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Stage star is small-town girl at heart By Mark Hughes Cobb Staff Writer March 16, 2001 Email this story. Alabama native Rebecca Luker as Marian the librarian in “The Music Man.” Courtesy photo. NEW YORK — It’s 983 miles and 18 driving hours from Helena, Ala., to 250 W. 52nd St., where small-town girl Rebecca Luker is a big-time star. Luker will fly back to Alabama today, taking a night off from her starring role on Broadway in the hit "The Music Man," to accept induction into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame in Tuscaloosa. With Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for her role as Marian in "Music Man" and similar honors for previous starring roles, Luker is one of The Great White Way’s biggest female stars. But Luker, 39, totes a small-town ethic through the big brash city. "I’m just working, like everybody else," she said. "When you’re here, in the middle of it, it’s just 9 to 5. You buy your groceries, do the laundry." Bright lights, big city Even though one of Broadway’s brightest lights resides inside, there’s no star over the stage door at 250 W. 52nd Street, the Neil Simon Theatre. If you’re just over average height, you might have to duck and shrug to wend your way up the narrow stairs backstage to Luker’s dressing-room suite. Calling it a suite might oversell it. This is Manhattan, a stone’s throw from Times Square, where space comes at a premium. Photos of past shows, Luker’s husband, two stepsons and other friends adorn the walls of a spare sitting room, warmed by the omnipresent hulking radiator. The couch looks dorm-comfortable, sprung and stuffed with room for two. The paint job is nondescript. Luker, pride of Helena and the University of Montevallo, prepares her makeup in the other room, at a table framed with light bulbs, just like in the movies. It’s just bigger than a walk-in closet — but with a window. Sure, it’s the city and the space is scarce, but it also speaks to Luker’s modesty. At moments, though, the perspective shifts and there’s an almost out-of-body recognition. "When we opened in this theater, I remember walking down the street and seeing my name [on the marquee]." A photo of her as Marian Paroo stands life-sized against one wall. "Little things like that you just have to go, ‘Wow. That’s really cool.’" Having taken over the role of Christine in "Phantom of the Opera" from Sarah Brightman in 1991, Luker originated the role of Lily in "The Secret Garden," opposite Mandy Patinkin. Starring roles in "Showboat" (Magnolia) and "The Sound of Music" revivals (Maria) followed. "There are no bigger stars on Broadway right now than Rebecca," said Paul K. Looney, co-chair of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. "We’re talking about a young woman who has already had a body of work that most people would consider a lifetime career." The PBS special "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," which featured Luker, is further evidence of her stature. Although she’s worked on Broadway stages for 15 years, something of the small-town Alabama girl can still surface. "Truman Capote?" she laughed, reflecting on one of tonight’s other Hall of Fame inductees. "What am I doing there?" Writer Capote and the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" are also being honored at the ceremonies this evening at Shelton State Community College. A star is born Luker was anything but a Broadway baby, raised in Helena, a tiny burg near Pelham. Music was singing in church and marching in the Thompson High School band, not staying up late to catch the Tony broadcasts. Her mom, Martha Hales, says her daughter took every opportunity she could to sing, joining talent contests, ensembles and choirs. "She got into everything she could that had to do with music," said Hales, who will attend tonight’s ceremonies with Luker’s stepfather, two siblings, a cousin and some in-laws. "When she went on to college, there was no question what she’d major in." Her dreams took shape while working with University of Montevallo vocal coach Benjamin Middaugh, who will introduce her at tonight’s ceremonies at the Bean-Brown Theatre. "Being from Alabama, you think, ‘What am I going to do for a living?’ You don’t think ‘I’m going to be a Broadway star,’" she said. "You don’t think ‘I’m going to go to New York and work in the theater.’ Or I didn’t anyway." Then she got cast in — and the circle closes — a UM production of "The Music Man," as Marian. "This show seems to be at the crux of my whole career," she said. "[The first ‘Music Man’] was when I was absolutely bitten by the bug." Over five years — she took two semesters off to perform in dinner theater and at the Michigan Opera House — Luker performed leading roles in "Music Man," "A Little Night Music," "The Fantasticks," "Sweeney Todd" and more, for UM and Birmingham’s Town & Gown. "She had a whole lot of experience by the time she left," Middaugh said. "She was ready." It’s a wonderful town With her experience in Michigan, Luker already had an agent when she hit New York in winter 1985. Concert and summer stock work came first, taking her from City Center to Carnegie Hall. "I didn’t think about Broadway right away," she said. "I was waiting for the opportunities, building my