Klea Blackhurst Brings Everything The Traffic Will Allow To KPAC 11/20

Kingsborough Performing Arts Center's season of world-class Dance, Music, Theatre, and Family Shows continues on November 20th at 8:00 p.m. with KLea Blackhurst's Everything The Traffic Will Allow: The Songs & Sass of Ethel Merman, a critically-acclaimed show that is Klea's loving tribute to the songs made famous by the legendary stage personality Ethel Merman.

"KLea Blackhurst is a tremendously talented and charmingly humorous performer in her own right," stated Anna Becker, Kingsborough Performing Arts Center's Executive Director "and, when combined with the stories and songs of Ethel Merman, it makes for an unforgettably entertaining evening of theatre."

The concert highlights what is arguably the greatest body of show music ever written for a single performer featuring such songs as "I Got Rhythm" from Girl Crazy, "You're the Top/Blow Gabriel, Blow" from Anything Goes, and "There's No Business Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun. This is not a recreation of Ms. Merman, but a paean to the great Broadway legend and serves as a potent and happy reminder of Ethel Merman's sheer, undeniable importance to both the history of twentieth century entertainment and to the unbridled jubilation of show business at its best.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Everything The Traffic Will Allow: The Songs & Sass of Ethel Merman

Saturday, November 20th at 8 p.m. Tickets: $25

Tickets are now on sale, and available as follows:

In Person: Kingsborough Performing Arts Center, Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY.

Box Office Hours: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
By Phone: (718) 368-5596

Online: www.kcckpac.org
There is ample, free parking on the campus.

December Performances: Drama Desk Award-Winning Godlight Theatre's open rehearsal with Artistic Director Joe Tantalo and company (December 9th); Zalmen Mlotek's 100 Years of Yiddish Musical Theatre with special guest Daniella Rabbani and The New Yiddish Chorale (December 12th), Brighton Ballet Theatre's The Nutcracker (December 18th).

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

KLea Blackhurst is best known for her acclaimed tribute to Ethel Merman, Everything the Traffic Will Allow. Among many accolades, this production earned her the inaugural Special Achievement Award from "Time Out New York" magazine. The recording of Everything the Traffic Will Allow was named one of the top ten show albums of 2002 by Talkin' Broadway.com. Klea next turned her passion for musical-theatre history toward the Broadway career of composer Vernon Duke and debuted Autumn in New York: Vernon Duke's Broadway at New York's Café Carlyle which subsequently played a sold-out engagement at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. In the Fall of 2007 Klea teamed with Billy Stritch to create Dreaming of a Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael which they debuted at Manhattan's Metropolitan Room. This performance received a Backstage Bistro Award. The recording of Dreaming of a Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael will be released in June 2008. Klea's many concert appearances include the recent London Palladium presentation of "Jerry Herman's Broadway." She made her Carnegie Hall debut starring with Michael Feinstein in an evening devoted to the work of composer, Jule Styne. In 2002, Klea made her London debut (stage, radio and television) at Royal Albert Hall. As part of the BBC Proms, she sang the role of Ado Annie in a special concert version of Oklahoma! celebrating composer Richard Rodgers centenary. She returned to London the following spring to debut Everything the Traffic Will Allow at the Greenwich Theatre.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Kingsborough Community College Founded in 1963, Kingsborough Community College, a college of the City University of New York (CUNY), has provided half a million students with liberal arts, applied science, and career education. Our 70-acre waterfront campus is on Manhattan Beach, at the extreme southern end of Brooklyn. The college's mission is to respond to the educational, cultural, and economic needs of our students and our community.

Kingsborough Performing Arts Center brings artistically and culturally diverse, multi-disciplinary performances from masters of the form to the varied communities within and surrounding the college. We strive to create an environment where the arts are an accessible and integral part of life, and the Arts Center is a community gathering place for interaction and inspiration. We offer performances in theatre, dance, literature, and music, as well as family shows. Our schooltime shows welcome classes from local public and private schools, a majority of which serves economically-disadvantaged or special needs populations.

The 2010-2011 season reflects KPAC'S commitment to present world-class artists in music, dance, theatre, literature, and family shows in exclusive Brooklyn engagements. The coming season of classic and classical performing arts will offer performances by companies who set the standard in their field, such as Soledad Barrio's Noche Flamenca from Spain, St. Petersburg Classic Ballet Theatre from Russia, London's Tall Stories, and the upper west side's Symphony Space. Prices are a fraction of what audiences would pay elsewhere and several sneak previews of upcoming premieres will be offered free of charge.

 

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