On June 7, Sunday, Karen Olivio won her first Tony Award in the theater performing career. The theatre veteran of Lakeland and Winter Haven won the Tony for her performance in the Broadway musical “West Side Story”. The Tony Awards was telecast live on Sunday, on CBS. The award ceremony was held in the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Karen Olivio is a former Polk County who had done her graduation on 1994 from Lakeland’s Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. She had also starred in last year’s Tony Award winning musical, “In the heights”. The talented actress was nominated in the “Best Performance by a featured actress in a musical. She is the first Central Floridan to have won a Tony and taken home the most coveted of prizes in theater.

Karen Olivio, 32, plays the part of the fiery Anita in the current revival of the play “West side Story”. The actress has been accepted as the darling on the Broadway circuit due to her commanding stage presence, her capturing voice and her lustrous air.

After winning the award, Olivio said that, “I’m completely unprepared for this. I just want to dedicate this to everyone who has a dream.” After she managed to thank the play’s 91 year old director Arthur Laurents, the actress completely br0ke down in to tears.

Her performance in the revival of the Broadway classic fetched her rave reviews from the press. The New York Times review read, “a stunner, full of citrusy zest acerbity”. The New York Daily News reported her act as the “Shows most thrilling performance.”