Rebecca Luker obit

 

Rebecca Luker, Star of 'Show Boat,' 'The Music Man' and 'Mary Poppins' on Broadway, Dies at 59

 She was not on the list.

The three-time Tony nominee and wife of actor Danny Burstein has lost her battle with ALS.

Rebecca Luker, the enchanting Broadway actress and singer who received Tony nominations for her performances in revivals of Show Boat, The Music Man and Mary Poppins, has died. She was 59.

According to The New York Times, Luker died Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital after announcing in February that she had been diagnosed with ALS late last year. Her death was confirmed by her agent, Sarah Fargo.

Survivors include her second husband, Danny Burstein, like his wife a beloved Broadway performer. The seven-time Tony nominee wrote two columns for THR this year about his recovery from COVID-19 and how Luker helped him get past the virus.

An operatic soprano, Luker portrayed Magnolia, the daughter who marries a sleazy riverboat gambler, in Show Boat, which opened on Broadway in 1994; the librarian Marian in The Music Man, which began in 2001; and Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins. She starred in that one from 2006-10.

'The Music Man' Starring Hugh Jackman & Sutton Foster Set to Open in Spring 2021

Luker also appeared on the big screen in writer-director David Chase's Not Fade Away (2012) and on television in such series as Boardwalk Empire, Elementary and NCIS: New Orleans.

One of four children, Rebecca Joan Luker was born on April 17, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from the University of Montevallo in 1984 after spending time with the Michigan Opera Theater, then made her Broadway debut in 1989 stepping in for Sarah Brightman as the chorus girl Christine in a revival of The Phantom of the Opera.

She also appeared on the Great White Way in the musicals The Secret Garden in 1991-93, The Sound of Music (as Maria) in 1998-99, Nine in 2003, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (as the fairy godmother Marie) in 2013 and Fun Home in 2015-16.

She married Burstein in 2000. Survivors also include her stepsons, Zachary and Alexander.

"She is strong but searching for answers as she sees her body failing her," Burstein wrote about his wife in his August THR piece. "And yet she has hope. I don't know what to feel. I've always been the more pragmatic one. She has always been so sure. I can't deny her hope. I have some, too. But I have to keep preparing for the worst. And I hate that I am preparing for the worst. But we are hoping our hopes come true."           

 

Stage credits

Broadway

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1988–1991          The Phantom of the Opera           Christine Daaé   Understudy, Replacement

1991–1993          The Secret Garden           Lily         Originated the role

1994–1997          Show Boat           Magnolia            

1998–1999          The Sound of Music         Maria Rainer     

2000–2001          The Music Man Marian Paroo     Revival

2003      Nine       Claudia         Replacement

2006–2010          Mary Poppins    Winifred Banks Originated the role

2013–2014          Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella        Marie    Replacement

2016      Fun Home           Helen Bechdel   Replacement

 

Filmography      

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

2000      Cupid & Cate      Annette               TV movie

2004      Law & Order: Special Victims Unit             Wendy Campbell              Episode: "Poison"

2010      The Good Wife Carleen Loren    Episode: "Taking Control"

2011      Submissions Only             Hannah Labove Episode: "Mean Like Me"

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit             Mrs. Walsh         Episode: "True Believers"

2012      Boardwalk Empire            Sister Agnes       Recurring; 4 episodes

2015      Law & Order: Special Victims Unit             Lisa Parker          Episode: "Transgender Bridge"

2017      Elementary         Virginia Spivey   Episode: "High Heat"

2018–2019          NCIS: New Orleans           Rose LaSalle        3 episodes

2020      Bull        Michele Downey              Episode: "Child of Mine"

 

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1997      Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas                 Chorus (voice)   Video

2006      Spectropia           Singer at the ball             

2012      Not Fade Away Marti Dietz

2014      The Rewrite        Joan

 

Awards and nominations

Year       Award   Category              Work     Result

1991      Drama Desk Award          Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical            The Secret Garden           Nominated

1995      Tony Award        Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical          Show Boat           Nominated

1997      Drama-Logue Award       Performance      Harmony              Won

1998      Outer Critics Circle Award             Outstanding Actress in a Musical               The Sound of Music         Nominated

2000      The Music Man Nominated

Drama Desk Award          Outstanding Actress in a Musical               Nominated

Tony Award        Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical          Nominated

2007      Bistro Award      Debut   Feinstein's at the Regency (Solo Cabaret)               Won

Tony Award        Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical        Mary Poppins    Nominated

Outer Critics Circle Award             Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical            Nominated

2012      Outer Critics Circle Award             Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical            Death Takes a Holiday                 Nominated