Interview: 'Wow, Wow, Wow, Fellas' Klea Blackhurst is Goodspeed's Dolly!

Rumors continue to circulate about another Broadway revival of HELLO, DOLLY! Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman has said that he'd love to see one more production of his favorite show in his lifetime. Many big names have been bandied about for the title role: Patti LuPone, Mitzi Gaynor, Bette Midler, and Rosie O'Donnell are just a few. Despite the fact that the role has been played to great effect by Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Mary Martin, Phyllis Diller, Pearl Bailey and Ethel Merman, most celebrities are reluctant to take on a role that is so strongly identified with the part's originator, Carol Channing. The Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddem, CT, seems to have found the right actress for the part, though: KLea Blackhurst.

Chatting by telephone from Connecticut, Ms Blackhurst immediately proves herself to be the ideal choice for the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi. She comes across as outgoing, warm, vivacious, intelligent and humorous. All of these attributes are exactly what the role calls for. When asked how she likes playing the role, she responds, "It's a doozie! I think it's the best actually. It is so much fun to live from inside out of this role. It's unbelievable! There's nothing wrong with it. There's just nothing wrong with this show."

Ms Blackhurst continues: "I think the restaurant scene is just some of the best writing ever. I just think it's brilliant. I sort of live for that scene right after the 'Dolly!' number." The book for HELLO, DOLLY! was written by Michael Stewart, who adapted it from Thornton Wilder's comedy THE MATCHMAKER. To be honest, much of the dialogue in the restaurant scene comes from Wilder's original play.

"I'm in love with THE MATCHMAKER." Ms Blackhurst explains. "I've read it many times over the years and certainly I've auditioned for quite a few DOLLY's in the past four years. I really feel that THE MATCHMAKER sings all on its own. It's a magical piece. We've seen things adapted a million times and they can go in a million directions and often they do not work. HELLO, DOLLY! is an adaptation that is a brand new entity. When you put music to it, it becomes different from THE MATCHMAKER but every bit as magical. I just think they got everything right with this one."

KLea Blackhurst has the reputation of being a fine singer. With her vocal prowess, will the songs "World Take Me Back" and "Love Look In My Window" be used in the Goodspeed production? "They are not," Ms Blackhurst explains. "You know what? Not everyone is geeky about the show and the truth is, Ethel Merman circa 1970 with the the backstory of being the original choice to play Dolly and so on, THAT really warranted putting them in for her. She was Ethel Merman and it was Jerry Herman. I love the story that Jerry told me about seeing Ethel Merman in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and made him fall in love with musical theater. All of that spinning together sort of makes that the right choice. I don't think it would be the way to go in 2013 with KLea Blackhurst at Goodpeed. I don't think by any stretch of the imagination that those songs are NEEDED in HELLO, DOLLY! It would only be something that would be fun. I don't know if everybody wants to hear those songs. Those people with a certain perspective on the show always ask about those songs and ask whether I'm going to do them because I would be a natural choice to do them. So the answer is no. Maybe when I'm a great big famous person I'll do them. Until then, we'll just let it unfold the way it's supposed to unfold."

As it is, there's been such a positive response to this production of HELLO, DOLLY! at the Goodspeed with Ms. Blackhurst and Tony Sheldon playing Horace Vandergelder that the theater has added 19 performances. "That means there are a lot of nine show weeks," Ms Blackhurst comments. "As much as I think I want these things and wish that I could hold notes longer in the parade. I have a feeling that on the Sundays of those nine show weeks I'll be so happy that it's all sitting right where it is and that 'World Take Me Back Isn't in the production. I'm just living in the moment, enjoying the here and now. The past is behind me and the future hasn't happened yet, I'm just in the present. My life is so good that really all day, every day my present is HELLO, DOLLY! It's such a gift and such an amazing experience. I'm really looking forward to performing it."

"We're in great shape," the actress continues. "This cast is so darling and so well cast that it's turning into one of the most exciting experiences of my career."

One of the nicest parts of seeing shows at the Goodspeed Opera House is the venue's intimacy. It's a true jewel of a theater-but it's small. "The stage is only nine feet deep," Ms. Blackhurst explains. "I have stairs and it's rather a phenomenal concept in how they're making them happen. There's some variation on how things are being done out of just sheer necessity but this theater's been here for fifty years so they know how to deliver things."

KLea Blackhurst hails from Salt Lake City, Utah. "We don't really think of it as the hotbed of the American Musical but we have a theater there, the Pioneer Theater Company that's been associated with the University of Utah. It's a beautiful theater, it really is," the actress explains. "My mother was involved with that theater long before I was born and is an actress herself. I had the best education and background you could imagine. It's an Equity house and they would bring in the directors and stars. There were maybe six contracts that would go to Equity people-so we had people like Christopher Hewett and John Fearnly, who was Rodgers and Hammerstein's casting director in all the glory years. My mother did BELLS ARE RINGING with Betty Garrett and Hal Linden. I did THE KING AND I when I was ten years old. John Cullum was the King-right before he came to Goodspeed to do SHENANDOAH. It really was an amazing place and I ended up going to college at the University of Utah and doing my Equity apprenticeship there. I left Salt Lake City with my Equity card and moved to New York because I always wanted to be in a Broadway show. That was my dream. I've been there ever since."

KLea Blackurst's first big break in New York came when she replaced Debra Monk in OIL CITY SYMPHONY and with the same writers she created a role in RADIO GALS. "That show was a big hit around the country, " she recalls, "but didn't fare so well in New York. It ran only about three weeks." The actress is extremely proud of the revival of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN at St. Clements' Church. She also did GYPSY at Chicago's Drury Lane Theater for 87 performances. "The most recent project I did was THE NUTTY PROFESSOR," Blackhurst states. "It was the world premiere in Nashville." The production was directed by Jerry Lewis and was notable for being Marvin Hamlisch's last score. He did that with Rupert Holmes. It was a big deal for me."

As often happens with successful regional productions of any show, there have been whispers that the Goodspeed production of HELLO, DOLLY! is headed for Broadway. "When I hear little rumblings about that rumor I just try to shut my ears because I don't think I could even bear the question of it." says the actress. "It would be thrilling and exciting. I hope that this is the first DOLLY! of many because it's now in my bones. However, if this is it-when you think of starting performances June 28th and running through September 15th, I would have had more than 'my fair share of love' as Irene Malloy says."

It would be wonderful to have a new production of this beloved show come to Broadway and to welcome KLea Blackhurst to the ever growing list of actresses who have left their imprint on this musical. However, those who are theater savvy should put on their Sunday Clothes and head to the Goodspeed Opera House to see this increasingly popular production. Remember, after September 15th, it's "So Long Dearie!"

Photo Credit: Diane Sobolewsk

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