Karen Olivo Breakthrough Performance

I don't know if this is a stupid question, but is Karen Olivo's current performance as Anita considered her "a star is born" performance?

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I'd say 'no'. It's a supporting role, although a strong one, and she made her name in In The Heights. In other words, she wasn't an unknown. First recent example to come to mind was Sutton Foster in Millie.

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What does make a Broadway "star" though?

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"What does make a Broadway "star" though?"

When Karen stops in the middle of "America" to tell an old lady in the 5th row to stop making so much FVCKING noise with that candy wrapper and to turn off her damn respirator", she will then, and only then be a Broadway star.

I saw her understudy as Mimi in Rent years ago and thought she had star power then. Hell, I've seen Rent more times than I can remember and I remembered who she was. Can't say that for any other Mimi I saw other than Loraine Velez.

Karen was pretty much the only good thing about WSS when I saw it. She was amazing.

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She won a Tony for a featured role, which means she's been noticed, but time will tell if she goes on to achieve stardom. Chenoweth has only won a featured Tony, but it was the catapult to her fame (and yes, she's very well-recognized now). On the other hand, what happened to Gretha Boston, Daisy Eagan, Randy Graff, Debbie Shapiro, Ann Duquesnay, Lillias White, etc. Of those, the only "star is born" moment would have been Daisy Eagan (who truly was the star of the show), but she's been struggling ever since. Lillias definitely became a flavor-of-the-week performer for her turn in The Life, but never really took hold in any significant way. Randy and Debbie work pretty steadily in regional and concert productions, though both are worthy of a Broadway vehicle. As for Gretha, does anyone remember her at all?

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I didn't even realize Gretha was also nominated for It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. Blues and Show Boat were her only two Broadway shows. I couldn't find anything regarding her stroke, but I do hope she is doing well. It's just odd to know how a Tony could turn one person into a star and yet for another, have little to no impact on their career whatsoever.

Scott Waara, anyone?

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I expect she could follow Ramirez', Jeter's and other'ssss footsteps and find a good tv gig.

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or Scott Wise.

Mister Matt, I had read about Gretha's stroke on ATC.

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Not yet.
A featured Tony does not usually make one a star. What she follows this with is important.

Updated On: 7/9/09 at 10:13 PM

I think her next move after leaving WSS will be critical to her success. I think there are tons of roles out there for her to do but I'd like to see her originate another role myself.

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Yes.

She won the Tony. She is a star.

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If they were to revive Anything Goes in the next 5-10 years, could she play Reno Sweeney?