confidence." Then came the "Phantom" job, followed by her first original role as the ethereal Lily in "Secret Garden." Since then, she seems to have been working non-stop. She found time to record "Anything Goes: Rebecca Luker Sings Cole Porter." She can also be heard on "Aria," "Wonderful Town," "Brigadoon," "Unsung Sondheim" and the original cast recordings of "Secret Garden," "Showboat" and "Sound of Music." This summer she’s got two weeks off from "Music Man" to work on a Jerome Kern compilation. Luker has also done a little television, including "Matlock," "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "An Evening With the Pops: Broadway Originals" and "An Oscar Hammerstein Celebration." With all that, Susan Stroman, the director and choreographer of "Music Man," didn’t want to see Luker for Marian. They had worked together on "Showboat," which Stroman choreographed. Luker called her agent to get an audition anyway. "I’m almost 40 years old, and this is the last time I’ll get to do Marian," Luker said. "I knew I could do it. I worked very hard on the book, on the acting part, and just went in and did my best. I guess I surprised [Stroman]. The caprice of directors — even those who know and respect one’s work — is one reason Luker hasn’t adopted a "star" mentality. "Why would you?" she laughed. "But I try to smell the roses. Every show, I’m bitten again by the thrill of what I’m doing." Hales had spoken to her daughter by phone Thursday to confirm plans for her visit to the Hall of Fame. "We just think it’s a great honor," she said, adding that the whole town of Helena is bursting with pride. "I know she also feels that way. There she is, feeling like an old lady up there at 39, but that’s young for something like this to happen."

 

Native stars fall on Alabama hall of fame By Mark Hughes Cobb Staff Writer March 17, 2001 Email this story. TUSCALOOSA - After opening with a jazzy rendition of "I Get A Kick Out of You," the third annual Stage and Screen Hall of Fame ceremonies stayed mostly on that light level, even while touching on the deeper themes of honorees Truman Capote and the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird." Along with Broadway star Rebecca Luker, Capote and "Mockingbird" joined previous inductees Tallulah Bankhead, Fannie Flagg, Winton and Carolyn Blount, Lois Wilson, John Badham, Polly Holliday and Nell Carter in the gala ceremony at Shelton State Community College. Shelton State and Theatre Tuscaloosa founded the Hall of Fame to recognize the work of Alabamians - native-born and adopted - who have made contributions to theater, film, television and other performing arts. Fox 6 television personality Rick Journey hosted the event, joining the Basically Broadway Singers, a troupe of the area's best performers, on the opening. To introduce the quintessential Alabama movie, local actor Jeff Wilson performed Atticus Finch's stirring closing courtroom speech. Birmingham natives Phillip Alford and John Badham, who played the children Jem and Scout, accepted the award. "To be recognized in your own home [state] is a really special treat," Alford said. "It's a little hard to realize something you did 39 years ago, people still want to talk about." "We're still very much like a little family," Badham said, noting she'd talked with Gregory Peck (their father in the movie, whom she still calls Atticus) and Robert Duvall (who played Boo Radley) recently. "Yeah, she's still just as much a pain as she was at nine," Alford joked. Jennifer Quarles and Alabama Ballet performed a dance to "Moon River," the theme from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," based on Capote's story. Capote works such as "The Grass Harp," "Christmas Memories," "A Thanksgiving Story," were all set in and based on his time in Monroeville, where he was raised by maiden aunts. Jennings Faulk Carter, a cousin and former playmate, accepted the honor. "We [Capote, Harper Lee, Carter] were all about the same age, played together," Carter said. It was clear at an early age that he'd be a writer. "When we were playing cowboys and Indians, Truman would almost write a little script for us," Carter said, noting he always carried around a pocket dictionary. Carter flatly denied the suggestion that Capote helped neighbor Lee write the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird." "Sure, that's Nelle's book. They were good friends," and Capote might have offered editing tips, but it was Lee's book all the way, he said. It might in fact have annoyed Capote that Lee's one-and-only book won the Pulitzer, Carter said, when all along Capote was the one who wanted to be a writer. Luker's former University of Montevallo voice professor Benjamin Middaugh introduced the Birmingham-born Broadway star who is currently starring as Marian Paroo in "The Music Man," and has been nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for that and past work in Broadway productions of "The Sound of Music Man," "Showboat" and "The Phantom of the Opera." "I used to tell Rebecca, 'You don't know how to make an ugly sound,'" Middaugh said. "There isn't time enough to tell you how proud I am to have been raised in the beautiful state of Alabama," Luker said, her voice choking with emotion. "I will always remember this evening, and hold it in my heart."