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‘My Fair Lady’ at Fox Theatre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “My Fair Lady.” Through Sunday, Aug. 21. VERDICT: Quite loverly, for the most part.
“My Fair Lady” is a battle-of -the-sexes play that never seems to go out of style. And why should it?
It’s got the purebred English wit of Shaw, the snappy songs of Lerner and Loewe and the classic contours of romantic conflict and reminted personalities. Henry Higgins may educate Eliza Doolittle about the slick outer surfaces of social behavior. But in the end, she teaches him a thing or two about power, control and the complex geography of the female heart.
This isn’t to say that the Theater of the Stars production at the Fox Theatre through Sunday will smack you on the head with a feminist agenda. Instead, director Drew Scott Harris and his strong company deliver frothy family entertainment that’s mostly as pleasurable as straw-bry tarts and tea.
The first hint of the splendid visual aesthetic to come occurs in the opening scene, courtesy of Kenneth Foy’s set design and Ben Pearcy’s lighting. As a streak of lightning electrifies the air outside Covent Garden, the scrim dissolves, and we see an army of fashionable opera-goers crouching under a canopy of umbrellas. Later, Higgins’ Wimpole Street library is a glowing repository of leather-bound volumes, Tiffany lamps and Pre-Raphaelite portraiture.
John Vickery, who I recently caught in the American premiere of David Hare’s “Stuff Happens” in Los Angeles, is a marvelously priggish Higgins. Like Rex Harrison, his strong suit is acting, which means he often speaks his lyrics instead of singing them. This doesn’t bother me too much.
But for a phonetics fanatic, Higgins sure muddles his mother tongue in his big opening number (“Why Can’t the English?”). And in “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” he forgoes any attempt at vocalization a’tall, which almost feels like cheating.
Marla Schaffel has fun with Eliza’s Cockney growl and buoyant physicality. She also sings like a nightingale. But in her character’s transformation, she isn’t wholly convincing; Eliza may wear a white gown and a tiara, but there’s still something common and plain in the corner of her mouth.
Olivier Award-winner James Valentine is a first-rate senior actor who molds his Col. Pickering after Noel Coward and John Gielgud. As this adorably doddering old dandy, he gives the evening’s best performance. Rob Donohoe brings an effectively ghoulish air to the part of gin-swilling Alfred Doolittle, while Ellen Horst and Melinda Tanner exude quiet efficiency in the roles of Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Higgins, respectively.
The biggest problem with this show is the endless first act, which leaves you feeling like you’ve danced all night. (This won’t get anyone to curtain on time.) But with a nip and a tuck and a little bit of luck, this 49-year-old musical dowager might pass for a true princess.
THE 411: 8 tonight-Saturday. 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $20-$59. Theater of the Stars, Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-817-8700, www.foxtheatre.org.
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