Broadway Mason's extensive Broadway career began in 1987, when she made her debut, billed as 'Kim Freshwater,' as the statuesque, leather-clad nightclub owner in the short-lived musical
Late Nite Comic. This was followed by her appearance in
Sid Caesar & Company in 1989. In 1991, she was part of the original Broadway cast of
Tommy Tune's
Tony Award-winning
The Will Rogers Follies, first as the second Ziegfeld Follies girl from the left, then assuming understudy assignments for the leading lady "Betty Blake" and sassy featured role of "Ziegfeld's Favorite". Next came her break-through comedic role of Hedy LaRue in the first revival of
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite
Matthew Broderick and directed by
Des McAnuff. Significant roles followed as the mourning mother Mrs. Kresinsky in
Paul Simon's
The Capeman, the doomed Lucy Harris in
Jekyll & Hyde replacing
Linda Eder, and later playing the hardened Velma Kelly opposite
Brooke Shields' Roxy Hart in
Chicago, directed by
Walter Bobbie. Mason originated the role of Mrs. Burke in the musical
Girl from the North Country written and directed by
Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by
Bob Dylan on Broadway in 2020. Other roles include Joanna in
Trevor Nunn's American premiere of
Sunset Boulevard with
Glenn Close at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles in 1993. Mason can be heard on Broadway cast recordings of
The Will Rogers Follies,
How To Succeed in Business...,
The Capeman,
The Stephen Schwartz Album and
Girl from the North Country.
Singing Her experience with Latin music and artists in
The Capeman led to a love of Latin rhythms and Brazilian music. Mason, blessed with "...a celestial voice" (
Los Angeles Times), was a guest vocalist on
Rubén Blades’ double
Grammy-winning cd
Mundo in 2002 with her rendition of "Danny Boy". Her first cd
Collage (2004) put a Latin flavor on some familiar standards and pop ballads. In 2009 Mason, Haslip and Laws were invited to open for
Wayne Shorter,
Chucho Valdez and
Danilo Perez at the
Panama Jazz Festival and later Mason headlined
Havana Cuba's 40th International Music Festival in 2011 produced by Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, and
Costa Rica's International Music Festival. In the U.S., she has performed shows at LA's famed
Catalina Bar & Grill,
Yoshi's in
Oakland, the
Blue Note in New York City.,
Blues Alley in
DC,
World Cafe in
Philadelphia and the Regattabar in
Boston. She has also headlined at Vibrato and the Cinegrill in L.A., Feinstein's,
Birdland, B.B. Kings,
Iridium and the Metropolitan Room in N.Y. Most recently Mason and her husband
Rubén Blades performed together at
Radio City Music Hall in
Paul Simon's sold-out benefit concert for the
Children's Health Fund's 25th Anniversary and in 2014 at Jazz at Lincoln Center with
Wynton Marsalis and his band. In 2016 Mason released her third solo album
Mixtura, with Rafael Rosa (guitar); Sara Caswell (violin); Felipe Fournier (vibraphone, percussion); Joel Mateo (drums), using a
mixtura of styles. In 2020 she released
Triangle, arranged with just voice, Joe Locke on vibes and James Genus on bass. In 2016 she performed at the "2016 Bratislava Jazz Days Festival" in
Slovakia. She won the 2019 BISTRO AWARD for Outstanding Vocalist.
Mixtura Mason has trademarked the name Mixtura – "a blend of different musical currents". It is a genre blend of jazz, pop, classical and world music styles. She performs an eclectic selection of material with arrangements in a broad range of musical genres mixed in new and exciting combinations. "Surround yourself with people who are great, and who will push you, and you can challenge yourself and learn," she says. Mason's professional career began as a singer/dancer in
Lee Theodore's
American Dance Machine. She was a member for five years beginning the day after graduation from
NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts. Lee took Luba under her wing Mason's regional theater work includes
Lucky in the Rain at the Goodspeed Playhouse,
A Class Act at the
Pasadena Playhouse,
Pippin at the
Freud Playhouse,
The Ten Commandments at the
Kodak Theatre, and
White Noise at the Royal George Theater. She performed in the
BAM concert version of
The Capeman in 2008, and also the Public Theater production of the show at the
Delacorte Theater in 2010. In 2015, Mason collaborated in the premiere of
Pretty Filthy, a new musical about the "other" Hollywood, produced by the award-winning theater company
The Civilians, with music by
Michael Friedman (
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) and book by Bess Wohl. Luba received nominations for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for both the
Lucille Lortel Awards and the
Drama Desk Awards for her role. 2015 club dates include
54 Below, the
Blue Note Jazz Festival at Subrosa NYC, and
Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club
Coca-Cola. Luba originated the role of Mrs. Burke in the U.S. debut of the musical
Girl from the North Country written and directed by
Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by
Bob Dylan at
The Public Theater in 2018. Luba received a nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for the
Lucille Lortel Awards for the role. ==Personal life==