Pop Culturalist Chats with Girl From the North Country’s Luba Mason

Luba Mason has graced stages from on- and off-Broadway to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola to Radio City Music Hall. As a Broadway actor, she’s appeared in shows like How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Chicago, and Sunset Boulevard. As a vocalist and experienced songwriter, she has several albums under her belt. Needless to say, Luba Mason has an abundance of talents. And they’re all on display in her current role as Mrs. Burke in Girl From the North Country where she acts and plays the drums. As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Luba also has an album, Triangle, in the works. We chatted with her about both projects and her love of performing.

PC: When did you know that music and theater would be your career?
Luba: I knew early on. I was a classical pianist for 13 years; I started playing piano when I was 5. So I played a lot of recitals and in my free time, I would buy pop song sheet music and start singing Barbara Streisand in the living room belting my brains out. I knew I liked performing in front of people and the reaction back was always positive. I got a sense that this was definitely going to be in my future. It was solidified when I saw my first Broadway show when I was, like, 12. When I saw Broadway…the live performance, it kind of just blew me away, and I went, “That’s really what I want to do when I grow up.”

PC: What was the performance?
Luba: It was called The Magic Show. Doug Henning was a magician, and they created the show around him. It was just magical. It was Broadway. There were live performers. It was very exciting to watch.

PC: What has the experience been like in moving with Girl From the North Country from off-Broadway to Broadway?
Luba: Generally as an actor in New York—or anywhere—you are always looking for work so, first of all, it was nice to know that when we finished at The Public, off-Broadway, we all knew we were coming to Broadway. It was just a matter of when. It was nice to know I had this job down the pike.

What’s been really beautiful about it since we’ve moved to Broadway now is the re-creation of the piece and having more depth in the piece and in my own character. Getting a second shot at working at this has really been a gift and pleasure.

PC: Since you do have that second chance for this character, is there anything new you brought to her? Or something you had thought about but didn’t get to show the first time?
Luba: Well, aside from playing my character, I had to learn how to play the drums for this show. I never played before so it gave me a chance to get better at them. It’s really complimentary when people [discover that fact] after the show, and they are shocked and say, “Oh my God, you really look like you know what you’re doing.” I worked hard it! [laughs]

My character goes through such an emotional arc. Not to give anything away, but, you know, to do this show eight shows a week, you really gotta dig in deep to dig up that emotion that is needed in every performance. I’ve had to replenish that pool because your tools can become old. You kind of have to dig a little deeper to find newer, creative things to bring up the emotions of what’s needed for the character. That aspect has been different. And actually the director has done some new staging. When muscle memory starts kicking in of how I used to do it, I have to turn it off and feel a different road.

Luba Mason in Girl From the North Country at The Public Theater. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

PC: The music in Girl From the North Country is all Bob Dylan songs. Does knowing the music outside of the production make it more challenging or easier to perform? Versus working on a production with brand-new material? 
Luba: There really was no difference for me because, honestly, I was not necessarily a huge Bob Dylan fan before I got into the show. I was familiar with some of his songs, but not all of them so learning his material—especially the ones that I perform in the show—was like learning new material for a brand-new musical.

PC: Do you have a favorite song from the show?
Luba: Yes: when I play! [laughs] It’s the one I play the drums on and sing. I love doing it. It still scares the bejesus out of me to do it because singing and playing the drums is very difficult [from] just playing the drums. And, it’s Bob Dylan so the lyrics aren’t just “I love you; I love you; I love you.” I gotta give the meaning, and the drums are placed way downstage so I can’t hide with the rest of the band. I’m really proud and always excited to perform “Sweetheart Like You” every show.

PC: What is your favorite thing about performing on Broadway?
Luba: I love the community. I’ve been a part of the community for over 25 years. It’s family, and there’s something really beautiful about it. Everybody knows everybody. I love that aspect of Broadway. It’s home for me. It was my dream as a kid. I always wanted to be on Broadway. Anything else has just been the charry or whip cream on top.

And, nothing beats performing live. I just did a film last fall. I love doing film and television, but you miss the live aspect of having an audience right then and there responding to what you’re doing. There’s something very gratifying about that.

PC: Shifting to your own music and your upcoming album: what inspired you to make it?
Luba: The simplicity of it. It’s called Triangle and the lineup is voice, vibraphone, and bass. That’s it. It’s a very simple album, and there’s a real purity to the music. When you’re performing like that, again, there’s no hiding. I hired these two superb musicians: Joe Locke is on vibraphone and James Genus is on bass. Just working with these pros was really a beautifuil experience.

When we recorded it, we recorded it live at Power Station which is actually where Dylan recorded quite a few of his hit albums. We put the album together in four days and then recorded it live. It was very exciting. There’s so much production that goes into albums these days; there’s so much added stuff you can do in the studio. There’s a real simplicity and purity in this which I found really beautiful.

PC: How do you approach selecting songs to include on your album?
Luba: It’s important to have some connection to the songs. They are all covers. I come from a more pop-jazz background, but I like to have every aspect. I grew up with a lot of influences—Broadway, classical, pop, ethnic, Latin. Actually, on my last album, I created my own genre called “mixtura” which was a blend of all different musical currents of all the musical categories. I mixed up the jazz, the Latin, the Broadway…everything in every song. I kind of carried that theme over to this one by having a real ecclectic set of songs I chose. I have some pop songs, straight-up classical songs, Broadway, and a Slovak folk song (which is my ethinc heritage). I even put a heavy metal tune, “Toxicity” from System Of a Down. Imagine that with voice, vibraphone and bass! I really wanted to challenge the line-up.

PC: What are you most looking forward to sharing with listeners? 
Luba: I think it forces the listener, again, to hear the simplicity and purity of the music. There isn’t a lot of fuss or amplification. It’s really two instruments and a voice. I have performed this line-up in the past year at some smaller venues and it has been really shocking to people. They see us setting up, and they tell me that they have never listened to a bass as a solo instrument before. It foreced them to listen to each one of us in whichever song features us. I do some with just voice and vibes, or voice and bass. I like seeing that reaction and surprising people [with the fact] that music can be done without having a 10-piece band, a 6-piece band, or all the bells and whistles.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
Designated Survivor

Favorite Film
Bridges of Madison County always makes me cry, and I love seeing it. Any Godfather film. I could watch those over and over again.

Favorite Play
A Streetcar Named Desire

Favorite Musical
A Chorus Line and Cabaret

An Artist or Musician You Can Listen to on Repeat
Brazilian music, in general

A Place You Most Want to Go to
Iceland

Person You Most Want to Meet Someday
Barack and Michelle Obama

For more information (and to buy tickets) for Girl From the North Country, click here.
To stay up-to-date with Luba Mason, follow her on Twitter or check out her website.