Get Tickets to FUN HOME: www.broadway.co... Directed by Alexander Goyco. Filmed by Alexander Goyco and Nick Shakra. Produced by Paul Wontorek for The Broadway Channel.
Aren't we blessed that Rebecca Luker gave away so many of her days to us. In song. In joy. In the end, we are all stories. This was Rebecca Luker's. Warmest of thoughts to her loved ones and many friends in the wake of her passing.
Oh my god. If I ever had to show someone an example of what it means to ACT a song...this'd be it. Just...every note, every beat, every breath is carrying the story. Rebecca Luker, you are phenomenal.
Why so many comments on how "imperfect" her voice is? Luker is one of the best sopranos on Broadway. I think this song just sits in a strange part of her voice and the acoustics of the room are strange. I just get the impression that she isn't allowing herself to oversing the piece and rather come from a place of truthful storytelling, which is beautiful.
I think of lot of people don't understand that she's not performing the song as Rebecca Luker she's performing the song in character. she's singing it as the character would sing it. It's not performing the song to perfection it's what's right for the story.
It's called acting through song and it takes a ton of skill. It's baffling that people don't get it. It takes incredible control to get to this point of vocal musicianship and skill she is showing here. Also, Rebecca Luker's loss is still felt immensely. It is just not fair that such a talent was taken too soon. We were so lucky this was recorded.
When singing this she sounds so broken like the character of Helen should, I love how you can tell that the song almost resinates in her soul (I've been studying for my English exam today so sorry if I sound really pretentious) amazing actress, singer, person.
died, age 59, of ALS. We will remember you Rebecca. Thank you for your dedication to the art of singing, and storytelling. Sing with the angels darling.
Stunning. She doesn't have the same power that Judy Kuhn has, but there's a quietness and an intimacy in her voice that gives it a whole different kind of power, and makes me want to lean in.
This is just hauntingly beautiful. I just learned Rebecca is battling with ALS. My thoughts and prayers are with her. One of the greatest sopranos of all time.
Im very sad because of her illness.I wish she recovered soon although its difficult.A great soprano one of the best in the post Barbara Cook,and Julie Andrews period both Rebecca Luker idols and friends Today she will sing at home in an ALS program.
I knew her when. We were in the music program at University of Montevallo in Alabama. She was Lady Guinevere in Camelot, and was perfect. I was a page and chorus member with one line,”Yes, me lady” I was good friends with her former roommate, Valerie Maze, now deceased. I went to hear Rebecca in a concert in Garner, NC.(There were two other concerts with former Phantom of the Opera, cast. Rebecca was in Phantom with both of them. Rebecca and I talked afterwards, and I was able to email her with the sad news that Valerie died. My heart hurts now that she has ALS. She has an amazing beautiful voice and I hope that there is a cure for this horrible disease, soon.
Amazing performance. Reminds me a lot of Flicka von Stade, mezzo soprano in opera. Same emotion in the voice, acting with text, letting the voice get colored by the words without trying to be "perfect" in the technical sense. Hits you right in the heart. Brava.
When I went to see fun home last weekend Rebecca was in it, we had seats on the floor pretty much on stage, oh man did I tear up really hard, biggest chills ever during the climax of the song. I feel she sings the song so much better than Kuhn because of the emphasis she puts on how heart wrenching the song is with her singing like she's on the verge of crying and really letting it all out like she's breaking down, instead of just singing it. Fantastic.
We had the great luck to see this on Broadway...this song always tears me up, esp when she tells her daughter "don't you come back here..." RIP Rebecca
I became a dyed-in-the-wool Rebecca Luker fan when I saw her and Howard McGillin hold together a musical that was collapsing around them: TIME AND AGAIN at San Diego's Old Globe Theater. Despite incredible odds musically and dramatically, Luker and her leading man used their formidable talents to attempt the impossible: Put over a misconceived, dramatically and musically inert show to an audience. Here, in FUN HOME, Luker once again works her magic. Her performance in the L.A. Reprise revival of the classic SHE LOVES ME proved she is equally effective with good material!
