Review: Billy Stritch And Klea Blackhurst A Cabaret Fantasy In DREAMING OF A SONG at Birdland

Well, Billy Stritch has done it again.  And this time he has done it with Klea Blackhurst.

Clearly the busiest man working in cabaret & concert today, Billy Stritch is the piano man with whom the artists simply love to work, and do work, on any given night of the week.  Were this a person’s dating life, they might be considered dreadfully indiscriminate, but as this is his artistic life, Billy Stritch is simply a successful savant, spreading his artistry around with as many different collaborators as he would care to nominate.  Walking in the door at a club to see a show helmed by Billy Stritch, there is a reasonable expectation of excellence.  And excellence, the audience gets.

Now, that isn’t to underplay the importance of Klea Blackhurst in last week’s presentation of DREAMING OF A SONG, the duo’s Hoagy Charmicael show, because Klea is vastly valuable, both in this production and in the entertainment community at large.  One of the most popular artists in cabaret & concert, Blackhurst is a singing actress in great demand, and when the time comes for her to set foot onto a stage as herself rather than a character, the Manhattan establishment where she is most likely to be found is Birdland, and, very often, it is alongside Billy Stritch  that her inimitable voice can be heard.  Indeed, even though Klea and Billy have been collaborators for many years (on this thirteen-year old show, on A Swinging Birdland Christmas, and on other outings), it isn’t exactly the first musical pairing one might think of when planning a Hoagy Charmichael show.  With his smooth jazz vocals that live somewhere between the mandible and the clavicle, and her bright Broadway belt that situates perfectly in her singer’s mask, the thought of a Stritch and Blackhurst duet might seem incongruous.  Wrong.  It’s as wrong a concept as can be.  And last Monday, Klea and Billy had a chance to remind everyone why they have succeeded so frequently in the past, and why they should continue to nurture their friendship, collaboration, and this very show, moving forward.Several times throughout their Birdland appearance, Billy and Klea referenced the history of this show, making fun of themselves and the fact that their rehearsal time for their ‘old chestnut’ had not been bountiful, and that they were working from memories over a decade old.  But, clearly, their memories are sharp and intact because even with the one or two charming baubles that were made during the evening (usually in a script filled with factoids easy to mix up), Billy and Klea have the bones of their Carmichael tribute show in their blood.  Just as easily as friends telling the tales of their own lives and the reminiscences of their years together, Klea and Billy bantered about with the trivia of Hoagy Charmichael’s career (they had to get it right - Hoagy Charmichael Jr., was two tables away from the bandstand).  More to the point, Stritch and Blackhurst had plenty to say about their own personal feelings about the legendary composer and what his work has meant to them.  Now, it has to be said that the word “legendary” is too frequently applied to artists who have left their mark on a grateful show business history.   And even though names like Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Gershwin are often among the first to be pulled out of the lexicon when discussing the songwriters of eras past, when you sit in a nightclub listening to Stritch and Blackhurst (aided mightily by Bassist Steve Doyle and Drummer Daniel Glass) perform the songs from their club act, and when you find yourself sighing at the start of “Skylark” or tearing from the first sentence of “Stardust” or you feel your heart beat a little faster because the dialogue has indicated that the upcoming number is “I Get Along Without You Very Well” or “How Little We Know,” then you also have to acknowledge that the word legend applied to the name Hoagy Charmichael is absolutely appropriate.  And given the legend’s onscreen appearances in the movies (the topic of much talk throughout Dreaming Of A Song), having proficient piano playing Billy Stritch and quirky expressive storyteller Klea Blackhurst playing a Charmichael tribute show is even more appropriate.

Jockeying back and forth between lush and lovely ballads like evening highlight “The Nearness of You“ (crystal clarity personified in Klea’s performance) and bouncy classics like “In The Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening,” Stritch and Blackhurst play off of one another, as personalities, in the same ways that made the great boy-girl acts of the past great, and, as musicians, in a manner that honors their own hard work and diligence at learning their craft.  The twosome consistently blends as effortlessly as a church choir or girl group.  Their charming “Two Sleepy People” is loaded with laughs but observe the famous (and absolutely essential) harmonies of the title hook - sweet and seamless, as one might expect.  But nobody would have expected the inclusion of the novelty number “Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love” a naughty number for Jane Russell in the Gentleman Prefer Blondes movie that Blackhurst belts out in a silly and satisfying presentation authentic to the Stritch and Blackhurst brand.  Nobody could deny, though, that the clear triumph of the evening was Billy Stritch’s performance of “Georgia” - a performance that Stritch should consider turning into his signature song, one to be performed at every show he does, be it Hoagy Charmichael tribute, a random set, or even A Swinging Birdland Christmas.  The performance personified what cabaret & concert is, should be, could be, and always will be, at least when Billy Stritch is in the room.  With his laidback humor, her outrageous air, and their impeccable vocals (to say nothing of the musical arrangements and Misters Glass and Doyle) Klea and Billy make a wonderful team, and even though there are people, artists, actors, who get together to do shows, from time to time, it takes a special spark to make a team.  This is a team.  They are very good together, and it’s a bit of a shame that it took thirteen years to bring this extremely satisfying program back to the stage.  Maybe everyone will get lucky and Klea and Billy will realize that they had such a good time doing it on Monday night that they might trot it out again sometime.  It would be worth seeing again.  Billy and Klea are always worth seeing again, just like Hoagy Charmichael.

Find great shows to see on the Birdland website HERE.

Visit the Billy Stritch website HERE and the Klea Blackhurst website HERE.

Steve Doyle has a website HERE and Daniel Glass can be found HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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