Ken Bloom

Ken Bloom is a New York-based theatre historian, playwright, director, record producer, and author.

He began his theatre career in the mid-'70s at the New Playwrights Theatre of Washington. Along with some friends, Bloom co-founded the ASTA theatre. That company became the basis for New Playwrights. While at ASTA, Bloom joined the Smithsonian Puppet Theatre, performing as part of Allan Stevens and Company in Washington and on tour throughout the United States for over two years. At New Playwrights, Bloom co-produced and directed a series of musicals and musical revues written by Tim Grundmann including Sirocco, Bride of Sirocco (which transferred to a commercial run), Nightmare!, Out to Lunch, and Eddie’s Catchy Tunes. He also wrote and directed the musical revues Cole Porter Revisited, The Unsung Jerome Kern, and Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen. Bloom also was in charge of the theatre’s PR, audience development, and marketing. After leaving New Playwrights, Bloom edited The Washington Season, an arts supplement for the Washington Post. In Washington, he hosted a musical theatre radio show for WAMU-FM, DC’s NPR station.

He continued radio work after moving to New York in 1980 as a correspondent for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He was also Broadway correspondent for the CBC. Bloom worked with Ezio Petersen on Musical Theatre Today on WAMU-FM, a weekly program that ran for fifteen years. He also hosted 12 hours a week for Sirius Satellite Radio's musical theatre channel.

Shortly after his move to New York, Bloom, in partnership with Cleveland’s Bill Rudman, founded Harbinger Records, an independent label dedicated to the preservation of the music of American popular song, musical theatre, and cabaret. Their first release was Geraldine Fitzgerald’s one-woman show, Streetsongs. Bloom and Rudman’s first studio record was Maxine Sullivan Sings the Great Songs of the Cotton Club by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocalist and won the NAIRD award for Best Jazz Vocal of the Year. They continued working with Sullivan on the highly acclaimed Together: The Music of Jule Styne and The Lady’s in Love with You: Maxine Sullivan Sings the Music of Burton Lane. Harbinger has also produced albums devoted to the talents of Mabel Mercer, Susan Johnson, three CDs with jazz great Barbara Carroll, three jazz CDs with pianist/singer Eric Comstock, Sylvia McNair, opera diva Amy Burton (Opera News Recording of the Month), Lorna Dallas, Eric Michael Gillette, Jamie DeRoy and others. They have also released on CD the legendary Walden Records series of recordings as well as recordings by Noël Coward, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, Richard Rodgers, Jerry Herman, Hugh Martin, Sheldon Harnick, and Barry Kleinbort. In 2012, Harbinger coproduced Barry Kleinbort's musical 13 Things About Ed Carpolatti at the 59E59 Theater, starring Penny Fuller. In 2008, Harbinger Records celebrated its 25th Anniversary.

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