From husband DANNY BURSTEIN: “This is a text I just got from Jessica Molaskey. Thanks, Jess. It means the world to me. “ “There are no words. Only love right now for you and your family and our dear theater family. I don’t remember seeing the whole Broadway community so gutted by a loss. Not ever. I guess because Becca seemed so other worldly, so born of a place that mere mortals only dream of. So full of light and genius. Yes genius when she opened her mouth. The music and love that poured out of her shining soul shall live forever. In a different time we would all gather on this Christmas Eve and hug you and drink something and sit shiva for your “shiska goddess” and remember stories. I can think of a story about 26 years ago when a troupe of actors went out to dinner in Southern California. We were a large loud table tucked in a corner of a restaurant. Someone, maybe it was our dear George, threw down the gauntlet to tell the dirtiest joke. I might have known one safe one. The winner of the evening was Becca who told joke after filthy joke until our stomachs hurt from laughing so hard. The jokes were somehow funnier coming out of that angelic human. I think she knew it. The bottom line is we were better for knowing her. I guess that’s the whole point of this mysterious life. Leaving the joint a better place than before you got there. She sure did that. I know you have battalions of wonderful souls who love you. Just want to let you know that if you ever need a shoulder I’m here day or night. Who sleeps these days anyway. I love you. Xoxoxo Molaskey. I was privileged to see & hear “Ms. Luker’s angelic voice” as Lily in THE SECRET GARDEN at the Saint James Theatre in 1991 & as Maria Von Trapp in the 1998 revival of THE SOUND OF MUSIC at the Martin Beck Theatre in NYC. When I said earlier that we lost a lot of people this year...we indeed lost a LOT. We also recently lost NICK CORDERO (Bullets Over Broadway), MARIN MAZZIE (Kiss Me Kate, Passion, Ragtime) and ANNE REINKING (All That Jazz, Annie, Fosse). Broadway just got darker. R.I.P. to ALL WE LOST THIS YEAR. I shed a tear for those who left us. So gutted...and destroyed watching Ms. Luker perform, proving once again the LOSS we have is great and irreplaceable. Ugh. 2020 can’t get over any sooner for me. It’s just too much....TOO MUCH.
To go beyond the beauty and artistry of Rebecca Luker and the skill of the songwriters, this song points to the human need for salvation. How do we deal with the failures and sufferings and disappointments of life? What will wipe away every tear?
Have been heartbroken since I read of her death this morning. I like to think that she would have done more complex roles like this as she grew older. RIP! By every account I've read, a kind, brave and exceptional person.
right!! it looks like a parody of overediting. I half expected them to spin the camera while zooming in one shot, place it overhead pointing straight down in another shot, and zoom in while shaking in another.
Wow, she made me cry. Judy did too though. always for me at the part when she starts talking about how he used to sweep her off her feet. Dunno why it gets to me. so so sad.
0:20 I think this musical has more than one '11 o'clock number'. That's what makes it so powerful. The dad's mania makes it SEEM like THE number but this is very much just as powerful, just in this character's own personality and way. Right? Am I talking out of my ass? Lmao
She begged and begged for privacy- in the end she hardly went out in public- she was once known as being a great teacher and had created her own life in another town only to become “poor Helen” unable to escape the increasing number of ex friends and locals interested only for the scandal, the steady increase of whispers in all the local shops. She was an extremely private person who just wanted to be out of the public eye. She was loved and is sorely missed. She finally has her peace.
IS THERE A SINGLE SENTENCE IN THIS VIDEO THAT DOESNT HAVE A DRASTIC CUT??? This video is so heavily edited it made me feel motion sick. Can she just complete one tiny sentence on screen?? Not even a sentence, a phrase. A CLAUSE? The editing makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever. It doesn't lend a single thing to the performance as a whole. In fact, it distracts from us just watching her brilliant acting. I have a hunch that the editors have absolutely no respect for "acting". If I could just focus on her eyes for more than 7 seconds I might be able to see that this is a brilliant performance. But all I can say is, I have thrown up less after eating sea food that went bad 7 days ago. Whoever directed and produced this video should be ashamed of themselves.
