Occupation Actress and singer Name Karen Mason | Role Theatre actress Ex-spouse Paul Rolnick | |
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Education University of Illinois at Chicago Albums Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!, Sweetest of Nights Awards Outer Critics Circle Special Award Similar People Janet Dacal, Katherine Shindle, Judy Kaye, Karen Ziemba, Robert Cuccioli | ||
it s about time performed by karen mason in celebration of marriage for all
Karen Mason is an American theatre actress and singer. She has appeared on stage in Broadway theatre, notably as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and also performs a cabaret act.
Contents
- it s about time performed by karen mason in celebration of marriage for all
- Karen Mason
- Career
- Work
- Personal
- Awards
- Songs
- Filmography
- References
Karen Mason
Career
Mason was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in St. Louis and Chicago. She majored in theater at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, graduating in 1999. Mason started as a "singing hostess at Lawrence of Oregano in Chicago" in 1976 after leaving college, where she met the late pianist and composer Brian Lasser, with whom she worked until his death in 1992.
Mason has performed in cabaret and with symphonies for many years. She was one of the featured cabaret vocalists at The Duplex Cabaret, New York City, in the early 1980s, and in 2005 presented a program "Better Days" with songs by her late musical director Brian Lasser. She has appeared at the Bay Area Cabaret, Empire Ballroom, San Francisco in 2010. She continues to perform her cabaret act at such venues as Davenport's in Chicago in 2011 and The Iridium (New York City) in 2011.
She taught at the Theatre Arts Center's Summer Workshops & Camp in Bayside, Queens, New York in 2010.
She first appeared on Broadway in Play Me a Country Song in 1982. She took the role of standby to Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard in the Los Angeles production in 1993, and went on to play almost 300 performances over two years both in Los Angeles and on Broadway. She originated the role of Tanya in Mamma Mia!, playing the role from October 5, 2001 to October 6, 2002. She took over the role of Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray on April 6, 2008. She was the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland in 2011 on Broadway and in the Tampa and Houston productions in 2009–2010. Mason appears in the US tour of A Christmas Story, The Musical! starting in November 2011.
She is scheduled to play Mrs. Danvers in the musical Rebecca on Broadway in 2012.
Work
Broadway
Off Broadway
Regional
Recording
Mason has recorded 6 solo albums, including Right Here, Right Now. She appears on the cast recording of Wonderland.
Personal
Mason is married to Paul Rolnick, a producer and composer.
Awards
Mason has received 10 MAC Awards, including the 2004 MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist, and three Bistro Awards.
Songs
Welcome to Wonderland
We Never Ran Out of Love
The Sweetest of Nights and the Finest of Days
Colored Lights
Stormy Weather/when the Sun Comes Out
I Made A New Friend
Tear Up the Town
Getting So Old In New York City
Shoot For the Moon
Hello - Tom
Cold Enough to Cross
Downtown/ I Know a Place
I'm Happy Just to Dance With You
I Promise You a Happy Ending/Hey There Good Times
Becoming My Mother
Just To Look At Him
I Haven't Got Time
Like the Heavens Hold the Stars
Everything Old Is New Again
Help/Being Alive
Hurry! It's Lovely Here
Another Year
I Eat
Merry Christmas / Sleigh Ride
We Three Kings
Christmas Waltz / Christmas Song
Winter Wonderland / Let It Snow
We Need a Little Christmas
Off With Their Heads
Almost Like Being in Love
He's Got a Way
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas