Happy birthday to Tony-winning performer Karen Ziemba, born Nov. 12, 1957, in St. Joseph, Mich. She attended North Farmington H.S., where she starred as Maria in West Side Story, and studied dance at University of Akron. Her first professional theater job was in My Fair Lady at North Shore Music Theatre. Her first major New York job was as one of three leading ladies in the 50th anniversary celebration of Radio City Music Hall.
Ziemba made her Broadway debut in A Chorus Line (1982) as Diana, then moved to 42nd Street (1983) as Peggy. She originated roles in Broadway’s Teddy & Alice (1987) and the 1991 Off-Broadway revue And the World Goes Round, which earned her a Drama Desk Award. She earned her second Drama Desk nom for the Off-Broadway revival of I Do! I Do! (1996) and her first Tony nom for Steel Pier (1997). Below is Ziemba and Steel Pier costar Daniel McDonald in “Second Chance.”
After playing Roxie in Chicago (1998), Ziemba earned three more Tony nominations in her next three Broadway appearances — Contact (1999), Never Gonna Dance (2004), and Curtains (2007) — winning the prize for the first. (The lead photo in this post is Ziemba at the launch party of my theater company, Music in a Box, four months before Contact opened.) Below is Ziemba in “Waltz Eugene” from Part II (Did You Move?) of Contact.
Ziemba’s recent musical work includes: Bullets over Broadway (2014); Prince of Broadway (2017); Kid Victory (2017), for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination; and the TV pilot for Nunsense (2017). Below is a medley of clips from Kid Victory. (Ziemba appears at 1:00.)