KAREN WITH a K is a garage-rock musical, social satire created by Laura February Strange. The titular character Karen (with a K) is a woman stumbling through a very bad day. Wearing her self-serving flaws like a gaudy, costume tiara, her current ordeals are conceived in a dozen or so songs written by Ms Strange and performed by Strange Bedfellows, a group made up of veteran musicians Laura Strange, Scott Kail, Jojo Fox, Jack Hanson and Orbrad Darbro plus vocalists Stephanie Madrigal, Bonny June and Judy Appleby.
This is a comedic play based on the internet meme. Karen blunders on social media, blames everyone else, then doubles down and does it all over again. The part of Karen is portrayed by three actresses, each showing a different side of this uniquely 21st century anti-hero. Laura Strange’s band of talented musicians, singers and actors deliver a rollicking, powerhouse hour and fifteen minute performance that leaves the audience cheering on their feet. Many in this county have seen it several times.
The rock opera reveals the pain of Karen with surgical precision; Laura Strange uses her songs like a scalpel to expose Karen’s humanity. For those who haven’t seen the ubiquitous memes, Karens are mostly white women who complain about things around them. “I want to talk to your manager,” is one of their tropes. Unfortunately, many have stepped from simple complaints to racist rants.
While the show does not lessen one’s anger towards the Karen who called the cops on the African-American bird-watcher in Central Park, it does let us feel empathy for Karen’s personal pain and possibly even some understanding of her personal world-view dilemma. That is why this show is important. The three Karens we meet are not shy about telling us to go away. The show doesn’t make us like Karen any better, but seeing how she suffers from guilt, from her own ego, from her world that doesn’t make sense to her anymore, it might give us a chance to have a conversation at a lower temperature.
Along the way we get to rock out to songs like “A White, White Whine,” “Viral,” her teary eyed lament that worst moment has gone viral on the internet, and a doo-wop number when her mother catches COVID.
This troupe has been mounting the show for six months and they have already built a fan base. It has legs, and it’s easy to imagine this one running the distance. This Santa Cruz-born show is still in development stages, but it is powerfully scripted. The songs Laura Strange wrote are succinct and telling, the musicians rock, the singing is doo-wop infectious, the acting is passionate and the show is the laugh out loud relief that may let you consider what Karen is about without screaming.
Karen With A K
Sunday April 28th, 2024
5:00PM (EARLY SHOW!) – Kuumbwa Jazz Center
$45 – GOLD CIRCLE
$35 GENERAL ADMISSION
ALL TICKETS ARE WILL-CALL. ALL TICKET SALES ARE FINAL. QUESTIONS? CALL PATTY AT THE SNAZZY TICKET LINE.