the mommy avenger

I grew up listening and watching the classic musicals. Flower Drum Song, The King and I, West Side Story, The Music Man and Fiddler on the Roof frequently were played in my house. Somehow, I missed My Fair Lady. That realization came to me as I was getting ready to see the debut Salt Lake City performance at the Eccles last night. I had absolutely zero expectations and nothing to compare it to. However, some of the people I had with me were extremely familiar with the show and I quickly learned that the audience was, too. I may have been one of the few to not know the story well.

The Lincoln Center Theatre production of My Fair Lady takes the basis of the tale Pygmalion and places us in London in 1912. An aristocratic linguistics professor, Professor Henry Higgins, finds a lower class woman, Eliza Dolittle, with an appalling accent and makes a bet with his friend, Colonel Pickering, that he can transform Eliza into a lady and have her bump elbows with the upper crust and fool everyone she meets. When the bet is taken, what seems impossible transpires before our eyes.

The story is a charming one and you root for Eliza to accomplish her goal of becoming a better version of herself, despite the selfish intentions and treatment of Eliza by Professor Higgins. We discover throughout the course of the show that the biggest transformation of all isn’t necessarily that of Eliza.

The revival of this classic musical was well received by the audience. It had beautiful music and surprisingly familiar songs performed by talented actors. I was particularly impressed by Anette Barrios-Torres who portrayed Eliza. Her voice was phenomenal. The set design was detailed and effective and the costumes were lovely (or should I say, loverly?).

I really enjoyed the performance, but it is unlike more contemporary ones in the line up for this year’s Broadway at the Eccles season. As I mentioned before, I grew up on musicals like this one, so I was aware of the different style of production. If you are accustomed to more modern productions, this may feel more old-fashioned to you and conservative. It was definitely a huge hit with older audience members, who clearly had a love of the classic romantic notion of the musical. If you like that type of musical, you will love My Fair Lady.

My Fair Lady will be live on stage now through November 18th at the Eccles Center in Salt Lake City. You can get your tickets by visiting online.

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From Lincoln Center Theater that brought you The King & I and South Pacific, comes “a sumptuous new production of the most perfect musical of all time” (Entertainment Weekly), Lerner & Loewe’s MY FAIR LADY.  Director Bartlett Sher’s glowing production is “thrilling, glorious and better than it ever was” (New York Times).  “Every so often a revival comes along that reminds you how indispensable great theater can be” (NY1).

Boasting such classic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” and “On the Street Where You Live,” MY FAIR LADY tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.”  But who is really being transformed?

^{*we were invited to facilitate a feature, all opinions are my own*}