{"id":10102,"date":"2021-03-29T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/?p=10102"},"modified":"2021-11-13T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T18:32:50","slug":"blogpostkarenmason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On April 17 we\u2019re raising the curtain on an online event sure to delight lovers of musical theater and cabaret: a conversation between singer\/actress Karen Mason and her longtime friend (and AMN curator) David Landis<\/a>. To give you a preview, we spoke to Karen at her home in Jackson Heights, Queens\u2014\u201cfrom our roof we can see the Manhattan skyline\u201d\u2014about her life in music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What was your early musical life like? Did you always enjoy performing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was born in New Orleans, and we kept moving north when my father\u2019s job was transferred\u2014Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago. There was always music in the house: my mother trained as a classical pianist, and my parents took us to musicals and concerts. My all-girls Catholic high school didn\u2019t do musical theater, but the boys\u2019 school did, so I auditioned and was cast as a townsperson in Annie Get Your Gun.<\/em> And I was hooked! I was a dorky kind of kid, and this was where I felt accepted and at home. I\u2019d had no training at that point other than singing around the house. But I just had <\/em>to do it. From there, I went on to play bigger roles: Mrs. Paroo in The Music Man<\/em>, Carrie in Carousel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And after high school?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should have jumped in, but at the University of Illinois the musicals were more actor driven, and the music school itself was more classical, which wasn\u2019t where I felt joy. I eventually left college and did a lot of community theater while unhappily working at a regular job. I wanted to be closer to people who were getting paid for doing what I was doing for free, so I auditioned to be a singing waitress at a Chicago restaurant called Lawrence of Oregano. And that\u2019s where I met Brian Lasser<\/a>, a brilliant musician, actor, songwriter, and pianist. We left the restaurant and started doing nightclubs and concerts, moving up the foodchain. In 1978 or 1979 we moved to New York. We worked one night a week for two or three years at the Duplex in the Village. That didn\u2019t pay the rent, so in between shows we\u2019d fly back to Chicago, do enough work to make three or four grand, and come back to New York. We worked together until Brian\u2019s death in 1992. I still perform quite a few arrangements he did early in our career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve also had an impressive career in theater.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not just a cabaret person, or just a theater person. I enjoy the diversity, going back and forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably an impossible question, but we\u2019ll ask it anyway: Can you single out a highlight of your stage career?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably the first time I understudied the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard<\/em>. This was in Los Angeles, and Glenn Close was starring. I got two days\u2019 notice\u2014Glenn\u2019s doctor had told her to take one of the Sunday performances off. She did the matinee and I did the evening show. You don\u2019t get a lot of rehearsal time as an understudy or standby, but this was February and we\u2019d opened in November, so I was ready<\/em>! I\u2019d watched from the back of the theater and gone through all the choreography. I still had to learn all the costume changes\u2014with three dressers!\u2014and learn the props and set. It was an amazing set\u2014the mansion would lift up with hydraulics, and there\u2019d be an entirely new scene underneath. It was weird the first time I rode up in it, but I learned to love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stayed with the show after it moved to Broadway, and I understudied the next two leads, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige. Over the course of two years, I did about 250 performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There haven\u2019t been many live performances since March 2020. What\u2019s your musical life been like during the pandemic?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My last performance was in November 2019, in Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz<\/a><\/em> at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. I got sick after that and wasn\u2019t able to do any Christmas shows, and then, of course, I had to cancel all of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was getting bored, so I decided to learn how to do self-taping and streaming. Every Thursday since April 2020 I\u2019ve done a show, \u201cMason\u2019s Makin\u2019 Music<\/a>,\u201d where I sing to tracks. It\u2019s been fascinating. In cabarets you have 60 to 100 people in the audience. Online I\u2019ve had 3,000 people listening! It\u2019s great to connect with them, but I do miss seeing eyes in an audience and feeling that energy. And singing with a piano\u2014oy, I can\u2019t wait for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m doing a few things this summer, though. On May 15 I\u2019m doing a free indoor concert at the Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel<\/a> in Manhattan\u2014it\u2019s a beautiful historic building, and it\u2019ll be the first time I\u2019ve sung with a live piano in over a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll have a new CD out this fall. My previous CD, It\u2019s About Time<\/a><\/em>, was produced by Paul Rolnick<\/a>, who also wrote the title song<\/a>\u2014he wrote it for some friends shortly after marriage equality became legal in New York. I sang it at those friends\u2019 wedding. It\u2019s not just about gay marriage equality; it\u2019s about all <\/em>marriage equality. If people are in love they should get married!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
REVISIT THE WORKSHOP<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The veteran cabaret and musical-theater performer talks about being a singing waitress and subbing for Glenn Close in “Sunset Boulevard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,22,26,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mentors","category-musictalk","category-voice","category-workshops"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The veteran cabaret and musical-theater performer talks about being a singing waitress and subbing for Glenn Close in "Sunset Boulevard."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amateur Music Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/amateurmusicnetwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1983\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Friedman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AmateurMusicNet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AmateurMusicNet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Friedman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Friedman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce\"},\"headline\":\"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\"},\"wordCount\":921,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AMN mentors\",\"Talking about Music\",\"Vocal and Choral Music\",\"Workshops\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\",\"name\":\"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg\",\"width\":1983,\"height\":663},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/\",\"name\":\"Amateur Music Network\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce\",\"name\":\"Nancy Friedman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a13fd475f292fee3d355d39a9b00914fc1e8f2a4b731f1d9bbe92e24111b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a13fd475f292fee3d355d39a9b00914fc1e8f2a4b731f1d9bbe92e24111b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Friedman\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.wordworking.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/author\/nancyfriedman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network","og_description":"The veteran cabaret and musical-theater performer talks about being a singing waitress and subbing for Glenn Close in \"Sunset Boulevard.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/","og_site_name":"Amateur Music Network","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/amateurmusicnetwork\/","article_published_time":"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1983,"height":663,"url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Friedman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AmateurMusicNet","twitter_site":"@AmateurMusicNet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Friedman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Friedman","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce"},"headline":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason","datePublished":"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/"},"wordCount":921,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg","articleSection":["AMN mentors","Talking about Music","Vocal and Choral Music","Workshops"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/","url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/","name":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason - Amateur Music Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-29T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-13T18:32:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/karen-mason-red-black-banner.jpg","width":1983,"height":663},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostkarenmason\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet Singer and Actress Karen Mason"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#website","url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/","name":"Amateur Music Network","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/d14ba0ef6921b07b8514c8d25ae771ce","name":"Nancy Friedman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a13fd475f292fee3d355d39a9b00914fc1e8f2a4b731f1d9bbe92e24111b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6a13fd475f292fee3d355d39a9b00914fc1e8f2a4b731f1d9bbe92e24111b15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Friedman"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wordworking.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/author\/nancyfriedman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11710,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions\/11710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}