Early Life and Broadway Career
Morrow was born in Chicago and raised in Des Moines, Iowa by parents who were both classical singers. As a teenager, she first heard recordings by actress/singer Susan Johnson, which inspired her to try musical theater, beginning with the role of Meg in Brigadoon. After attending Clarke College, she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she taught and performed on the side, but she soon moved to Manhattan. Her career there began with an appearance in the Off-Broadway show, Sing, Muse!; she won a 1962 Theatre World Award for her performance. She also played Luce in a 1963 revival of Rodgers & Hart's The Boys from Syracuse and a number of roles in City Center over the next five years, including The Most Happy Fella.
Morrow's first Broadway production, I Had a Ball, opened in December 1964, only to fold six months later despite the presence of co-stars Buddy Hackett and Richard Kiley. Most of Morrow's later Broadway productions would also have short runs despite some impressive casts. Two years later, she appeared as Mary Texas in A Joyful Noise, a misconceived effort to incorporate country music into a Broadway show. It closed after 4 previews and 12 performances. Next she played Na'Ama in 1968's I'm Solomon, which vanished just as quickly (9 previews, 7 performances). In November 1971, she appeared as Babylove in The Grass Harp (co-starring Barbara Cook, based on Truman Capote's novel of the same name), which lasted one week at the Martin Beck Theatre, but brought her good notices, especially for her rendition of "Babylove Miracle Show". In 1972, Morrow appeared as Irene Jantzen in another short-lived Broadway production, The Selling of the President. Her last Broadway performance was as The Princess Puffer/Miss Angela Prysock in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1987).
Asked why so many of the Broadway shows that she appeared in were flops, Morrow said, "I've analyzed this, trying to think of why I've had so many flops. I keep coming back to my contemporaries ... it was always the ones who could sing but also had something extra, something interesting about themselves ... I think with me, I was just a singer with a big voice and I was pleasant, and that can only take you so far."
Read more about this topic: Karen Morrow
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