Lea Salonga stepped onto a Manhattan stage last spring and sang something unusual for her — “Edelweiss” from the musical “The Sound of Music,” a song usually performed by the paternal Captain von Trapp.

Green tears were flowing when Lencia Kebede made history this week on Broadway, becoming the first Black actor to assume the role of Elphaba full time in the Broadway company of “Wicked.”.

FILE - Rebecca Luker, left, and her husband Danny Burstein arrive at the 73rd annual Tony Awards in New York on June 9, 2019. Luker, 59, a three-time Tony nominated actor who starred in some of the biggest Broadway hits of the past three decades, died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, said Sarah Fargo, her agent. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES – Soprano Rebecca Luker, a three-time Tony nominated actor who starred in some of the biggest Broadway hits of the past three decades, died Wednesday. She was 59Her death was announced by her husband, veteran Broadway actor Danny Burstein, who said in a statement “our family is devastated. Luker made her Broadway debut in 1988 in “The Phantom of the Opera” first as an understudy to Sarah Brightman and then playing Christine opposite the legendary Michael Crawford.

NEW YORK – Broadway and the world of drag will combine later this month for a streaming variety show to promote voter participation that promises plenty of show tunes and a lot of fierce lipstick. “Divas For Democracy: United We Slay” will feature Broadway stars such as Chita Rivera and Stephanie J. Block singing theater songs while their drag counterparts from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” “match their vocal prowess with lip sync passion and style,” according to organizers. There's a minimum $5 donation and all proceeds benefit Drag Out the Vote, a national, nonpartisan voter engagement nonprofit. The divas of drag include stars of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” such as Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, Jujubee, Valentina, Peppermint, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Shuga Cain, Honey Davenport, Brita Filter, Marti Gould Cummings and Pixie Aventura.