NR:  You have so many credits, I don’t even know where to begin ...

KZ:  (laughing) When I presented recently at the Lucille Lortel Awards last week, Sam Harris presented me and he said, “She’s done ...” I didn’t write it - somebody else wrote it. I listened to all these shows I had done and I thought, “It sounds like I’m seventy years old! Wow, I’ve been around a long time!” It’s funny because I realized that it’s really kind of piling up - not in a bad way, but I thought, “Oh, Karen, you sound like you’ve been around a LONG time.”

NR:  Aww, you just didn’t have a lot of time in between jobs.

KZ:  That’s probably it.

NR:  And how many people would kill for that opportunity?

KZ:  I know. I’m very fortunate.

NR:  Do any of them stand out in your mind, either as the most fun, or the worst experience?

KZ:  There are good things and bad things that you experience in every show. Sometimes it’s other individuals, sometimes it’s the work you’re doing - whether it’s doing the choreography of somebody great, or singing the songs of somebody great. Of course in my experience, singing the songs of George and Ira Gershwin in Crazy For You was just an incredible thing to do every night. Dancing Bob Fosse in Chicago, or Gower Champion in 42nd Street - there are just different little jewels you get along the way. Sometimes you have negative things that happen to you, like someone you don’t like playing opposite, or someone you feel doesn’t like you - it happens. As my grandmother said, your Ensemble is very important and people you play opposite are very important. So, if you have anything to say about that up front ... (laughing) that’s why stars say, “No, I’m going to work with such-and-such” or “I won’t work with such-and-such.” I feel that’s the case with directors and choreographers too. Once they get enough of a say, they say, “You know what? I’ve heard this person isn’t so great to work with. I’d really rather try that person.” Keeping your nose clean is very important.

As far as what stands out, I really loved doing 110 in the Shade that I did at New York City Opera. What a great role that was. This character in Contact, the character of The Wife in “Did You Move?” has turned out to be quite a tour de force for me, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think the longer I’ve done it, the deeper she gets and the easier she is to flesh out. She’s got so many different facets of her personality, and I think she’s a very sympathetic character too.

NR:  Yes, she is. Absolutely.

KZ:  (smiles) ... unbeknownst to me from the beginning. I read the script with these twelve or so lines and was given this classical music by Susan Stroman saying, “We’re going to dance to this” and I thought, “What are they thinking of? What is this going to be?” It’s what you make it.

NR:  What a challenge. I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised that it’s as much of a story as it is.

KZ:  She said, “This is the story. You’re going to do these steps, and then where you take it from there is from your soul and from your mind.” We were allowed to do that and that’s what’s so great about workshops. You get to experiment with things. If they start with a really good story ... it’s got to be a good story, that’s the bottom line. You’ve got to care about these people.

NR:  You’re telling so much of it with your face. I was really amazed when I saw it. My husband and I loved it.

KZ:  Good.

NR:  Were you nervous about doing something like this? You don’t have any big songs. You have very few lines. Were you a bit skeptical in the beginning?

KZ:  Fortunately we had a chance to perform this in a workshop downstairs in the basement, in the rehearsal room. I invited people to come see it - people that were very close to me and who I knew would talk straight. Not that I didn’t love what I was doing, and not that I would ever not trust Susan Stroman ... this is my sixth project with her. Anything she wants, I will try at least once. Not only do I respect her, but I just like to take those chances because she does, and why not jump in and try something? So I had these people come and they said, “This is really moving and we think you want to hold onto this because it’s something that you’re obviously relating to and something is coming out of you that we are getting.”

And that’s the most important thing, that you can communicate what you’re doing and people not only get it, but they appreciate it and they think about something afterwards that maybe they hadn’t thought about in awhile, or they are moved to laughter or tears. You just don’t want them to be “ho-hum.” It was something very stark, and funny but tragic - it was all of those things. The push and pull of “Did You Move?” in Contact, and the push of the entire show ... one minute you’re laughing and the next minute you’re clutching your breast because you can’t believe something is happening. That’s what makes good theater to me. It’s the emotions being tugged and pulled, tugged and pulled, and the surprise that you get from something you’re not expecting.

NR:  What struck me were the pregnant pauses in the show, where I don’t think anyone breathed. There were a few moments like that.

KZ:  Yes, those “pin-drop” moments.

NR:  You would hear everybody in the theater hold their breath and then let it out together.

KZ:  And in this theater, since we moved upstairs, there are how many more people in the Beaumont than there were down in the Mitzi? Even though the Mitzi Newhouse was very satisfying because it was so intimate that the audience was part of the scene, I was worried about moving to a larger space. I thought, “Omigosh, is it going to read?” and it’s worked out OK. And the response of course - when it’s laughter, it’s tenfold, and when it’s silence, it’s tenfold, so it’s worked in a very positive way.

NR:  The response has been incredible. You can’t get tickets, and who knows? Monday’s coming up and there could be Tony nominations. How does that feel?

KZ:  It’s wonderful - the thought of being validated in some way that people really enjoy this and are embracing it. But I’m not surprised because I remember when I first sat down in the basement when I was still doing Chicago, and was invited to see the first half that they created of this show. It was “Contact,” the second act, and I was so moved by it. I thought, “Wow. This is really good stuff.” It was good theater and something I hadn’t seen in awhile. The dancing was exemplary, so I’m not surprised.

NR:  In a few more days you’ll all know. At least you’ll know the first half - if there are nominations.

KZ:  On Monday morning we start rehearsals for a concert of South Pacific that we’re doing for Lincoln Center Theatre on the 22nd of May. We’re doing it with George Hearn, Bill Murray, Brett Barrett, Pat Suzuki and Tony Roberts - it’s going to be great! Just to hear that score again - I cannot wait. We’re doing it with a full orchestra and Jerry Zaks is directing. It’s going to be a big group so I’ll have something else to think about besides that on Monday.