iHeartRadio Broadway is excited to debut an exclusive track from the talented Karen Mason, the acclaimed star of Broadway hits like Mamma Mia!, Wonderland, and Sunset Boulevard. Today, fans can get an early listen to “I’m One of the Smart Ones,” a standout song originally written for the unproduced show Golden Gate, which made a memorable appearance on Broadway last season in the musical New York, New York. Karen Mason And All That Jazz! will be released on CD and in digital and streaming formats tomorrow, Friday, October 25. For this personal new collection, Karen explores the beloved songbook of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the celebrated Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning team behind the Broadway musicals Cabaret; Chicago; New York, New York, and beyond. Karen is accompanied on solo piano by her longtime music director, Christopher Denny. The album is produced and mixed by Paul Rolnick with arrangements by Christopher Denny and Barry Kleinbort, who directed the original concert version of the show. Pre-save the album at https://orcd.co/pp80vaq
Karen will celebrate the album with a special concert at 54 Below in New York on Sunday, November 10 and then a run at Davenport’s in Chicago on November 13-16. For ticket information, please visit KarenMason.com.
Karen Mason And All That Jazz! presents Karen’s dazzling take on Kander & Ebb’s songs, which have been lighting up Broadway since the 1960s. Eschewing her typical orchestral accompaniment for subtle yet engaging piano, Karen’s interpretations are the perfect mix of intimacy and excitement. Christopher Denny’s playing, with its myriad shades and colors, sounds like an orchestra in itself. While Mason puts her unique spin on classics like “All That Jazz,” “Maybe This Time” and “A Quiet Thing,” the album also delves into less often performed shows such as The Visit (“Love and Love Alone”), The Scottsboro Boys (“Go Back Home”), and The Happy Time (“The Life of the Party”). A special highlight is “My Coloring Book,” one of rare entries in the Kander & Ebb oeuvre not taken from the musical theater, but a standalone hit. The song became part of the early ‘60s zeitgeist with recordings from Barbra Streisand, Sandy Stewart and Kitty Kallen. Yet Karen brings unparalleled sensitivity to the bittersweet ballad.
Mason first worked with Kander & Ebb when she starred in Off-Broadway’s And the World Goes ‘Round, a revue celebrating their collaboration, created by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson. On this album, she revisits the song “Colored Lights,” originally introduced in the musical The Rink in 1984. Her new recording of the number retains the thrilling voice but clearly evokes how her interpretation has deepened in the intervening years.
KAREN MASON has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, in concert, and in the recording studio. She’s been praised for her “fierce emotion” by The New York Times, her “innate comic ability” by Playbill and her “delightful instrument” by the Daily News. Karen has been called “immensely appealing” by The Chicago Tribune, “a towering talent” by TheaterMania and “a dynamic performer” by Time Out New York.
She is a 14-time MAC Award winner, most recently she was the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2023 Major Artist Album of the Year, and was honored with the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years. She has also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and has three Bistro Awards.
Ms. Mason was recently seen as “Madame Giry” in the North American premiere of Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater’s epic sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. Karen also starred in Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz at Paper Mill Playhouse as Kay Koverman. She previously garnered rave reviews starring as The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland on Broadway. She originated the role of Tanya on Broadway in ABBA’s Mamma Mia!, and was awarded a 2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress. Her other leading roles include: Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, which she performed to critical acclaim and standing ovations on Broadway and in Los Angeles for three years; Velma Von Tussle in the final Broadway company of Hairspray; “Mr. Monotony” singer/Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, and Rosalie in Carnival (another Drama Desk nomination); plus featured roles in Broadway’s Torch Song Trilogy and Play Me a Country Song
She won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And the World Goes ‘Round, and starred Off-Broadway in her own show Karen Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles and Brian. Her television appearances include Ryan Murphy’s “Halston” on Netflix, where she played Mrs. Marsh opposite Ewan McGregor, in addition to the hit dramas “Ed” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Her film credits include Sleeping Dogs Lie and A Chorus Line.
