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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. My Fair Lady
Since the musical has been one of the best known and loved in the Broadway canon since its premiere in 1956, followed by the Oscar-winning film adaptation in 1964, the question is why an audience should see it again. Sher brings an immediacy to individual performances in the midst of the crowd, Christopher Gattelli's choreography covers the gamut from decorous waltzes to bumptious music-hall numbers, and Alan Jay Lerner's book (adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion) and lyrics and Frederick Loewe's music are treated with the respect they deserve. To begin with, Shereen Ahmed is a blazing Eliza Doolittle. She plays Eliza as a scrapper who knows what she wants, with a generous sense of fun (demonstrated especially in the Ascot scenes), and she has a soprano vocal range that can stay grounded in the lower register or soar. Sher has envisioned Henry Higgins as younger and somewhat less abrasive than the model set by Rex Harrison. Laird Mackintosh fills the role very capably as an intellectual cheerfully oblivious to his utter lack of tact, with a lovely light singing voice. His relative youth plays out well in the scenes with his august mother (Leslie Alexander, perfectly poised) and with the more worldly Colonel Pickering (Kevin Pariseau). With his two show-stopping production numbers, Alfred P. Doolittle always dominates his scenes. Adam Grupper nails the comic timing, the Shavian discourses on individual responsibility, and Gattelli's rowdiest choreography, including dancing girls in magenta costumes for "Get Me to the Church on Time." The physical production, adapted for a traditional proscenium stage from the original thrust stage at Lincoln Center, is a delight as well. Michael Yeargan's sets range from individual pieces (the façade of Higgins' house, the grand staircase into the ballroom) to a massive structure on a turntable that depicts several interior rooms separated by doorways. Catherine Zuber's costumes follow themes set by each location: the opening scene's crowd in Covent Garden consists of the lower class in drab dark colors and the rich in jewel tones, while at Ascot, Eliza's gown with black bodice and black-trimmed hat stand out against the chorus in off-white and dove gray. (So, of course, does Henry's defiantly inappropriate suit in a sea of formal dress.)
Kennedy Center |
