From InTheater Magazine Issue 57
Someone Like Her
"Hedy was my breakthrough," she says of her performance as the blonde
bombshell/cigarette girl working her way up to be a secretary. "Then Capeman
was really a wonderful thing because I played a mother in mourning, dowdy
and depressed."
Now she’s Lucy, the sultry prostitute with an unfortunate attraction
for Mr. Hyde. "The last three things I’ve done are really quite different,"
Mason says with some understatement.
Despite her versatile résumé (or perhaps because of it), she
initially had a hard time being seen for Jekyll & Hyde. "I had read that
Linda was leaving, [but] my agent said he just couldn’t get me an audition.
So I lobbied. I wrote letters, I made phone calls. I’m not quite sure
how I got in, but I finally got a slot."
Before long, she found herself nervously facing the show’s director,
Robin Phillips, and composer Frank Wildhorn. "I was really scared," Mason
confides. "[Wildhorn] sat there with his baseball cap, poker faced. I had
learned five songs, and he had me sing one. Then, without any other comment,
he named the next song he wanted me to sing. I sang it. Then he announced
the third song he wanted me to sing, which was ‘A New Life.’ It’s
a very long and very demanding song. After I sang that, he went, ‘Well,
that separates the men from the boys.’ Then he just laughed. And I thought,
‘Okay, he liked it.’ I knew I did well."
If Mason feels any trepidation about replacing someone who is not only the
composer’s wife but has built a passionate following in the role,
she’s not showing it. She does, however, admit to being a little taken
aback by the coterie of fans known as Jekkies. "Even before I opened, they
were stopping me outside of the theater saying, ‘We hear you’re
taking over the role,’" she marvels. "They were naming my credits. But
they’ve embraced me, which is really wonderful. And I’ve heard
that everything about me on the show’s website is positive. This is
another good thing." 
"I always wanted to star on Broadway," says Luba Mason. "That’s been
my dream ever since I can remember." The Palisades, NY native recently took
over for Linda Eder in the hit musical Jekyll & Hyde. After more than
10 years of smaller roles, most notably as Hedy La Rue in How to Succeed
in Business Without Really Trying (1995), and most recently in the ill-fated
Capeman, this, it would seem, is Mason’s moment.
---By Andy Buck
-------------------------------------------------------
A Broadway review about Luba in Jekyll and Hyde:
Luba Mason was extremely effective as Lucy Harris, the prostitute who crosses paths with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She has both a deft flair for comedy and a certain sauciness when she is on her own "turf" in the Red Rat brothel. Yet, she also shows vulnerability and uncertainty when meeting Dr. Jekyll in his home. Her voice is strong, pleasant to the ear and well suited to her character, evidenced by her renditions of "Someone Like You" and "A New Life". Though, following Linda Eder, Mason had large shoes to fill, she is a charming new addition to the cast.
-------------------------------------------------------
From Goodspeed Musicals- 1997 hit Lucky In The Rain at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut:
This show has so many great performers that it is impossible to name them individually. If you like the `1920 music you probably will be entertained by this talented cast. The music is all 1920's and the orchestration by Michael O'Flaherty was impressive. I have to mention Luba Mason who played Isadora Duncan--she was excellent, especially in the scenes with Patrick Wilson. Loved her Costumes!! I could go on for another ten pages to explain that this show is worth the trip to Connecticut!. Its playing now ..I don't know if its Broadway bound--but who knows.? Great Night Out!!!
