EVERETT — When Village Theatre’s production of Lerner &Loewe’s Tony award-winning “My Fair Lady” opens tonight at the Everett Performing Arts Center, audiences likely will be thrilled with the amazing costumes, lovely sets and capable orchestra, as well as the outstanding acting, comedy, singing and dancing.
Directed by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and Village “native” Brian Yorkey, this musical production is wonderful, as one would expect from the Issaquah/Everett theater company.
However, after seeing Yorkey’s brilliant take on “Cabaret” this past summer and his “If/Then” at the Paramount in November, I wondered if he would push a bit more on the timeless issues of class and gender inherent in George Bernard Shaw’s story “Pygmalion,” on which the musical is based. (Yorkey has described Alan Jay Lerner’s and Frederick Loewe’s musical — with its glorious, unforgettable songs — as “an improvement on Shaw.”)
I wanted the lower-class Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle to feel more hurt by the upper-class misogynist snob Henry Higgins and I pined for even greater anger from her. I wanted Higgins, a linguistics professor who wagers he can turn Eliza into a “proper” lady, to be more surprised when he realizes he’s a fool. (I admit that my reaction is based on a possibly “off night” mid-week performance near the end of the long run in Issaquah.)
Except for the final scene, which you’ll have to wait to see, Yorkey’s “My Fair Lady” was played more for audience appeal, meaning it was like the movie. And that is OK.
Like many of the classics in the American musical theater canon, “My Fair Lady” went from stage to film.
The 1956 Broadway show made a star of Julie Andrews, who was replaced in the 1964 movie by Audrey Hepburn (though the voice you hear when Hepburn sings is that of Marni Nixon, a former Seattleite).
Village’s Eliza is Gregory award-winner Allison Standley, who has the “loverly” voice of Andrews and the acting sensibilities of Hepburn. She’s an expert on the role, having also played Eliza at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. (Everett audiences may remember Standley as Frenchie in “Cabaret.”)
Mark Anders, vocally a much better professor than Rex Harrison was on stage or in the movie, also has previous experience in his role as Higgins, having played the professor in “Pygmalion” with the Seattle Shakespeare Company in 2012. He has good chemistry with fellow Shakespearean actor Dan Kremer as the delightful Colonel Pickering. Kremer played the same role in Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 1998 production of “Pygmalion.”
Village Theatre’s ensembles are consistently great, and a few other actors must be mentioned.
I am continually impressed with the talent and energy of the older cast members in Village productions, including Kremer.
In this musical, keep an eye on these beautiful women: Mary Jo Dugaw as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Gretchen Krich as Higgins’ housekeeper Mrs. Pearce, Priscilla Hake Lauris as Higgins’ mother and Ellen McLain as Mrs. Hopkins.
Other great turns are offered by the fun John Patrick Lowrie as Eliza’s irreverent father, Alfred P. Doolittle; the refreshing Randy Scholz as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Eric Polani Jensen as the smarmy Professor Zoltan Karpathy, and the quartet that rotates among Ethan Michael Carpenter, Andrew Eric Davison, Jonathan Lee-Vroman, Brian Pucheu and Mike Spee.
You won’t regret another chance to hear “The Rain in Spain” again.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Village Theatre’s “My Fair Lady” plays Jan. 8 through Feb. 7 at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. Ticket prices range from $36 to $68. Call the box office at 425-257-8600. Performances are 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays (only a matinee on Feb. 7), 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, as well as Feb. 2.
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