Karen Mason
Karen’s Back
Birdland, NYC, March 25, 2025
Reviewed by Candace Leeds
Photo by Kevin Alvey
Karen Mason is a force, and she has been aptly described by The New York Times as “a much-decorated diva in the Barbra Streisand school… who wears her heart on her sleeve.” Her new show, Karen’s Back did not disappoint. Her program showcased her powerful and emotional vocals, her strong personality, and her charm.
She opened with a sassy and cute snippet from “Theme from New York, New York” (John Kander/Fred Ebb) and then moved into a lively version of “My Personal Property” (Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields). She explained that she was singing songs that would make us happy and celebrate spring.
Throughout the show, she used bold body movements for expression and all the while kept the audience enraptured. She rivaled Carole King in her version of “You’ve Got a Friend,” and her music director/pianist Christopher Denny and bassist Rick Henn joined her for a jazzy rendition of the “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’Groovy)” by Paul Simon.
Mason’s quiet, sensitive delivery of “If I Close My Eyes” (Billy Goldenberg/Alan & Marilyn Bergman), the theme of the Barbra Streisand film Up in the Sandbox, was powerful and moving. She introduced “Finding Wonderland” (Frank Wildhorn/Jack Murphy) by joking about her role as “The Queen of Hearts” in the show Wonderland, which debuted on Broadway in 2011. It received poor reviews and closed a month after it opened.
The soft and lovely song “Cold Enough to Cross” (Paul Rolnick/Henry Cory) is one of her favorites, she explained. But the tour de force was her version of “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” (Mitch Leigh/Joe Darion) in which she provided vocal thrills and chills.
Mason also talked a bit about her latest CD And All That Jazz; it features the songs of Kander and Ebb, and it was available for purchase at the end of the show.
