KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#1KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 2:38pm
Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guess she got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
#2KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 2:40pm
That name is giving Flop Brooklyn DJ, but work I guess.
Quinn Wilson
Stand-by Joined: 10/25/21
#3KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:16pm
JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
"
KO uses they/them pronouns
Huss417
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#4KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:22pm
Not sure why when I saw the subject I thought it was going to be about Nicki Cochrane.
"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter."
Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.
#5KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:22pm
Huss417 said: "Not sure why when I saw the subject I thought it was going to be about Nicki Cochrane."
Not entirely unreasonable, tbh.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#6KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:29pm
The actor previously known as Karen Olivo is actually now a professor and head of the musical theatre program at Northwestern University. The quiet life in Wisconsin period lasted only a few years - you can't expect someone with that big of an ego to stay out of the spotlight for very long. Having taught plenty of Gen Z theatre kids myself, I am sure they eat up all the "be the change/stick it to the man" schtick with a spoon.
SeanD2
Featured Actor Joined: 5/2/17
#7KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:38pm
Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
"
KO uses they/them pronouns"
Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronouns how would the original poster know?
#8KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:43pm
Um excuse me, everyone should know that KO is a divine being that transcends gender as well as both first and last names. Also, that the theatre industry is evil and that rather than stay inside of it as a much abused Tony Award winner, it is so much more profitable to charge theatre students thousands of dollars a year to train in a profession they will likely leave before they are thirty. <<sarcasm>>
Updated On: 8/5/25 at 03:43 PM
Crusty Bagel
Stand-by Joined: 7/27/25
#9KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:46pm
Did she time her return to align with Scott Rudin’s?
#10KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert
Posted: 8/5/25 at 3:57pm
The Artist Formerly Known as Karen Olivo has spent more time talking about leaving theater than they've ever actually spent away from it. Honestly, it was a great career move. their career was on the decline when they announced their initial "break" back in 2013, and it gave them a bunch of publicity they probably wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
They were in the world premiere of a musical in Philadelphia last summer only to mysteriously leave the production after a week or so of performances citing an injury.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 8/5/25 at 03:57 PM
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
Quinn Wilson
Stand-by Joined: 10/25/21
#12She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 5:22pm
SeanD2 said: "Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
"
KO uses they/them pronouns"
Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronounshow would the original poster know?"
They wouldn’t, I’m simply updating them. There’s no malicious intent behind my original reply, simply letting them know.
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#13She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 5:29pm
Quinn Wilson said: "SeanD2 said: "Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
KO uses they/them pronouns"
Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronounshow would the original poster know?"
They wouldn’t, I’m simply updating them. There’s no malicious intent behind my original reply, simply letting them know."
Quinn Wilson I'd be happy to respond to you -- but that response would get me banned. So have a blessed day!
#14She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 5:38pm
The Distinctive Baritone said: "it is so much more profitable to charge theatre students thousands of dollars a year to train in a profession they will likely leave before they are thirty. <>"
Unless the theater department is very different from other academic disciplines, it's Northwestern that charges students for tuition, and the university just pays KO a salary. I don't know enough to comment about their other activities, but higher education is an honorable profession.
#15She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 6:50pm
kdogg36 said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: "it is so much more profitable to charge theatre students thousands of dollars a year to train in a profession they will likely leave before they are thirty. <>"
Unless the theater department is very different from other academic disciplines, it's Northwestern that charges students for tuition, and the universityjust pays KO a salary. I don't know enough to comment about their other activities, but higher education is an honorable profession."
I have a PhD in theatre and have taught at both the college and high school levels. I know Northwestern pays her (come on now), although most college theatre professors carry the burden of both recruiting students and retaining them. Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession, but I have major issues with the overpriced BFA factory that higher education in the performing arts has become. That is one of the reasons why I would rather teach high schoolers who are doing it for fun than college kids who are going into massive debt to prepare for a career that has a success rate of like, five percent. KO is absolutely part of an exploitative system, and I just find that deeply hypocritical after all of her social media rants, etc.
Quinn Wilson
Stand-by Joined: 10/25/21
#16She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 7:51pm
JSquared2 said: "Quinn Wilson said: "SeanD2 said: "Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
KO uses they/them pronouns"
Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronounshow would the original poster know?"
They wouldn’t, I’m simply updating them. There’s no malicious intent behind my original reply, simply letting them know."
Quinn Wilson I'd be happy to respond to you -- but that response would get me banned. So have a blessed day!"
Do it, see what happens
#17She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 10:23pm
The Distinctive Baritone said: Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession"
I honestly don't mean to pick on you, but if you believe that, then why would you use their status as a theater professor as an argument against them? It's definitely not KO's fault if colleges admit more theater majors than are necessary by some economic standard, and I suspect many students who don't pursue careers on stage still benefit from their education.
MimiChika
Chorus Member Joined: 2/26/23
#18She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/5/25 at 11:41pm
JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805
"
going back to the main topic:
Uninspired casting and meh. Wish they had an exciting cast ala Hollywood Bowl. This is just meh
#19She's baaaack!
Posted: 8/6/25 at 1:28am
kdogg36 said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession"
I honestly don't mean to pick on you, but if you believe that, then why would you use their status as a theater professor as an argument against them? It's definitely not KO'sfault if colleges admit more theater majors than are necessary by some economic standard, and I suspect many students who don't pursue careers on stage still benefit from their education."
It's fine - I think it's actually a conversation that should be had more often. Honestly, now being middle aged and having been through three different university theatre programs and witnessed only a small fraction of the acting students at these places go on to have successful careers, I feel like all acting professors - as well intended as they might be - are inherently complicit in creating a vastly oversaturated marketplace filled with young hopefuls who spent four years of their lives and a small fortune on a theatre degree but will inevitably end up abandoning show business within a few years. I think actor training is important, but a lot these programs prey on vulnerable kids whose dreams are bigger than their bank accounts.
I also find it particularly ironic that after all their very public railing against the theatre industry, KO now makes their living (and a rather nice one I'm sure) feeding it more actors to chew up and spit out.
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