Lyric Light Opera delivers a ‘loverly’ "My Fair Lady"

There is one thing that is indisputable about the classic musical “My Fair Lady” and that is it delivered a powerhouse soundtrack where just about every song was a hit.

“With a Little Bit of Luck,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live.” And the list goes on.

Well, Lyric Light Opera’s production with its talented singing cast and wonderful 20-piece orchestra, led by Michael Corey, delivered this soundtrack as a “loverly” present to the audience.

LLO’s production runs through Oct. 21 at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon. Catch it if you can because there are some awesome voices and stand-up acting in this timeless story.

Timeless yes. Because today in our political world there is constant talk of a class war. And “My Fair Lady” is certainly a story about changing one’s class from lower to upper

.

“Change a person’s speech and you change their class,” professor Henry Higgins, uh, professes.

And who are we changing? The beautiful cockney-accented flower girl Eliza Doolittle.

The premise is all based on a bet between Higgins and Col Hugh Pickering, who wages to test Higgins’ skills by challenging him to change Doolittle into a Victorian lady.

There are some subplots as well, one involving Doolittle’s father, Alfred, played and sung with great panache by the robust John Kelleher.

But the main gist of the story is changing Eliza. Of course in the end, one never can change who a person truly is.

Eliza was played by Marza Warsinske, who studied musical theater at Weber State University. Her singing voice is grand but for me, I wanted a bit more of a fiery Eliza; Warsinske seemed somewhat flat.

The overconfident Henry Higgins was played by a very confident Greg Stone, a Broadway actor who brought lots of talent and lots of wit. Stone seemed perfectly suited in his role.

Other standouts included the charming Freddy played by Derek Sellers, who delivered an enchanting version of “On the Street Where You Live.” Also, the colonel was played splendidly by Alan Wilkie who made his LLO debut and, if we are all lucky, will return.

And I can’t not mention the standout beauty of the costumes and sets; the costume package was rented from Utah Festival Opera.

This production of “My Fair Lady” offers all this and the best of composers Lerner and Lowe in the acoustically sound and stunning McIntyre Hall.

It’s what escaping into musical theater is all about.

“My Fair Lady” shows at 7:30 p.m. Saturday Oct. 20 and Sunday Oct. 21 at McIntyre Hall, 2501 E College Way, Mount Vernon. Tickets start at $19. Call 360-416-7727 Ex. 2 or 866-624-6897 Ex. 2 or go to

McIntyre Hall