My Fair Lady premiered in the midst of Broadways Golden Age of Musical Theatre. It was so good that even with the stiff competition surrounding it, the original production managed a six and a half year, 2,717 performance run. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's masterpiece of a musical is as sophisticated as it's source material, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. This story of the tempestuous relationship between a flower-seller plucked from Covent Garden by an arrogant phonetics expert with the intention of transforming her into a lady by changing her speech was expanded and enhanced by the wonderful music, which includes an album-full of hits lead by "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

This is a Grand Musical, and a natural choice for a company with Arizona Theatre Company's means and talent. The production directed by David Ira Goldstein that premiered in Tucson seemed a little shaky, though, with just a bit of a subdued energy and a tentative connection between it's two leads. There's a good possibility that things could blossom over the run. Goldstein has cast plenty of talented performers to recommend the show. In the role of Eliza, Kate Fisher has a lovely voice and even looks a bit like a young Julie Andrews as she makes her threats during "Just You Wait." Norman Large's remarkable comic timing turns Henry Higgins into a loveable cad. It's when these two are playing against each other that one misses a spark, especially during the gelling "Rain in Spain" number, when the connection between the two should be palpable. What happens instead is a rushed transition from Eliza's anger and Higgins' indifference to Eliza's sudden infatuation.

There is no one negative performance, and many bright spots, but that sense of a missing connection trickles down through the ensemble. Michael Santo is a perfectly stuffy-yet-sweet Colonel Pickering, but the camaraderie so necessary between him and Higgins never seems to reach its peak. Even the exuberant Frank Kopyc as Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle gives the barest hint of going through the motions as he regales the audience with his logic in "With a Little Bit of Luck" and mourns the loss of his freewheeling days in ""Get Me to the Church On Time." Christopher Corts has a lovely voice that he uses to full advantage as Freddy while crooning "On the Street Where You Live," though he, too, doesn't seem to completely connect with Fisher. The least affected performances of the ensemble come from Darcy Pulliam as Higgins' mother, who gives a hilariously droll performance, and Marc Cardiff as Higgins' adversary, Professor Zoltan Karpathy, who heads over the top in a quite enjoyable way.

Patricia Wilcox's musical staging is on target, and the talented ensemble does a great job of bringing it to life. Michael Koerner's orchestra seemed hesitant as well, with his trumpet player offering the most sour notes and miscues.

The show has really succeeded is in its technical offerings, where Bill Forrester's two-story recreation of Higgins' conservatory received well-deserved applause as it wheeled out. The remainder of his creations is also very impressive, while Paul A. Black's lighting is extremely effective. David Kay Mickelsen's costumes are a treat.

It's rare that ATC productions suffer from opening night jitters, but this lavish musical has. I'm sure that further into the run these near-intangibles will be resolved.

Production Details:
My Fair Lady Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, based on the play Pygmalion by G.B. Shaw, Music by Frederick Loewe
Arizona Theatre Company
The Temple of Music and Art, Tucson (For a map to location, click this link)
(520) 622-2823
November 30th - December 15th, 2001
&
The Herberger Theatre Center, Phoenix (For a map to location, click this link)
(602) 256-6995
December 31st, 2001 - January 20th, 2002

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