This season on my podcast, Baring It All with Call Me Adam, I am discussing Legacy & Lessons Learned.

Today, I am chatting with Broadway Actress Karen Mason, who is known for starring in such Broadway musicals as Mamma Mia!, Sunset Blvd. & Frank Wildhorn's Wonderland.

Karen is also recognized as a Cabaret Icon, garnering 13 MAC Awards, thus far, throughout her career.

In Part 1 of this interview, Karen Mason is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about:

• Her Broadway Legacy
• Cast Pranks
• Being the Standby for Glenn Close in Broadway's Sunset Boulevard
• Her legendary cabaret Legacy
• Working with long-time collaborator Brian Lasser
• Recording songs for such celebrated composers as Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Michele Brourman, Amanda McBroom, Scott Evan Davis, Billy Goldenberg, her husband Paul Rolnick
• Rapid Fire Questions
• So much more

Click Here to listen to Part 2 of Karen Mason's interview where we talk about Lessons Learned.

More Karen Mason Interviews:

2026 (Read Here): Celebrating Life at 75 with Broadway Baby
2024 (Read Here): Celebrating The Music of Kander & Ebb
2015 (Read Here): Coming Home with Mason at Mama's
2011 (Read Here): Ruling Broadway as The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland

Tune into Mason's Makin' Music every Thursday at 5pm on Karen's Facebook Page

Karen is also teaching a MasterCourse called The Song Is YOU! at Singasium.

Special Thanks:

• Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

• Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

• Original Edit by Drew Kaufman (2021)

• Re-edited by Adam Rothenberg (2026)

• Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

More on Karen Mason:

Karen Mason is a celebrated Broadway star and concert artist, recently seen as Madame Giry in the North American premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.

On Broadway, she earned rave reviews as the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and originated the role of Tanya in ABBA’s Mamma Mia!, earning a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. Her other major roles include Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (on Broadway and in Los Angeles for three years), Velma von Tussel in Hairspray, Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, and Rosalie in Carnival, plus featured roles in Torch Song Trilogy and Play Me a Country Song.

She also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for And the World Goes ’Round and starred Off-Broadway in Karen Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles and Brian.

A powerhouse presence on the concert stage, Karen has headlined Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Feinstein’s at the Regency, Rainbow & Stars, the Algonquin, The Cinegrill and the UCLA/ASCAP Concert Series in Los Angeles, The Plush Room in San Francisco, and Davenport’s in Chicago.

She has shared the stage with luminaries including Michael Feinstein, Jerry Herman, Chita Rivera, Luciano Pavarotti, Rosemary Clooney, Liza Minnelli, and John Kander & Fred Ebb.

Her acclaimed recordings include her latest single, “It’s About Time” (written by Paul Rolnick and Shelly Markham), the MAC Award–winning Right Here/Right Now, The Sweetest of Nights, and When the Sun Comes Out, as well as Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! (recorded live at the West Bank Café), Better Days (featuring the Emmy Award–winning song “Hold Me”), and Not So Simply Broadway.

She can also be heard on the recordings of Wonderland, Jeffrey, And the World Goes ’Round, The Child in Me, Vol. 1, Lost in Boston II, and the studio cast recording of Wonderful Town.

Karen has also appeared on such TV shows as Ed, Law & Order: SVU, and in the films Sleeping Dogs Lie and A Chorus Line.