Karen Mason: Mama at Mason’s in March

  • Post author:
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Karen Mason

Mason at Mama’s in March

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, March 9, 2015

Reviewed by Alix Cohen for Cabaret Scenes

Photo: Maryann Lopinto
Photo: Maryann Lopinto

33 years ago, “in a jumpsuit and big hair,” Karen Mason co-inaugurated the opening of Don’t Tell Mama. (Nancy LaMott was the other performer.) I wasn’t there. Judging by tonight’s show, however, the artist’s emotional authority and consummate control can only have ripened.

Accompanied by Christopher Denny, Mason begins with two arrangements by Brian Lasser she launched in 1982, a spellbindingly original “Something’s Coming” and a rendition of “Almost Like Being in Love” for which, based on soaring phrases, one suspects she has oxygen piped in from elsewhere.

11 o’clock numbers then give way to “How Long Has This Been Going On?” which rises from shadowy depths. Opening her throat, the vocalist practically radiates light. Emotions seem experienced in real time. Mason does that. “I Made a New Friend” (Lasser) shimmers with tender authenticity. “He Touched Me,” head back, nose crinkled, is giddy and wonderstruck.

Several Beatles songs are freshly interpreted/arranged by Denny. Rhythm is thoughtful; piano textural, complicit rather than a mirror.  Emphasized lyrics are extended a fraction longer than musical phrases. “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” feels innocent and besotted. “Help!” which prefaces Stephen Sondheim’s “Being Alive,” is a slow, melodic plea. By the time the second number erupts, Mason’s heart bleeds from her sleeve. The song palpably hurts. “Gosh, now what are you going to do?” Denny asks when the roar of the room subsides.

This is an actress. During the single comedy selection, “Murder! He Says” (oh, for an additional one), Mason is gleefully apoplectic. Two ballads from Golden Boy are pithy, earnest, moving. The performer’s attention is so riveted, she conjures the person she’s addressing. Neither clarity nor surety are lost when the voice grows softer or unexpectedly changes octave.

“As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Sunset Boulevard, whose lead Mason played in New York and Los Angeles, deservedly brings down the house. Viscerally morphing as she sets the scene, Mason shepherds us with such speed and commitment, the first line -“I don’t know why I’m frightened,” creates empathetic frisson. Her Norma Desmond is no parody, no monstre sacrée, but rather a proud, fragile, desperate, flesh-and-blood woman with a persona of steel. Following the tour de force with a lustrous version of “Over the Rainbow”—two heartrending stunners in a row—elicit tears from this journalist.

Encores include the lovely wedding song (and/or disguised gay anthem) “It’s About Time” (Paul Rolnick/Shelly Markham) and a delicate “In My Life” which drifts down like a snow flake before melting away.

One reservation: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” is too aggressive to be charming or provocative.

One wish: to hear this virtuoso sing something entirely quiet, channeling that thoroughbred power.

Karen continues at Don’t Tell Mama Sundays & Mondays March 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30.  All shows at 7 pm.

Alix Cohen

Alix Cohen’s writing began with poetry, segued into lyrics then took a commercial detour. She now authors pieces about culture/the arts, including reviews and features. A diehard proponent of cabaret, she’s also a theater aficionado, a voting member of Drama Desk, The Drama League and of The NY Press Club in addition to MAC. Currently, Alix writes for Cabaret Scenes, Theater Pizzazz and Woman Around Town. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine and Times Square Chronicles. Alix is the recipient of six New York Press Club Awards.