Klea Blackhurst News

On Saturday evening, March 1st at 7:30pm Pace University will present American Showstoppers, with the 13 piece Fred Barton Orchestra, AN EVENING OF JERRY HERMAN. The evening is directed and choreographed by Scott Thompson and produced, orchestrated and hosted by Fred Barton.

Merman's Apprentice, a new musical fable with Book and Lyrics by Stephen Cole (Inventing Mary Martin, After the Fair, The Night of the Hunter, The Road to Qatar!) and Music by David Evans (Birds of Paradise, Children's Letters to God) has been chosen to be the opening show as part of London's Landor Theatre's 'From Page to Stage Festival' on February 11th and 12th at 7:30pm. There will be an additional presentation for industry professionals on Feb. 13th at 2:30pm at The Concert Artistes' Association at 20 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9HP.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon announces WHAT WE DID FOR LOVE, a gala fundraising evening with special guest, star of NBC's Smash, and Sean Saves the World, Megan Hilty, 6pm, Thursday, February 27 at Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus Ave, San Francisco. In addition to the 'smashing' talents of Broadway and television star Megan Hilty, the evening will include cocktails, dinner, a brief live auction, and a 'MoonGlow Cabaret' with clarion-voiced chanteuse Klea Blackhurst and other Moon performers. Guests are invited to dress in cocktail attire with a dash of red. For tickets ($375 - $7500) the public may contact 42nd Street Moon at (415) 255-8207 or for more information visit 42ndstmoon.org.

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'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' opened with a bang on December 21! For the fourth year in a row, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch, Klea Blackhurst, and the band (Steve Doyle on bass and Carmen Intorre on drums) kick of Christmas week with their swinging holiday standards, and a few pieces of special material that are impossible to define! Opening night saw Broadway folk like Christine Ebersole, Colleen Zenk, Daniel Rowan and Andrea Prestonario leading the applause. Check out a look back below!

Tickets are now on sale for the fourth annual 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' celebration at Birdland Jazz Club. To celebrate the holidays, Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch will perform swinging arrangements of beloved seasonal specials like 'Christmas Waltz,' Kay Thompson's 'Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm' among other favorites. The singers will be joined by Steve Doyle on bass and Carmen Intorre on drums.

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The Ninth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, kicks off its much-anticipated three day festival of brand new works on Friday, January 17, at the Goodspeed Opera House with a staged reading of the timely musical Adam Lives. On Saturday, January 18, the musical fantasy A Proper Place debuts. On the final day of the festival, the unconventional Theory of Relativity by the team who wrote the Goodspeed and Broadway tuner The Story of My Life will be presented. Several special events will round out this exciting weekend. Tickets are available at the Goodspeed Box Office or by calling 860.873.8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. Tickets are $15 each for one show, $10 each for students. This year's festival is sponsored in part by lead corporate sponsor RisCassi & Davis, P.C. with additional support by The Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc. and The Noel Coward Foundation.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

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Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for December 23-29. Check out the listings below!

The State Theatre opens up the 2014 schedule in a big way as Broadway Comes to the State with a Tribute to George Gershwin on Saturday, January 11th.

The 25th anniversary celebration of GYPSY OF THE YEAR, the culmination of six weeks of extraordinary fundraising by 56 participating Broadway, Off-Broadway, and national touring companies, raised an amazing $4,343,234 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The new documentary Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love is the American Masters series' Season 27 finale, premiering nationally Friday, December 27, 2013, 9-10:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and available on DVD January 14, 2014 via PBS Distribution. The film had its New York City premiere last night, and attendees included: Quincy Jones, David Zippel, Annaleigh Ashford, Baayork Lee & more. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos below!

A VIP screening of the new American Masters documentary, Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love is set for The Paley Center for Media today, December 9th at 6:15 PM. The new documentary is the American Masters series' Season 27 finale, premiering nationally Friday, December 27, 2013, 9-10:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and available on DVD January 14, 2014 via PBS Distribution.

A VIP screening of the new American Masters documentary, Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love is set for The Paley Center for Media on Monday, December 9th at 6:15 PM. The new documentary is the American Masters series' Season 27 finale, premiering nationally Friday, December 27, 2013, 9-10:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and available on DVD January 14, 2014 via PBS Distribution.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for December 16-22, featuring Michael Feinstein, Cyndi Lauper, and more! Check out details below!

Voting is now underway for Connecticut! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.

BIRDLAND RECORDS has announced the release of "A Swinging Birdland Christmas" CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. "A Swinging Birdland Christmas," stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics "It's The Holiday Season," "Sleigh Ride," and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.

BIRDLAND RECORDS has just announced the release of 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas,' stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics 'It's The Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,' among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.