Donna McKechnie Headlines 'Ira Gershwin Salon' for 42nd Street Moon 1/28/2010

From the moment she stepped onto the Broadway stage and gave us her iconic portrait of the singer/dancer "Cassie" in Michael Bennett's history-making A Chorus Line Donna McKechnie has been a star. The role earned her a Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Musical" in 1976 and since then, her fame has only grown. On Thursday, January 28 at 7pm at San Francisco's Alcazar Theatre (650 Geary Street) - for one show only -- one of the world's most beloved and formidable talents joins with 42nd Street Moon (www.42ndstmoon.org) in a salute to "the quieter Gershwin Brother" Nice Work If You Can Get It! - An Ira Gershwin Salon Evening. Making new history with McKechnie that night will be regular "Moon" ensemble members Sarah Kathleen Farrell, Rob Hatzenbeller, Kelly Houston, Benjamin Pither and Celeste Russi. Nice Work If You Can Get It! also brings together the talented team of musical director Dave Dobrusky, book by Chad Jones and direction by Greg MacKellan.

"This salon is the prelude to our multi-year salute to the shows of Ira Gershwin," said MacKellan, founding artistic director of 42nd Street Moon. "Ira's career spanned much of the 20th century, and brought the world a dazzling array of songs written with his brother George as well as Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, Vernon Duke, and others. We're lucky to have access to Ira's archives, which are here in San Francisco, so in addition to standards like Fascinating Rhythm, But Not for Me, The Man That Got Away, I Can't Get Started, Long Ago and Far Away, The Man I Love, and Someone to Watch Over Me' we'll have a few surprises in the show as well."

"In this evening devoted to celebrating Ira's lyrical genius, you can expect to hear songs with music by George Gershwin along with Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern and Kurt Weill, among many others," said Jones, known to legions of Bay Area readers and audience members for his insightful theatre critiques for The Oakland Tribune, Sacramento Bee and TheatreDogs Blog among other venues." With the great Donna McKechnie hosting and performing during the evening, we have a double advantage. We not only get her Tony Award-winning brilliance as a performer but also her tremendous enthusiasm for and knowledge of the great American popular song. Donna is passionate about music and lyrics and has a special fondness for the work of Ira Gershwin."

Tony Award-winning star of A Chorus Line, Ms. McKechnie is regarded internationally as one of Broadway's foremost dancing and singing stars. Donna has recently returned from London after a successful "out of town" tryout with her new cabaret show, Gypsy in My Soul. Her cabaret show, My Musical Comedy Life, which received unanimous raves from New York theater critics, won a Mac Award Nomination for Best Female Singer and The Backstage Bistro Award for Outstanding Major Engagement. Donna's full-length auto-biographical theatrical show, Inside The Music (with text by Christopher Durang) captives audiences wherever it is performed.

Donna enjoyed one of her greatest triumphs as Sally in the acclaimed revival of Follies in the spring of 1998. Since that appearance, she choreographed and performed in No Way To Treat A Lady at the Arts' Theatre in London's West End where she had starred in Cole Porter's Can-Can at the Strand a few seasons before.

Some of Ms. McKechnie's Broadway credits include: How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying; A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (National Tour); The Education Of Hyman Kaplan; Sondheim - A Musical Tribute (which she also choreographed); On The Town; Promises, Promises; Company and State Fair for which she received the Fred Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer for the 1995-1996 season.

She also starred in dozens of regional theatre productions including Cole Porter's You Never Know at the Pasadena Playhouse, I Do! I Do!, Misalliance, The Goodbye Girl and Gypsy. Ms. McKechnie played the lead in Bob Fosse's last production, a national tour of Sweet Charity, for which she was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. In 2001, Donna received a nomination for an Ovation Award for Best Featured Actress (Mack and Mabel) from the LA Theater Alliance League.

Donna has performed extensively on the concert stage, in cabaret and with symphony orchestras. She made her opera debut in December 1996, guest starring in the San Francisco Opera's production of Die Fledermaus.

She has appeared as a guest star in numerous television musical specials and dramatic series including Fame, Cheers, Family Ties, Twirl and Dark Shadows. Donna portrayed The Rose in the film, The Little Prince.

"When people think of Ira Gershwin, they immediately think of George Gershwin, his brother the composer," Jones continued. "While the pairing of Ira's lyrics with George's music resulted in some of the brightest entries in the Great American Songbook, Ira's career as a lyricist encompassed collaborations with some of the greatest composers around."

"Ira Gershwin's lyrics speak volumes about ‘life, love and laughter' - not to mention the ever-changing condition of the English language - and have provided moments of sheer bliss for performers and audiences alike," said Michael Owen, Archivist for the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts. "42nd Street Moon's fans will surely enjoy this special evening of ‘delishious'* songs created by Ira and his collaborators."
(*reference to "Delishious" is a song Ira wrote in the 1930s)

Over the last few years, San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon has earned a reputation and critical acclaim for the high quality of its musical values and approachable character of its work. 42nd Street Moon, based in San Francisco, is one of a handful of companies in the United States whose mission is to present rarely-seen musicals from the classic Broadway era of the 1910s - 1970s. Since 1993, the organization has mounted five productions every year, and serves a loyal constituency who participate with both regular audience attendance and a solid base of contributed income.

42nd Street Moon contributes to the preservation and evolution of American musical theatre by presenting these classic Broadway shows in intimate productions. The shows do not have elaborate sets but are fully costumed and staged. 42nd Street Moon does not present its work through digitally engineered sound systems. The material itself is the star. This format allows the audience to hear the work with remarkable clarity, and to use their imaginations.

An Ira Gershwin Salon Evening with Donna McKechnie Nice Work if You Can Get It! will play for one performance: Thursday, January 28 - 7pm at San Francisco's Alcazar Theatre (650 Geary Street, near Union Square). Tickets are $70 for the show; $100 for the show and a post-show reception with Ms. McKechnie. For tickets call (415) 255-8207 or go online to www.42ndstreetmoon.org