Klea Blackhurst

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Klea Blackhurst is an American actress. She is best known for Everything the Traffic Will Allow, her tribute to Ethel Merman that debuted in New York in 2001. 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.

Ethel Merman American actress and singer

Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her distinctive, powerful voice and leading roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage".

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 was released in October 28, 2008. [1]

Billy Stritch is a notable composer, arranger, vocalist, and jazz pianist. For many years, he was best known as a "confidant", music director, and piano player for Liza Minnelli.

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. Other notable appearances include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s tribute to Leonard Bernstein; The Paley Center for Media’s tribute to Kay Swift; Jazz at Lincoln Center; 92nd Street Y Lyrics & Lyricist Series (Leo Robin & Cole Porter); The Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel; San Francisco’s Plush Room; New Jersey Performing Arts Center; Guild Hall in East Hampton; and multiple appearances at the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Carnegie Hall United States historic place

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park.

Algonquin Hotel hotel in New York City

The Algonquin Hotel is an American historic hotel located at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The hotel has been designated as a New York City Historic Landmark.

Klea's theatre credits include Mama Morton in Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of Chicago; the dual roles of Bernice/Marilyn in the Off Broadway production of Bingo; Nails O’Reilly Duquesne in Red, Hot and Blue at San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon; Sally Adams in Call Me Madam, also at 42nd Street Moon; Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven; Debbie in the original Off Broadway production of Oil City Symphony; Rennabelle in Radio Gals Off Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre; and the role of Hippolyta in By Jupiter in the York Theatre’s Musicals in Mufti series.

Pioneer Theatre Company

The Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) is one of four fully professional theatre companies in Utah, formed in 1962 and performing at the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. The non-profit company produces seven plays each season, running from September to May, including classics, musicals, dramas, and comedies. The company creates its own productions on site, including costumes and scenery, while sometimes using actors and directors from out-of-state. Among a number of premieres, the company produced the nation's first regional premiere of Les Misérables in 2007, giving 82 sold out performances.

42nd Street Moon is a professional theatre company in San Francisco, California. The company specializes in the preservation and presentation of early and lesser-known works by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Kander and Ebb, Jule Styne and Comden and Green. In recent years, the company has branched out to include more contemporary works that continue the spirit of the classic American Musical.

Klea made her screen debut in the award-winning short film, Andy Across the Water, written and directed by Leo Geter.

Klea’s television and radio appearances include The Caroline Rhea Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Sesame Street, Law and Order: SVU, and A Prairie Home Companion. She currently has a recurring role as deranged Nancy Grace parody "Shelby Cross" on The Onion News Network on IFC.

Nancy Grace American legal commentator, television host, television journalist, and former prosecutor

Nancy Ann Grace is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She was the host of Nancy Grace from 2005 to 2016, which was a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, and she was the host of Court TV's Closing Arguments (1996–2007) as well. She also co-wrote the book Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System. Grace was also the arbiter of Swift Justice with Nancy Grace in the syndicated courtroom reality show's first season.

<i>Onion News Network</i> television series

Onion News Network is a parody television news show that ran for two seasons of ten episodes each, both during 2011, on the Independent Film Channel.

IFC (U.S. TV channel)

IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American pay television channel that is owned by AMC Networks. Programming on the channel includes both original and acquired series and fan favorite movies.

Klea’s recordings of Dreaming of a Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael, Autumn in New York: Vernon Duke’s Broadway, and Everything the Traffic Will Allow are on the Ghostlight Records label are available at www.ghostlightrecords.com. Other recordings on which she is featured include Jule Styne in Hollywood on the PS Classics label; the original cast recordings of Bingo and Radio Gals; Lost in Boston IV, Unsung Irving Berlin, and The Best of Off Broadway. [2]

Blackhurst was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Amazon.com" . Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Klea Blackhurst". KleaBlackhurst.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  3. ↑ RadioWest, 17 February 2012
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