42nd Street Moon Presents ONE IN A MILLION MOONS, 10/28

SAN FRANCISCO, September 15, 2010- 42nd Street Moon proudly presents ONCE IN A MILLION MOONS: A Jerome Kern Salon on October 28 at the Alcazar Theatre. This one-night-only event features Broadway star Rebecca Luker, as the company's multi-year celebration of composer Jerome Kern continues.

"We've been privileged to bring many rarely seen Kern musicals to San Francisco audiences - Sitting Pretty, Sweet Adeline, The Cabaret Girl (an American premiere), Roberta, Cat & the Fiddle, Very Warm for May - and we've still only dipped our toes into his amazing canon of songs," said Moon Artistic Director Greg MacKellan.

One of America's most beloved composers, Jerome Kern had a career that spanned more than 40 years. He started writing turn-of-the-century two-steps, and his music evolved through ragtime, operetta, jazz and swing. His "Princess Theatre" shows set the template that musical theatre follows to this day. "Bill," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Pick Yourself Up," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Who?" "In Love in Vain," "All the Things You Are," "Till the Clouds Roll By" - the list of great Kern melodies is limitless.

The Tony-nominated star of Jerome Kern's Show Boat, Rebecca Luker is one of the foremost contemporary interpreters of Kern's songs. She is reunited in the Kern Salon with her Show Boat co-star Debbie de Coudreaux, as well as Moon performers Pierce Peter Brandt, Bill Fahrner, Alexandra Kaprielian and Michael Scott Wells. Artistic Director Greg MacKellan narrates the evening.

Rebecca Luker was most recently seen on Broadway in Disney's Mary Poppins as Mrs. Banks, receiving a third Tony Award nomination, as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for the role. Previous to that she was seen in the Broadway revival of Nine playing the role of Claudia opposite Antonio Banderas. For her portrayal of Marian Paroo in the revival of The Music Man (2000), Ms. Luker received a Tony Award nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, and a Drama Desk Award nomination. She has also starred as Maria Rainer in the revival of The Sound of Music (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination). She performed the roles of Magnolia in Show Boat (Tony Award nomination), Lily in The Secret Garden (Drama Desk Award nomination), and Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. She was also seen in X (The Life and Times of Malcolm X) and Brigadoon at New York City Opera.

Debbie de Coudreaux was the star of the Moulin Rouge in Paris for eight years, and appeared frequently throughout Europe in film, on television and on radio. Her Broadway theatre credits include Grand Hotel and Show Boat. She has participated in Sheryl Lee Ralph's annual "Divas Simply Singing" benefit in Los Angeles, was a guest soloist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, played the role of Lady Thiang in the Woodminster's summer production of The King and I, and was seen in San Francisco's wildly popular Teatro Zinzanni.

Bill Fahrner and Alexandra Kaprielian have appeared in numerous Moon productions, and are both firm favorites with Moon audiences. Pierce Peter Brandt is also known to Moon audiences, having appeared in Fanny, Redhead, and Kiss the Boys Goodbye. Michael Scott Wells makes his 42nd Street Moon debut in this Salon, and will appear later this season as Val LaMar in Babes in Arms and as Jim Townsend in Strike Up the Band.

Greg MacKellan, founder and artistic director of 42nd Street Moon, will host the evening. He has had a long history producing, directing, and performing Jerome Kern's works. Kern's daughter, Betty, advised him when he produced two Kern CDs (Early Kern and Jerome Kern in London in Hollywood) with performers Rebecca Luker, Judy Kaye, Jason Graae, Paige O'Hara, Patricia Morison, Craig Bierko, among others. His Kern directing credits include Sitting Pretty, The Cat & the Fiddle, and Roberta, and he'll be restoring and directing Kern and Hammerstein's Three Sisters for Moon next season. His favorite non-Kern directing assignments include Gay Divorce, Paint Your Wagon, Li'l Abner, Goodtime Charley, The Grass Harp and Do I Hear a Waltz? Greg's rewrite of Cole Porter's Out of This World won a Goodman Award, and has been produced at Moon twice, as well as at the Chichester Festival in England (where it earned raves from the London critics), Seattle, Los Angeles, and next year in Vancouver.

Tickets for the Kern Salon are priced at $70, and may be purchased through the Box Office at 415/255-8207 or online at www.42ndstmoon.org. The Alcazar Theatre is located at 650 Geary Street, San Francisco.

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