Writer and performer Klea Blackhurst was raised in a Mormon household in Salt Lake City with a mom who performed musical roles in community theater. After watching her mother and listening to Ethel Merman on their record player, Klea naively thought, “All girls sound like that.” She moved to New York and appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as Oil City Symphony and Radio Gals before creating the piece that would launch her career, Everything the Traffic Will Allow, a personal tribute to Ethel Merman.

In this breakthrough performance, Ms. Blackhurst is hailed by Variety as “a huggable performer with a positive attitude, a sunny voice and a refreshing sense of humor.” Stephen Holden of The New York Times said, “Ms. Blackhurst has the verve and personality to step out from under her idol’s imposing shadow.” Time Out commented, “If you want to see one of the most enjoyable shows of the year, I suggest you buy tickets now,” and Backstage called it “the best cabaret show in town.”

Through the initiative of Max Daniels, Director of HAI’s Cultural Events Department, HAI presented Everything the Traffic Will Allow at the Staten Island Center for the Arts on October 11th, and at the Murray Lerner Auditorium in Co-op City on October 18th. Many letters were received praising the show, including a rave from one woman: “I saw Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam, and if Ms. Merman were alive today she would also be applauding Ms. Blackhurst. Besides being able to ‘belt out a song’ with gusto, we were amazed at her articulate, witty, even flowing presentation between songs.” The largely senior audiences were enthusiastic, gave standing ovations and sang “There’s No Business Like Show Business” along with Klea at the end of each show. “She should be on Broadway,” several ladies remarked on exiting Co-op City Auditorium. Lynn Probber, an HAI volunteer, commented, “This was the best HAI show I’ve ever seen.”

Between engagements of the Merman show, Klea found time to appear in HAI’s Theater Festival production of Desperate Acts at the Mint Space on 43rd Street. She played two roles in the production: Dorothy in Elaine May’s Hotline, a tour de force about a woman desperately trying to connect with an operator at a suicide hotline, and Wanda in Christopher Durang’s Wanda’s Visit. Ms. Blackhurst had the audience rolling in the aisles as the manic high school sweetheart who pays a visit to her old boyfriend and his wife. She was so focused on her roles that she was not prepared for some of the responses from HAI’s outspoken audiences; they would root for her at the end of Hotline and chide her in Wanda’s Visit.

Klea’s most recent triumph was on October 24th at Town Hall. Donald Smith, Executive Director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, selected Klea’s show to be presented at the Cabaret Convention. Ms. Blackhurst had this packed house in the palm of her hand. The spontaneous ovation at the end of this performance was well deserved. Brava, Klea!

HAI’s Community Performing Arts Series, co-sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services, presents the finest in performing arts at accessible sites and times throughout the city.