Broadway Star and Award-Winning Performer Karen Mason to Perform Jan. 22 with Phil Reno

The University of Findlay will host “An Evening with Karen Mason, featuring Phil Reno” at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, in the Winebrenner Theological Seminary. Mason is the seventh annual Mary Snyder Kirk Musical Theatre Guest Artist to grace the WTS stage.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens over the age of 65. A limited number of tickets are available at the UF Box Office. Call 419-434-5335. Tickets may be available at the door; however, Mason’s performance is expected to sell out and pre-sale tickets are encouraged. For more information, please call Kelley Hutton at 419-434-4531, or email huttonk@findlay.edu.

Some of Mason’s Broadway credits include starring roles in “Mamma Mia!,” “Hairspray,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Torch Song Trilogy,” “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” And last season’s “Wonderland.”

Mason has starred on Broadway, off Broadway, and as a television and recording artist. She is a 10-time MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Award winner and has won the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years. She also has won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and has three Bistro Awards.

Mason most recently originated the role of The Queen of Hearts in the pre-Broadway production of “Wonderland” at The David A. Straz Center for The Performing Arts in Tampa, Fla. 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 Tussel in the final Broadway company of “Hairspray;” “Monotony” singer, Mazeppa, in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway;” Rosalie in “Carnival” (another Drama Desk nomination); plus featured roles in Broadway’s “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Play Me a Country Song.”

Mason 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 Beatles, Broadway and Brian.” Her television appearances include the hit dramas “Ed” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Film credits include “Sleeping Dogs Lie” and “A Chorus Line.”

She is beginning rehearsals for a new Broadway production, “Rebecca,” which will open at The Broadhurst Theatre in New York in April.

In regional theater, Mason recently concluded the world-premiere tour of “A Christmas Story: The Musical!,” playing Miss Shields during a three-week run in Chicago; starred in the world premiere of the stage production of “White Christmas” (playing the Rosemary Clooney role at The Muny in St. Louis); and was in “Side By Side By Sondheim” (Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida), “Gypsy” (Sundance Theatre in California), the world premiere of “One Tough Cookie” (Apple Tree Theatre in Chicago), “Heartbeats” (Goodspeed Opera House in New York) and “Company” (Huntington Theatre in Boston). Most recently in New York, Mason starred in the one-woman musical about Dorothy Parker, “You Might as Well Live.” Mason 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.

Phil Reno will accompany Mason on the piano. A native of Tiffin, Ohio, Reno is a Grammy-nominated Broadway conductor of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Elf,” “Promises, Promises” (featuring Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes), “The Producers” (starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lang), “Cats,” “Thou Shalt Not” (composed by Harry Connick Jr.) and “Broadway Under the Stars.” He recently conducted the pre-Broadway tryouts of “Minsky’s” and “Sleepless in Seattle: The Music” in Los Angeles.

This performance is made possible by The University of Findlay Mary Snyder Kirk Musical Guest Artist Chair, Curtain Raisers Society for the Performing Arts, the Convocations Committee and the UF music and theatre programs.