Klea Blackhurst News

A producer cannot just license any property s/he wants. Yes, MAME is available for licensing on the Concord Theatricals website, but if I wanted to mount it on Broadway it would be a little more complicated than shelling out cash. Hurdles for non-professional productions are not substantial, but many professional productions require levels of permission. Jerry Herman, who passed away on December 26, 2019, was a man unlikely to give permission for professional productions of his shows unless he thought they would be good.

Today's top stories: Plaza Suite, starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, begins its pre-Broadway run in Boston, and more!

Michael Feinstein produced a memorial event at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, featuring performances by: Feinstein ('I Won't Send Roses'), Kristin Chenoweth ('If He Walked Into My Life'), Sutton Foster ('I Don't Want to Know'), Kelli O'Hara ('Before the Parade Passes By'), Leslie Uggams ('I Am What I Am'), Bernadette Peters ('Time Heals Everything'), Betty Buckley ('Hello, Dolly!'), Klea Blackhurst and Tyne Daly ('Bosom Buddies'), John Bolton ('It Takes a Woman'), Lorna Luft ('Gooch's Song'), Ron Raines ('Mame'), Jason Graae ('You I Like'), Marilyn Maye ('It's Today'), Jeremy Jordan ('It Only Takes a Moment'), Lee Roy Reams ('The Best of Times'), and Debbie Gravitte ('Wherever He Ain't'), with Alice Borden, Jane Dorian, and Harvey Fierstein, and special video tributes from Angela Lansbury and Paul McCartney. Marc Bruni directed the event with Larry Blank serving as music director, and Don Pippin (guest conductor).

As BroadwayWorld reported last month, Tony Award winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman passed away at 88 years old. Just yesterday, Broadway united to remember the legend. Michael Feinstein produced a memorial event at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, featuring performances by: Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Klea Blackhurst, Alice Borden, Jane Dorian, Lewis Stadlen, Lorna Luft, Ron Raines, Jason Graae, Marilyn Maye, Jeremy Jordan, Don Pippin, Lee Roy Reams, and Debbie Gravitte, with special video tributes from Angela Lansbury and Paul McCartney. Marc Bruni directed the event with Larry Blank serving as music director.

Today's top stories: Broadway gathers to remember Jerry Herman tonight, and more!

Celebrate Valentine's Day weekend with New York musical theatre and cabaret star Klea Blackhurst as she returns to Drury Lane for her Cabaret Room debut in For the Love of Broadway: An Evening with Klea Blackhurst. For the Love of Broadway runs for two performances: Friday, February 14 and Saturday, February 15 at 7:30pm in Drury Lane's elegant and intimate Cabaret Room located at 100 Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace.

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater are pleased to present the schedule for the month of February! At Birdland Jazz Club, catch the iconic Lionel Hampton Big Band Featuring Jason Marsalis, current GRAMMY nominee Catherine Russell, the Birdland debut of AGUAS Trio with Omar Sosa, Yilian Cañizares and Gustavo Ovalles, and iconic vocalist Jane Monheit. Internationally recognized trumpeter Rachel Therrien, the Seth Weaver Big Band, and The Voice contestant Melinda Rose Rodriguez will also be performing upstairs. 

As BroadwayWorld reported last month, Tony Award winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman passed away at 88 years old. Next month, Broadway will unite to remember the legend.

Today's top stories: Cameron Dallas joins Mean Girls tonight, and more!

Stephen Mosher looks back at the cabaret scene, as captured by his camera in 2019

Stephen Mosher's personal tribute to Jerry Herman on the occasion of his death at 88.

Birdland presented the TENTH year of “A Swinging Birdland Christmas,” starring Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch.  The limited engagement of five performances, December 21 - 25 was completely sold out, thanks to some smashing reviews, including one by Stephen Mosher at BroadwayWorld, who said, “This jazzy, festive, melodious show is one of the finger-snappingest, toe-tappingest, laugh-riotous shows this season.”

Celebrating its tenth year, the classic holiday TV special performed live for Birdland audiences shows what it is that has made it last so long, so beautifully.

On Monday, December 16th The Actors Fund held a benefit concert of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. The concert starred Gavin Lee as 'Mr. Magoo/Ebenezer Scrooge', Sierra Boggess as 'Belle', Clifton Duncan as 'Bob Crachit', Ali Ewoldt as 'Mrs. Crachit', Kyle Selig as 'Young Ebenezer,' Matthew Scott as 'Fred', Byron Jennings as 'Jacob Marley', Don Darryl Rivera as 'the Ghost of Christmas Past', Edward Hibbert as 'the Ghost of Christmas Present', Ian Fitzgerald Gallagher as 'the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come', Klea Blackhurst as 'the Charwoman', Jennifer Cody as 'the Laundress', Jeff Blumenkrantz as 'the Undertaker', Stephen DeRosa as 'The Old Man,' and Jeff Hiller as 'The Director'.

Today's top stories: The CATS film officially hits theatres today, and more!

Earlier this week, The Actors Fund in association with Universal Theatrical Group and Margaret Styne presented a one-night only concert of the holiday classic Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. The evening was directed by Carl Andress with choreography by Nathan Peck, based on original choreography by Marcos Santana. Grammy Award® and Emmy Award®-winner John McDaniel wrote new orchestrations for the score and served at the evening's music director, conducting a 28 piece on stage orchestra.

Additional casting has been announced for the one-night only concert presentation of the holiday classic Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol on Monday, December 16 at 7:30 pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 W. 59th St.). The evening will be directed by Carl Andress with choreography by Nathan Peck, based on original choreography by Marcos Santana. Grammy Award and Emmy Award-winner John McDaniel has written new orchestrations for the score and will serve at the evening's music director, conducting a 28 piece on stage orchestra.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. That's a sentiment that has been expressed for many years, sometimes merely through the utterance of the sentence, but usually through the singing of the popular song written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. While many attribute the song to the 1963 Broadway musical Here's Love, it was actually written simply as a Christmas song and singers have been crooning the tune ever since.

A Swinging Birdland Christmas has become a New York City institution, a holiday tradition and a staple of the Birdland calendar. With three of the most popular talents of the cabaret community and, definitely, three of the hardest working people in the business, the annual Christmas concert gives fans a chance to spend a night with Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch, to sip on some eggnog or to skip the egg and go right to the nog, and to get into the holiday spirit without fighting the all-night crowds at Macy's. The trio of friends are each extremely popular in their own right, with Ms. Blackhurst spending the year going from show to show, Mr. Stritch playing in concerts and clubs around the world, and Mr. Caruso maintaining his place as Birdland's impresario and most fashionable host in town, so this event when the three of them join forces to spread cheer is something Birdland audiences look forward to for eleven months. 2019 saw a special happening to add to the season when the trio released the cd A SWINGING BIRDLAND CHRISTMAS. With the holiday music out on every platform, these chums jumped into rehearsals for their holiday show, which opens December 21st.