Karen Mason

And All That Jazz

54 Below, NYC, November 10, 2024

Reviewed by Alix Cohen

Aside from Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon, thoughts about the performance of songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb inevitably involve Karen Mason. Her history with the material is only part of the reason. This is an artist who exudes ardor without overstating it and sass without seeming corny. The new arrangements by music director and pianist Christopher Denny and director Barry Kleinbort dispensed with the nonessential. The songs seamlessly and emotionally blended together. Mason’s familiar lucid vocals seemed freshly open-throated as they fanned out.

“Kander and Ebb were the soundtrack of my life when theater music was written for sopranos. Here were people writing for me, the loud middle child,” Mason told us with a grin. At her show at 54 Below we heard selections from her new CD of the same name as well as other favorites of hers.

“All That Jazz” (Chicago)—or “JA-aaz”—arrived with a subtle shimmy, a punctuated hip bump, and a touch of growl; the lyrics arced and insinuated. “Wilkommen” (Cabaret) sashayed in on a vamp of four repeated notes, then segued into “Life of the Party” (The Happy Time). Hearing this with only piano accompaniment was a revelation. (The recording of this medley is also has just piano and vocal. Mason and Denny have been working together for 33 years.) Her shoulders rose and fell, her left hand encompassed, and her pleasure was infectious.

“Maybe This Time” (Cabaret) emerged as an entreaty; the piano tiptoed. Mason mined the swelling intensity, and by eschewing volume her vocal control seemed effortless. She had nothing to prove. She said that “Kander and Ebb were ideal collaborators. Fred was the king of special material. John wrote these beautiful melodies and fabulous vamps.” Denny then played the well-known vamps from Cabaret, Chicago, and Zorba.

“It took me forever to get to New York. I had gone about as “fer” as I could go in Chicago. As I packed, I heard this song on the radio” was how Mason prefaced “Theme from New York, New York.” These were not just good lyrics; Mason WAS hopeful, anxious, and excited; she vibrated. A song from Flora, the Red Menace “All I Need (Is One Good Break)”—“and mister, watch my speed”— organically weaved into “New York, New York.” “Gimme, gimme a chance/Gimme, gimme a boost/ Gimme, gimme a break, New York, New York.” Also deftly intertwined were “On Broadway” (Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil/Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller) and “Broadway Baby” (Stephen Sondheim), which was unusually quiet and persuasive as if sheer will might conjure an opportunity.

Along the way we heard how these selections fit into her life. Mason was expansive on stage and loose-limbed. She punctuated the air with a free arm, and her eyes flashed. The song by itself was enough; there were no fillers, no “oh yeah” or “uh huh” to take up space. The focus was maintained as if there were backstories. She observed, “Fred died in 2004, but at 97, John Kander is still going strong.”

A rendition of the iconic “Cabaret” with a special verse written by Kleinbort was first performed when Mason received the MAC Lifetime Achievement Award. It was personal and HAPPY: “I grew up in the middle of suburbia/Where lack of live performance would disturb ya/A night club was a place that might be raided/And cabaret was a film that Joel Gray did.”

With her hand behind her back, “Love and Love Alone” (The Visit) was a sharing of wisdom. Denny’s cottony piano created embroidered moments. “Make each day your own” rose from the depths. “Love…” her head tilted back as if savoring, “…la da da da dum…and love alone.” A wafting note lingered. The evening and CD both ended with rapt versions of “A Quiet Thing” (Flora, the Red Menace)—just beautiful.

Among the songs that were not performed live but were included on the CD were “Colored Lights” (The Rink) and “But the World Goes ‘Round” (Theme from New York, New York) ; they both offered ntoably dramatic phrasing. The latter one reverberated exultantly as Mason inhabited the moment. Denny stopped and started with her breathing. “Married” (Cabaret) vibrated like an old-time music box. They way she held the notes so delicately was a wonder. “Is she pretty?/Or let me put it this way/ Do you love her?” began “Sorry I Asked”—a touching scene in one.

Though live is always preferable, the recording offers talent and spark to enjoy at your leisure.