| Full given name: |
Karen Ziemba |
| Hometown: | St. Joseph, Michigan, but raised outside Detroit. Go Tigers! |
| Zodiac sign: | Scorpio |
| Audition song: | I don't have just one audition song anymore. My very first audition song was a little Martha Raye ditty called "Mama That Moon Is Here Again." |
| Special skills: | I'll try anything once, at least on stage. |
| First Broadway show ever saw: | A Little Night Music |
| If you could go back in time and catch any Broadway show, what would it be? | The original Follies |
| MAC or PC? | PC |
| Most played song on your iPod: | Anything by Chris Botti on his trumpet. |
| One CD you couldn't live without: | "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Overtures" by Hollywood Bowl Orchestra |
| Last book you read: | "The Pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner |
| Must-see TV show: | "Six Feet Under" and "Brothers & Sisters" |
| Last good movie you saw: | "The Lives of Others" |
| Favorite card game: | "500 Rummy" |
| Performer you would drop everything to go see: | If they were still alive, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. |
| Pop culture guilty pleasure: | My guilty pleasure is shoe shopping, but it's been "Pop" for centuries. Does that count? |
| First stage kiss: | My first stage kiss was in high school playing Maria in West Side Story, but the first Broadway kiss was Jerry Orbach in the original production of 42nd Street. |
| Favorite pre-show meal: | A California roll from the sushi bar at Kodama on West 45th Street. |
| How you got your Equity card: | My Fair Lady at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA. |
| Worst onstage mishap: | I slipped and fell on my ass during the curtain call in Babes in Arms, directed by Ginger Rogers. Well, that's what happens when you run in tap shoes! |
| Who have you played on "Law & Order"? Which edition? | On the original "L&O," I played a forensics cop opposite my former leading man, Jerry Orbach. On "L&O: Criminal Intent," I played the lover of a murderous doctor played by Kevin Tighe. On "L&O: SVU," I played Brian Dennehy's physician. |
| Worst costume ever: | I played the front end of an elephant in a local ballet production called Circus. Other than that I've been really lucky with my costumes. |
| Worst job you ever had: | Even when I waitressed, I had a pretty good time. Of course, that was in an ice cream parlor! Not to sound too sugary, I always try to find something enjoyable, or at least life-affirming, in everything I do - on stage and off; otherwise I would go crazy! |
| If you could star in any musical revival, which would it be? | I'd rather do something new but, as Encores! is the best at doing revivals, I'd love to play Leona in Do I Hear a Waltz? for them. |
