Karen Curlee says when you get to a certain age and you start wondering, “What’s it all about?” you should go back to do what you did at 13 years old.For Karen, that was singing.
“Nobody could sing like I could sing when I was 13,” she says. “There was no technique involved. It was just I knew how to sing.”
That voice eventually landed Karen on Broadway. She performed in shows like "Cats," "Showboat" and "The Tap Dance Kid."
Karen was in her 40’s when she decided to leave show business to raise her son, but now she’s ready to perform again.
Every summer, Karen spends a month in Onekama, vacationing with her husband, Mark. This year, she’s curated a one-woman show of different Broadway tunes, which she’ll perform in Manistee next Friday.
The show’s titled “What is this Thing Called Love?”
Karen has discovered that roles for older women are fewer, but also much deeper and more intense.
“When you fall in love as a young person or when you’re singing songs as a young person, there’s this layer,” Karen explains. “You’ve got this big old voice and you can put those songs over."
She says when you're older, you have to make more interesting choices vocally, because you might not have the range you used to.
"And then of course, you've lived a whole life," she adds.
You can hear Karen Curlee’s one-woman Broadway show "What is this Thing Called Love?" next Friday, September 8th, at the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts.
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