Barton as the Phantom, remaining with the show through 1991. She next originated the role of Lily in The Secret Garden, appearing in that production from 1991 to 1993. In 1994 she joined the revival of Show Boat as Magnolia, a performance that made her the first actress to receive a Tony Award nomination for that role. She portrayed Maria in The Sound of Music from 1998 to 1999, then took on the role of Marian in The Music Man from 2000 to 2001, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2003 she played Claudia in Nine. From 2006 to 2010 she originated the role of Mrs. Banks — listed in verified records as Winifred — in Mary Poppins, a performance that brought her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2007. In September 2013 she replaced Victoria Clark as Crazy Marie/the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, remaining in that production through January 2014. She temporarily assumed the role of Helen Bechdel in Fun Home at the Circle in the Square Theatre from April 5 to May 22, 2016.

Beyond her principal Broadway roles, Luker appeared in a range of other productions and venues. Off-Broadway credits include The Vagina Monologues, Indian Summer, X (Life of Malcolm X), Brigadoon, Death Takes a Holiday, and Can't Let Go. During the Kennedy Center's 2002 Sondheim Celebration, she appeared in Passion as Clara. She also performed in New York City Center Encores! staged concerts of The Boys from Syracuse and Where's Charley?, and on January 11, 2016, she reprised the role of Lily in The Secret Garden at a benefit performance at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Luker maintained an active concert and cabaret career alongside her stage work. In 2005 she performed a solo concert as part of the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center, presenting twenty songs by younger songwriters including Paul Loesel, Scott Burkell, Jeff Blumenkranz, Barry Kleinbort, and Joseph Thalken. Her solo cabaret debut at Feinstein's at the Regency in 2006 received notice from The New York Times and Variety, as well as the Bisto award for best debut concert. She performed a solo concert at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre in 2008, a Rodgers and Hammerstein concert again at the Kennedy Center in 2011, and participated in the NYC River to River Festival's Bridge to Broadway in 2012. She also performed as a concert soloist with symphony orchestras internationally. Her recordings include more than twenty cast albums as well as four solo albums: Anything Goes: Rebecca Luker Sings Cole Porter (1996), Leaving Home (2004), Greenwich Time (2009), and I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern (2013).

Television appearances included Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife, Matlock, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the Hallmark film Cupid & Cate. She appeared in the 2012 film Not Fade Away. In 2001, Luker was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame alongside Truman Capote and the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. On May 5, 2010, her alma mater, the University of Montevallo, awarded her an honorary doctorate of fine arts.

In her personal life, Luker married actor Gregory Jbara in 1993; they divorced in 1996. She married actor Danny Burstein in June 2000 and became stepmother to his sons Zachary and Alexander. In late 2019 she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which she publicly announced on February 9, 2020. She hosted a livestreamed ALS benefit in June 2020 and was still able to sing at that time, though by October the disease had progressed significantly. Luker died of ALS at a hospital in Manhattan on December 23, 2020, at the age of 59.