Karen & Louis have been friends for many years and this musical collaboration will include the music of Louis Rosen, and the music of their mutual dear friend, Brian Lasser.
“A dramatic tour de force! Giving everything and more is what Ms. Mason does best.” (New York Times)
“Mr. Rosen’s music is a continually shifting patchwork of blues, folk, jazz and pop as earthy, tuneful art song.” (New York Times)
A master interpreter… Mason produces a depth of sound and brilliance of color! (Chicago Tribune)
“Songwriter Louis Rosen charts an irresistible landscape between pop music and art song….” (Bloomberg News)
KAREN MASON (Singer) Most recently seen on Broadway as the wacky Queen of Hearts in Frank Wildhorn’s WONDERLAND. In addition to the conniving Velma von Tussle in HAIRSPRAY, Ms. Mason originated the role of Tanya on Broadway in Abba’s MAMMA MIA! and was awarded a 2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress. Other leading roles include Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD, which she performed on Broadway and in Los Angeles for three years; Mazeppa in JEROME ROBBINS’ BROADWAY; Rosalie in CARNIVAL ( Drama Desk nomination); plus featured roles in Broadway’s TORCH SONG TRILOGY; AND PLAY ME A COUNTRY SONG. Karen 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.
A 10-time MAC Award winner, Karen has won the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for seven consecutive years. She has also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and three Bistro Awards. 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.
Her symphonic performances include 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.
Karen’s recordings include the about-to-be-released IT’S ABOUT TIME; RIGHT HERE/RIGHT NOW; SWEETEST OF NIGHTS; WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT (2002 MAC Award for Major Female Recording of the Year); BETTER DAYS (featuring the 1998 Emmy winning song “Hold Me” by Brian Lasser); NOT SO SIMPLY BROADWAY; and her live CHRISTMAS! CHRISTMAS! CHRISTMAS! (all on Zevely Records). Visit her website at www.karenmason.com.
LOUIS ROSEN is an award-winning composer, lyricist, recording artist, author, performer and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in Music Composition. Recordings include DREAM SUITE: SONGS IN JAZZ AND BLUES (on poems by Langston Hughes) with vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Alton Fitzgerald White; his solo debut, TIME WAS; and three albums with Capathia: THE ACHE OF POSSIBILITY; ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH (on poems by Nikki Giovanni) and SOUTH SIDE STORIES. TWELVE SONGS ON POEMS BY MAYA ANGELOU, along with DREAM SUITE and ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH, completes THE BLACK LOOM TRILOGY.
Selected other compositions include the musicals BOOK OF THE NIGHT (Goodman Theater, Chicago); A CHILD’S GARDEN (off-Broadway); a musical adaptation of Steinbeck’s THE PEARL; the song cycles IT IS STILL DARK: SONGS OF EXILE, composed for Darius de Haas (words by Celso Gonzalez-Falla; and A CHILD’S GARDEN SONG SUITE (on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson). Louis’ theater music also includes twelve concert suites drawn from 30 scores composed for productions on and off Broadway and around the country, the most recent example being the jazz-based ACT ONE: A SUITE IN SIX PARTS for solo piano, from the 2014 Tony-nominated Lincoln Center Theater production. In addition, Louis is the author of the memoir/oral narrative THE SOUTH SIDE: THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOOD (Ivan R. Dee, Chicago).
As a performer, Louis has appeared many times in New York City, most frequently at Joe’s Pub, Birdland, Iridium and The Great Hall of Cooper Union; in nightclubs and concert halls across the country, and as far away as the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe. He was honored by the 92Y in NYC with the 2015 retrospective of his work, THE MUSIC OF LOUIS ROSEN: LOVE OF SONG. Major awards include a 2005 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition; the NEA New American Works Grant; numerous ASCAP Awards; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Galileo Prize & Commission; Chicago's John W. Schmid Award, Best New Work for BOOK OF THE NIGHT. Visit his website at www.louisrosen.com.
$20 Ticket in Advance & a 2 Drink Minimum in the Cabaret Theatre Before Dec 21st*
$25 Ticket in Advance & a 2 Drink Minimum in the Cabaret Theatre On Dec 21st*
$30 at the Door (plus service fee) & a 2 Drink Minimum in the Cabaret Theatre*
*Drinks Must be purchased In the Cabaret Theatre to count towards the Minimum.