Karen Mason, a veteran cabaret and Broadway performer, is refreshingly pragmatic. "When employment comes my way, I take it," she asserts. "If it doesn't work out, then I've learned something. If it does, I've gotten a job and I've learned something. I'm lucky I can go back and forth between cabaret and theater, though it's a hard calendar because they book at different times. If I know a theater project is coming up, I don't take cabaret. But at the same time, I have to make sure I'm covered."

Mason is, at the moment, "covered," as she seamlessly merges the worlds of cabaret and musical theater in the recently opened Broadway musical "Wonderland." Lewis Carroll's iconic children's tale "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" has been updated and reconceived by Gregory Boyd (book and direction), Jack Murphy (book and lyrics), and Frank Wildhorn (music), though Mason maintains the joyously demented spirit of the original without overplaying the most outrageous moments. It's a consummate performance by a true pro.

"This show has expanded my ability to be silly on stage," Mason says. "I love that." Nonetheless, there have been hurdles, not least the production's many rewrites, forcing Mason to reconsider who her character is and what role she plays in the context of the entire piece.

But Mason's major challenge is wearing designer Susan Hilferty's heavy costumes, extraordinarily vivid and witty though they may be. Indeed, they shape her performance, evoking a dowager who is at once "daffy and stylishly sophisticated," Mason says. Still, they weigh 15 to 20 pounds and affect the alignment of her neck, shoulders, rib cage, and hips, all of which have bearing on her vocal apparatus and her ability to freely create sound, she explains. "This would be a challenge at any age, but it's especially a challenge now. I go to the gym regularly, visit a chiropractor, and get physical therapy." Mason has four costumes, with the final three changes taking place within 10 minutes toward the end of the show. "Each of those changes takes between 10 and 15 seconds," she says. "We've got it down to a science. Backstage I have two dressers and two hairdressers working on me. I just stand there and let them do their work. If I try to help, I end up hitting people in the face."

Read more...