BWW Reviews: A More Than Fair MY FAIR LADY Plays Connecticut Rep.

My Fair Lady

Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Directed by Vincent J. Cardinal
Connecticut Repertory Theatre at Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre on the campus of the University of Connecticut, Storrs
www.crt.uconn.edu

Let's get the big question out of the way: how does Terrence Mann fare stepping into the well-worn slippers of Henry Higgins in Connecticut Repertory Theatre's revival of My Fair Lady?   Mann isn't going to be making anyone forget Rex Harrison's legendary portrait of the phoneticist, and that's not a complaint.  Rather than attempting to redefine the role built with Harrison in mind, Mann opts to embrace the old adage, "If ain't broke, don't fix it" (or as Higgins might say, "If it is not broken, one should not fix it").  While adding a good degree of musicality with his booming voice and a good degree of physicality with his stomping feet, Mann's performance summons Harrison back to the stage while adding his own twists here and there.  Turns out Higgins is the perfect bully pulpit for an actor known for playing the roles of rascals and bullies like Rum Tum Tugger, Inspector Javert and Frank'nFurter.  Surprisingly, the role that seems to have best prepared him for this star turn is the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, with Mann snarling and snapping at the belle who has wandered into his mansion.

So the next question, naturally, is how does the rest of CRT's My Fair Lady fare?  Director Vincent J. Cardinal embraces the same mantra as Mann opting not to monkey with a sure thing.  This means audiences can expect a thoroughly competent and entertaining evening with very few unexpected twists.  Those seeking an evening of theatrical comfort food will find little reason to grouse.  Those looking for any surprises will leave hungry.  My Fair Lady has everything to do with class distinctions and how proper elocution can elevate a "squashed cabbage leaf" to a crown jewel while a professor to the manor born can become an outcast because of his lack of manners.  Cardinal manages a terrific portrayal of the "haves" without truly muddying his hands with the "have nots" that make My Fair Lady such a treat.

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and its subsequent Lerner and Loewe musicalization, hinges on the push-and-pull dynamic between Higgins' crusty phonetics professor and a dirty guttersnipe by the name of Eliza Doolittle.  Rex Harrison was blessed onstage to have the vocally incomparable Julie Andrews and on film with the ravishing Audrey Hepburn  (with incomparable vocals supplied by Marni Nixon).  Terrence Mann's Eliza is portrayed by Alix Paige who is not always up to the match of squaring off against Mann's silver-maned lion.   In the first Act, when blessed with two of musical theatre's most delightful songs "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and "I Could've Danced All Night," Paige just misses the opportunity to send us soaring.  Her "deliciously low" Eliza is not deliciously low enough (although her arrival at Higgins' home does have a few fun bits) and her post-extreme makeover Eliza is not beguiling enough. 

All of that changed in the second act when handed much less funny business and more potent emotional territory.  Paige's performance turned itself around and she becomes a much more worthy adversary for Mann, dramatically and vocally.  Her "Show Me" and "Without You," two songs that normally underwhelm, become much more lacerating in her hands.  The chemistry between Mann and Paige is not where it should be, although there is time over the show's brief run for them to connect more deeply.  The final moment between the two does add a nice, unexpected twist that will not be spoiled here.

Three gentlemen in secondary roles, well...actually two gentleman and one common dustman, actually make efforts to stretch their parts in interesting directions.  Timothy Gulan's Colonel Pickering is the first time this reviewer has seen a younger man in the role and it works absolutely fine.  Pickering, when well-played, can be a very funny foil for Higgins and a soothing balm for Eliza.  Gulan manages to mine the comedy (especially with his too-ready response for where Eliza can find a fabulous gown) and remain the conscience of the play.  Connor Moore is the appropriately besotted paramour as Freddy Eynsford-Hill.  His performance of "On the Street Where You Live" is sweet while managing to remind you that it is essentially an ode to stalking.  The decision to have him return to her door with a bottle at least gives the one-dimensional Freddy some eau de scandal.

Richard Ruiz manages the strongest change in character with his turn as Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza's lazy grifter and drunkard of a father.  Although perhaps a little too young for the part, Ruiz takes Doolittle in a darker Dickensian direction, salting his portrayal with a degree of menace.  His two crowd-pleasers "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time" land solidly and his key scene Chez Higgins is filled with many funny bits.    Much like Paige's performance as his daughter, Ruiz just manages to miss the boat with his Cockney accent.  One has to remember he is a man of the lowest social order and Ruiz appears onstage with nary a smudge on him with only a few tears in his coat to indicate his grasping poverty and nonexistent work ethic.

The two ladies in the secondary roles of the put-upon Mrs. Higgins and Mrs. Pearce both fare well.  Soap opera legend Eileen Fulton immerses herself in the role of the British dowager saddled with an ill-mannered sod of a son.  It is a hoot to see such a veteran of the stage and screen alongside the future generation of theatre talent.  Lynn McNutt's starchy Mrs. Pearce does her best to rein in her out-of-control employer and, at one point in the show, almost leveled Mann with a disarming, "Thank you, sir."

The ensemble, as in CRT's earlier production of Guys and Dolls, does a fine job in the multiple "Upstairs Downstairs" roles of servants, nobility and the working poor.  A special nod must be given to two rapscallions who evidence their father's penchant for onstage mischief - Josephine Mann and Shelby Mann.  The daughters of Terrence Mann and the production's choreographer Charlotte d'Amboise, these two girls manage to steal smiles (and wallets and focus) while onstage.  Their mother choreographs My Fair Lady's dance sequences with panache and humor and an assist from her brother Christopher d'Amboise.  Her reinvention of "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time" are athletic bits of fun for Ruiz and the chorus and stop the show in both acts.  Her take on the "Ascot Gavotte" sequence brings movement to a number primarily known for people standing stock still.  The only disappointment is the ballroom sequence at the top of Act 2 which seems like the most under-attended, dance-bereft ball in recent memory.

Any production of My Fair Lady has the unfair competition of the film's opulence with which to contend.  The sets by Michael Anania are a fine array of flats and drops that whisk you from Covent Garden to 27A Wimpole Street to beer-soaked alleys.  The costumes designed by Kevin Thacker are a mixed bag.  Higgins, Pickering, Pearce and Mrs. Higgins are all turned out impeccably as the crusty upper crust.  We know costumers live in fear of actors getting their gowns dirty, but please let the poor of London roll around the dustbin before you send them out onstage.  And for God's sake, when confronted with a costume budget for My Fair Lady, set aside at least a third of your budget for Eliza's ball gown.   Thacker brings the bling, but saddles Paige with a Butterick Pattern ball gown that disappoints where it should dazzle.

With My Fair Lady closing on July 17^th, Connecticut Repertory Theatre brings down the curtain on its resurrected Nutmeg Summer Series.  It has been a welcome return to form and among the strongest slate of offerings on any stage in the Nutmeg State.  Congratulations to Artistic Director Vincent Cardinal and Managing Director Frank Mack for not only having the vision to pull off a solidly entertaining summer, but for realizing the need for quality theatre in Connecticut's formerly "Quiet Corner."

Photo by Gerry Goodstein.

 

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