Rebecca Luker

Luker was born in Helena, Alabama, the daughter of a high school treasurer and a construction worker.[2] She attended the University of Montevallo, earning a BA in music, taking a year off in 1984 to perform in Sweeney Todd as Johanna Barker (also starring Judy Kaye as Mrs. Nellie Lovett) at the Michigan Opera Theatre.[3]

Luker's Broadway debut was in The Phantom of the Opera in the role of Christine (1988–91). She was originally an understudy for principal actress Sarah Brightman and her alternate Patti Cohenour. Luker later took over the role after Brightman and Cohenour left the show. Subsequent Broadway roles include Lily in The Secret Garden (1991–93), Magnolia in Show Boat (1994–97; the first actress to be nominated for a Tony Award for this role),[4] Maria in The Sound of Music (1998–99), Marian in The Music Man (2000–01), and Claudia in Nine (2003). She played the role of Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins from 2006[5] to 2010. She later replaced Victoria Clark as Crazy Marie/the Fairy Godmother in the Broadway production of Cinderella for an engagement that lasted from September 2013 to January 2014.[6] Luker joined the cast of Fun Home at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway, temporarily assuming the role of Helen Bechdel from April 5, 2016 to May 22, 2016.[7]

Luker appeared Off-Broadway in The Vagina Monologues, Indian Summer, X (Life of Malcolm X), Brigadoon, Death Takes a Holiday, and Can't Let Go. During 2002, the Kennedy Center presented a "Sondheim Celebration"; Luker appeared in Passion as Clara. She performed in the New York City Center Encores! staged concerts of The Boys from Syracuse and Where's Charley?. Her TV appearances include Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife, Matlock, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the Hallmark movie Cupid & Cate. She appeared in the 2012 film Not Fade Away. On January 11, 2016, Luker reprised the role of Lily in The Secret Garden at a benefit performance at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Luker performs in concerts with symphony orchestras around the world; she is also a cabaret performer. Her solo cabaret act, Rebecca Luker Sings Jerome Kern, debuted at 54 Below in New York City (2012).[8] She performed in the concert "Bridge to Broadway" (2012),[9] "NEW VOICES at NYU: A Celebration of Songs by NYU Musical Theatre Writers Past and Present" (2012),[10] a Rodgers and Hammerstein concert at the Kennedy Center (2011),[11] and a solo concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre (2008).[12] Luker won the Bistro Award for her cabaret act at Feinstein's at the Regency which was devoted to female songwriters (2006). She also performed a solo concert in the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center's Allen Room (2005).

Luker, Truman Capote, and To Kill a Mockingbird were the 2001 Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame inductees. She also received a doctorate of fine arts, honoris causa on May 5, 2010 from her alma mater, the University of Montevallo.[13]

She married Danny Burstein in June 2000[14] and has two stepsons, Zachary and Alexander.

In February 2020, Luker announced she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in late 2019.[15]

In April 2020, Luker's husband, Danny Burstein, contracted COVID-19 (along with several other cast members of Moulin Rouge!, in which he was starring).  He was subsequently hospitalized at St. Luke's in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan and recovered.  Following his ordeal Burstein wrote an account of it that was published in The Hollywood Reporter.[16][17] Toward the end of that article, Burstein revealed that as of April 13, 2020, "while I'm getting better, Rebecca has started dealing with the virus as well now. She's not been tested, but has all the symptoms to varying degrees. We are monitoring her closely."[18][19]

• 1991: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, The Secret Garden - Nominee
• 1995: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Show Boat - Nominee
• 1997: Drama-Logue Award, Harmony - Winner
• 1998: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, The Sound of Music - Nominee
• 2000: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, The Music Man - Nominee
• 2000: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, The Music Man - Nominee
• 2000: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, The Music Man - Nominee
• 2007: Bistro Award, Feinstein's at the Regency (Solo Cabaret) - Winner
• 2007: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Mary Poppins - Nominee
• 2007: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, Mary Poppins - Nominee

• Official Website
• Rebecca Luker at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rebecca Luker on IMDb
• Rebecca Luker Downstage Center XM radio interview by the American Theatre Wing, January 2007
• Playbill article DIVA TALK: Chatting with Rebecca Luker, April 2006
• 2006 review from NY Times
• BroadwayWorld.com interview with Rebecca Luker, June 9, 2007