Three-time Tony nominee Rebecca Luker joins forces with Matthew Scott for a new single of Jerome Kern and P.G. Wodehouse’s “The Enchanted Train,” now available from PS Classics on all digital and streaming platforms.
The chart was orchestrated and music-directed by Joseph Thalken, produced by Tommy Krasker, and mixed by Bart Migal.
In a statement Luker said, “In 2013, I recorded a duet for my Jerome Kern CD, I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern, with my brilliantly talented friend, Matthew Scott. I was heartbroken that the song never made it onto the final recording. But now PS Classics has gorgeously orchestrated ‘The Enchanted Train,’ and I’m so grateful. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”
Scott added, “I was so excited when Becca asked me to duet with her on ‘The Enchanted Train.’ I’m a huge Jerome Kern fan and an even bigger Rebecca Luker fan. To me, Becca is Broadway. Her signature soprano voice has always sent chills up my spine, and duetting with her on this track was no different.”
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PS Classics founder Tommy Krasker stated, “The song wasn’t in Rebecca’s original stage show. Ironically, it was my idea to add it for the album, because I’ve always loved the song so much. But as I mixed it down, I realized that the rest of the CD was so personal and introspective that this joyous song just didn’t fit. It got left on the cutting room floor. But this past summer, I found myself thinking about it a lot, as did Becca and Matt. I realized it needed more of a chart than the piano and bass that had accompanied the original album, and music director Joe Thalken brilliantly orchestrated it for eight players—Rick Heckman, Sean McDaniel, Robin Zeh, Paul Woodiel, Deborah Sepe, and Dick Sarpola—who recorded it in their private studios. Our genius engineer Bart mixed it all down, Becca and Matt chimed in with notes and comments—and happily, hearty approval—and we’re all so thrilled to unveil the results. As the song title implies, it’s three-and-a-half minutes of pure enchantment.”
Luker, who is married to fellow multiple Tony nominee Danny Burstein, made her Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, and was Tony-nominated for her performances in Show Boat, The Music Man, and Mary Poppins. She has also been seen on Broadway in The Secret Garden, The Sound of Music, Nine, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and Fun Home. Blessed with one of the richest sopranos of our time, the actor also frequently graces nightclubs and concert halls around the world; she is also part of the family of artists who have performed on the Playbill Cruises.
