Billy Stritch, a singer and pianist, and Klea Blackhurst, a vocalist and comedian, joined forces for the first time in 2007 at the Metropolitan Room in Manhattan, when they debuted their cabaret show “Dreaming of a Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael.”
The duo will bring the program to LTV Studios on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Wainscott venue’s cabaret series, “Hamptons Summer Songbook by the Sea.”
Carmichael (1899-1981), was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s and 1940s. He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971 along with Duke Ellington and eight others. His catalogue includes “Stardust,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Old Buttermilk Sky, “Skylark,” and “Lazy Bones.”
As for “Stardust,” he wrote it when he was still a young lawyer, according to The New York Times, scribbling it on the front pages of a law book. It wasn’t recorded until several years later, in 1930, by Isham Jones, the leader of a popular orchestra. It’s fair to say the song changed Carmichael’s life, bringing him fame and, eventually, wealth.
Stritch has been a presence on the New York and national nightclub scene for almost 40 years. He was the longtime pianist and musical director for Liza Minnelli, touring with her internationally. He has also collaborated with Tony Bennett, Christine Ebersole, Linda Lavin, Marilyn May, and Linda Eder, both onstage and in the recording studio.
Readers of Broadway World have named Stritch Outstanding Musical Director six times, his 2022 show at Birdland Jazz Club was recognized as Outstanding Vocal Jazz Engagement of the Year, and in March he shared two awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.
An actress as well as a singer and comedian, Blackhurst has performed at the London Palladium, Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Cafe Carlyle. She starred as Hazel Burke in “Hazel the Musical” at Chicago’s Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre and as Dolly Levi in the 50th anniversary production of “Hello, Dolly!” at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn.
She is known for her tribute to Ethel Merman, “Everything the Traffic Will Allow,” which took New York by storm in 2001. Most recently, she appeared opposite Hayley Mills in “Party Face” at City Center Stage II.
Of “Dreaming of a Song,” Christopher Loudon, writing for JazzTimes, said, “Stritch and Blackhurst are more like aged rum blended with 100-proof tequila. . . . She and Stritch prove exceptionally good at navigating the many novelty tunes that numbered among Carmichael’s biggest successes.”
General admission tickets are $80, reserved cocktail table seating with a drink ticket is $120. Guaranteed front-row cafe table seating, including bottle service, runs $240.
