42nd St. Moon's 2012-13 Season to Include OF THEE I SING, PAL JOEY, CARNIVAL

Greg MacKellan and Stephanie Rhoads, artistic and producing directors of 42nd Street Moon, today announced details for the company's 20th Anniversary Season of musical theater: Moon Goes Platinum! It will be celebrated with five diverse comedies – all first-time productions for the organization, including a political comedy, romantic comedy, singing satire, a comedy-drama and a no-holds-barred farce.

The five musicals for the 2012-13 Season are OF THEE I SING, CARMELINA, PAL JOEY, CARNIVAL and LITTLE ME. 42nd Street Moon also continues with its special series of Salon Evenings at the Alcazar Theatre, this time with a special January salute to composer/lyricist Frank Loesser: Baby, It's Cold Outside!

"The twentieth is the modern platinum anniversary, but we're going with five solid-gold comedies to celebrate," MacKellan said. "We've revisited a few of our past shows in the last three or four years, so to make our 20th anniversary extra-special, Stephanie and I chose musicals that are all first-time productions for Moon."

"We're particularly excited to have such an outstanding group of playwrights and songwriters represented – George and Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Alan Jay Lerner, Burton Lane, Joseph Stein, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, John O'Hara, Frank Loesser, Bob Merrill, Michael Stewart, Neil Simon, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh. The shows we're doing this year feature some of their finest work. We have two genuine classics in Of Thee I Sing and Pal Joey, two rarely seen gems in Carnival! and Little Me, and a real surprise with the West Coast Premiere of Lerner, Lane and Stein's Carmelina. Additionally, we have the brilliant comic actor Jason Graae as our guest star for our closing show of the season, Little Me."

OF THEE I SING (1931)
The season opens with George and Ira Gershwin's OF THEE I SING. With the book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, this was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Presidency, and the democratic process itself are all targets in this timeless farce. John P. Wintergreen's party runs on a "love platform," promising that he will marry the partner chosen for him at an Atlantic City beauty pageant. Instead, he falls for a White House secretary and the trouble begins. The Gershwin score includes Who Cares?, Love is Sweeping the Country, Of Thee I Sing, Baby, Trumpeter Blow Your Golden Horn. Greg MacKellan directs, with Dave Dobrusky musical directing.
Dates: Previews Oct. 3 – 5, Opening Oct. 6 through Oct. 21

CARMELINA (1979)
The season continues with the West Coast Premiere of CARMELINA, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Burton Lane, and the book by Lerner and Joseph Stein. Carmelina is the musical version of the film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, which is also the source of the story in the hit Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! Carmelina played briefly on Broadway in 1979 and had two staged concerts at the York Theatre. In 1962, Carmelina Campbell, Italian "widow" of a non-existent soldier, is faced with the return of three American soldiers who liberated San Forino in WWII. One of them is the father of her daughter, Gia ... but she's not sure which! The great score by team that did Royal Wedding and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever includes two standards, One More Walk Around the Garden and It's Time for a Love Song, as well as Why Him?, Someone in April, I'm a Woman and Love Before Breakfast.
Dates: Previews: Oct. 31, Nov. 1 & 2, Opening Nov. 3 through Nov. 18

PAL JOEY (1940)
For the holiday season, 42nd Street Moon offers the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart masterpiece, PAL JOEY. Joey Evans – the charming "heel" with big plans – is back to take Chicago for a wild ride as he schemes to get to the top of the nightclub business. Songs include such Rodgers and Hart classics as I Could Write a Book, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, You Mustn't Kick it Around, Zip, and In Our Little Den of Iniquity. Zack Thomas Wilde directs, with Dave Dobrusky musical directing.
Dates: Previews – Nov 28 – 30 Opening Dec. 1 through Dec. 16

CARNIVAL (1961)
This musical of the beloved film Lili brings the world of Lili Daurier, puppeteer Paul Berthalet, roguish magician Marco and all of their circus friends to the stage. By turn bright and colorful and dark and intimate as it explores the milieu of the Cirque de Paris, CARNIVAL sings with a Bob Merrill score: Love Makes the World Go Round, Her Face, She's My Love, Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris and Mira. Greg MacKellan directs, with Dave Dobrusky musical directing.
Dates: Previews – April 3 – 5, Opening April 6 through April 21

LITTLE ME (1962)
Jason Graae stars in the final show of the season LITTLE ME. A Cy Coleman – Carolyn Leigh score highlights PatRick Dennis' rags-­-to-­-riches tale of Belle Poitrine, who moves from the wrong side of the tracks in Venezuela, Illinois, to Hollywood fame and Southampton luxury. The hit songs include Real Live Girl, I've Got Your Number, On the Other Side of the Tracks, To Be a Performer. Sharon Rietkerk is featured opposite Graae as Belle Poitrine. Willows Theatre Artistic Director Eric Inman will direct LITTLE ME, with BranDon Adams musical directing.
Dates: Previews – May 1 – 3, Opening May 4 through May 19

Salon Evening at the Alcazar Theatre:
BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE! -- THE Frank Loesser SALON
January 31, 2013
42nd Street Moon celebrates one of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley's greatest songwriters in a special one-night-only event: The Frank Loesser Salon. During his thirty year career, Loesser wrote great standards – Baby, It's Cold Outside, Let's Get Lost, Luck Be a Lady, Heart and Soul, On a Slow Boat to China, If I Were a Bell, Once in Love With Amy, I Believe in You, Standing on the Corner, Dolores, Big D, Inch Worm, Can't Get Out of This Mood, They're Either Too Young or Too Old and scores for musical comedies Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Where's Charley? and The Most Happy Fella.

Subscriptions for the 2012-13 Season at the Eureka Theatre, ranging from $95 - $235 with discounts for seniors and students and for those under 30-years-of-age, are available through the 42nd Street Moon Box Office at 415/255-8207 (Tues. – Fri. from noon to 5 pm), or through the website (no order fees) www.42ndstmoon.org. A special Family Matinee Subscription Series is also available for a 1 pm performance on the second Saturday of each production. The Frank Loesser Salon tickets are priced at $50 for subscribers and $70 for non-subscribers.

Current season subscribers are urged to renew by July 1, in order to guarantee the same seats for each performance. (Note: Early Bird deadline is March 25). Single tickets will go on sale August 1 to subscribers, and on August 15 to the general public. The five mainstage performances are presented at San Francisco's intimate Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street. The Salon evenings are presented at San Francisco's historic Alcazar Theatre, 650 Geary Street.

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