Karen has headlined Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Feinstein's at the Regency, Rainbow & Stars, the Algonquin, Arci’s Place, The Supper Club, and The Ballroom in NYC; The Cinegrill and the UCLA/ASCAP Concert Series in Los Angeles; The Plush Room in San Francisco; and Davenport’s in Chicago. Karen has given concerts in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Brazil, Scotland, Tokyo and Osaka. Her starring symphonic performances include The Long Beach Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Michael Berkowitz, the Philly Pops with Peter Nero, The New York Pops with Skitch Henderson, the Oklahoma Philharmonic with Joel Levine, the premier performance of The Chicagoland Pops, the Indianapolis Philharmonic, and the St. Louis Symphony with John McDaniel.
Her acclaimed recordings include her latest MAC Award-winning album and single, Let the Music Play, written by Paul Rolnick and David Friedman, her 2017 MAC Award-winning album It’s About Time; the 2009 MAC Award-winning Right Here/Right Now, 2005’s The Sweetest of Nights, the MAC Award-winning When the Sun Comes Out, as well as three other CDs: Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!, recorded live at the West Bank Café; Better Days, featuring songs by her longtime composer/arranger Brian Lasser (including the 1998 Emmy Award-winning song “Hold Me”); and Not So Simply Broadway.
Christopher Denny has served as musical director, arranger and pianist for such theater, cabaret and opera luminaries as Julie Wilson, Karen Mason, Brent Barrett, David Campbell, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Loudon, Judy Kaye, and Steven Brinberg, earning, in the process, two Back Stage Bistro Awards and four MAC Awards for Outstanding Musical Direction. His duties have taken him to virtually all of the major rooms in New York and through the country, notably Carnegie Hall, where he performed with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, the Opera Liceu in Barcelona, and Australia and London’s West End. His film work includes having produced the recording sessions of Placido Domingo for Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-winning musical, Moulin Rouge. He was also musical director for the recent New York premiere of Bob Merrill’s “lost” musical, The Prince of Grand Street, starring Mike Burstyn, at the Jewish Repertory Theater. Other favorite credits include musical direction for Barry Kleinbort’s hit musical revue, Big City Rhythm, at the Triad and the Village Gate in New York; The Songs of Kurt Weill, starring Kitty Carlisle Hart and Paula Lawrence at the 92nd Street Y; the revue Can It Be Love, with Tovah Feldshuh; Joshua and Nedda Logan’s musical memoir, I Remember It Well; and for Will Holt’s Ah, Men, starring Jane White and Stephen Lang, Off-Broadway. Mr. Denny also assisted Agnes de Mille in preparing the gala dance concert, Agnes de Mille and Friends, at the Shubert Theatre in New York. As a vocal coach, he has worked with newcomers and stars, including Boyd Gaines, John Cameron Mitchell, Ethan Hawke, Melissa Errico, Anthony Rapp, Jack Noseworthy, Austin Pendleton, and many others. He has recorded more than twenty albums.
KAREN MASON – “Karen Mason And All That Jazz!” – Track Listing
1. All That Jazz (Chicago)
2. Wilkommen (Cabaret) / The Life of the Party (The Happy Time)
3. My Coloring Book
4. Maybe This Time
5. I’m One of the Smart Ones (Golden Gate)
6. Go Back Home (The Scottsboro Boys)
7. Colored Lights (The Rink)
8. Theme from New York, New York (New York, New York) / All I Need Is One Good Break (Flora, The Red Menace)
9. Ring Them Bells (“Liza with a Z”)
10. Married (Cabaret) / Sorry I Asked
11. But the World Goes ‘Round (New York, New York)
12. Love and Love Alone (The Visit)
13. Cabaret (Cabaret)
14. A Quiet Thing (Flora, The Red Menace)
Music by John Kander / Lyrics by Fred Ebb