Who: Julie Benko, Andréa Burns, Carolee Carmello, Nikki Renée Daniels, Laura Darrell, Ali Ewoldt, Marina Kondo, Emilie Kouatchou, Bryce Pinkham, Scarlett Strallen, Jessica Vosk, Sally Wilfert, more
What: Tribute to Broadway favorite Rebecca Luker
Where: Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at Ninety-Fifth St.
When: Monday, May 22, $35-$250, 8:00
Why: On May 10, 2018, Alabama-born Broadway star Rebecca Luker presented “Project Broadway: The Rebecca Luker Songbook” at Symphony Space, a concert featuring the world premiere of eighteen songs written specifically for her by such composers as Deborah Abramson, Sam Davis, Stephen Flaherty, Jenny Giering, Sheldon Harnick, Henry Krieger, Andrew Lippa, Matthew Sklar, and Joseph Thalken. The three-time Tony nominee (Show Boat, The Music Man, Mary Poppins) announced in 2020 that she had ALS, and she died on December 23 of that year, survived by her husband, Tony winner Danny Burstein, and his two sons.
On May 22, a wonderful collection of Broadway stars will honor Luker and the fifth anniversary of “The Rebecca Luker Songbook” when they gather at Symphony Space and debut twenty-four different songs written for Luker, by Carmel Dean, Scott Eyerly, Giering, Mike Heitzman and Ilene Reid, Krieger, Lippa, David Loud, Martin Lowe, Joshua Rosenblum, Sam Willmott, and others. (The project included more than eighty original numbers.) Among those performing will be Julie Benko, Andréa Burns, Carolee Carmello, Nikki Renée Daniels, Laura Darrell, Ali Ewoldt, Marina Kondo, Emilie Kouatchou, Bryce Pinkham, Scarlett Strallen, Jessica Vosk, and Sally Wilfert; Thalken will serve as music director, with Deborah Avery on clarinet, Katherine Cherbas on cello, Craig Magnano on guitar and ukulele, and Benny Koonyevsky on percussion. The concert will raise funds for Project ALS, which “identifies and funds the most promising scientific research that will lead to the first effective treatments and a cure for ALS. We recruit the world’s best scientists and doctors to work together — rationally and aggressively — to develop a better understanding of the ALS disease process and, in parallel, better therapeutic strategies.” Tickets range from $35 to $250; the concert, directed by producer Annette Jolles, will also be livestreamed for $35.