Terrence Mann and Eileen Fulton Lead CRT's MY FAIR LADY, 7/7-17

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), concludes its 2011 Nutmeg Summer Series with My Fair Lady, running July 7 - 17 in the Harriett S. Jorgensen Theatre (lower Jorgensen Auditorium) on the UConn Storrs campus. CRT is delighted to have soap opera legend Eileen Fulton, who portrayed Lisa Miller Grimaldi on As the World Turns for almost 50 years, starring as Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady. Broadway star Terrence Mann performs as Professor Henry Higgins Mr. Mann originated the roles of Rum Tum Tugger in Cats, Javert in Les Miserables, and the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Choreography is by Broadway star Charlotte d'Amboise, who will soon return to her role as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway.

My Fair Lady
Book and Lyrics by Allan Jay Lerner
Music by Fredrick Lowe
July 7 - 17, 2011
Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre

Based on George Bernard Shaw's brilliant play Pygmalion, Lerner and Lowe's My Fair Lady is the perfect summertime musical. Phonetics professor Henry Higgins bets that he can pass a common flower girl off as a society lady in this most elegant, enchanting and heartfelt of stories. It features one of Broadway's most beloved scores, including "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," and the comic tour de force "Get Me to the Church on Time!"

The production will be directed by CRT Artistic Director Vincent J. Cardinal. Professor Cardinal also serves as Head of the Dept. of Dramatic Arts. On directing My Fair Lady, Mr. Cardinal said. "This is a very special opportunity to experience this glorious music and these seasoned professionals in our intimate theatre."

THE CAST

Terrence Mann* (Henry Higgins) made his Broadway debut in 1982 as Chester Lyman in the Tony® Award-winning musical Barnum. However, his breakthrough performance came when he created the memorable lead role of the "playful" cat Rum Tum Tugger in the original Broadway cast of Cats. Mann's portrayal of Inspector Javert in the original Broadway production of Les Miserables earned him his first Tony® Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His second Tony® Award nomination came in 1994 when he played the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Most recently, he completed a Broadway run as Mal Beineke in The Addams Family. Other stage credits include The Scarlet Pimpernel (Chauvlin), Rags, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Getting Away With Murder, the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show, Assassins, Lennon, and The Lost Colony. His film credits include A Chorus Line, A Circle on the Cross, Eavesdrop, and all four Critters films. TV credits include 30 ROCK, All My Children (Earl Boyd), The Equalizer, The Tick, and Law and Order. Mr. Mann is the Distinguished Chair of Musical Theatre at Western Carolina University.

 

Eileen Fulton* (Mrs. Higgins) is best known for being the first "bad girl" on television when she created the role of Lisa Miller on the CBS soap As the World Turns, for which she received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the TV academy in 2003. However, Ms. Fulton also established herself on and off Broadway in productions of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Fantasticks, Abe Lincoln in Illinois with HAl Holbrook, Many Loves, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Night Club Confidential. Her regional theatre credits include Plaza Suite, It Had To Be You, The Owl and the Pussycat, Goodbye Charlie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Ms. Fulton has appeared in five independent films, is an accomplished author, recording artist and a critically acclaimed cabaret performer.

Charlotte d'Amboise (Choreographer - My Fair Lady) has been nominated for two Tony® Awards, won a Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Chicago and two Fred Astaire awards. Ms. d'Amboise made her Broadway debut in the musical Cats as Cassandra. Her other Broadway credits include Jerome Robbins Broadway, Song & Dance, Damn Yankees (Lola), Sweet Charity (Charity), Company (Cassie), Carrie (Chris Hargensen) and Cassie in the recent Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. She played Roxie Hart in Chicago (national tour and the Broadway revival cast). Her film credits include The In Crowd, American Blue Note, Just Off The Coast and The Preacher's Wife. Her TV credits include the Kennedy Center Honors, Law & Order, Lost in the Bermuda Triangle, Alone in the Neon Jungle, and a video performance of the Broadway musical Contact.

Richard Ruiz* (Alfred P. Doolittle) is a UCONN Alumnus, MFA, Acting Class of ‘98. Off Broadway, Richard has appeared as Antonio for The Public Theatre's Two Gentlemen of Verona The Musical. His regional credits include Monsieur Rageneau in Cyrano at the Folger Shakespeare, DC; Nicely Nicely for the Long Wharf Theatre's Guys and Dolls; Stubb for the Berkshire Theatre Festival's Moby Dick; Bergetto at the Baltimore Center Stage in ‘Tis Pity She's a Whore; Lady Enid/Nicodemus for the Intiman Theatre's The Mystery of Irma Vep; Cacambo for the Arden Theatre's Candide; Albert Einstein for Theatre Virginia's Picasso at the Lapin Agile. National Tours include: Sancho in Man of La Mancha, King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Herman in Sweet Charity, and Officer Barrel in Urinetown.

 

*Member of the Actors' Equity Association

Vincent J. Cardinal (Director, My Fair Lady) joined the Dept. of Dramatic Arts in August, 2010. Most recently he served as the Associate Dean of Performing Arts at Adelphi University, Cardinal was the Chair of Theatre at the University of Miami and the Artistic Director of the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre where his musical theatre productions garnered international attention. He served as the Director of the School of Theater and Head of the MFA Playwriting Program at Ohio University. Cardinal was the Director of off-Broadway‘s Circle Repertory Company School of Theater. He was also an Associate Artist with The Circle Repertory Company and a member of its LAB. He graduated in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama where he was honored with the ASCAP-Cole Porter Award for Best-Collected Work. His play, The Colorado Catechism, premiered at Circle Repertory Company. The Los Angeles production of the play garnered actors TimoThy Daly and Amy Van Nostrand Dramalogue Awards for Best Performances. Cardinal's play King Dusyanta: A Tale from Kalidasa premiered, under his direction, at the Oasis Theater Company. It starred Broadway legend André DeShields. Cardinal directed Eileen Gallindo's Multicultural Disorder for Next Stage -- off-Broadway showcase, Joe Fox's new play Prism View at New Dramatists and Paul Corrigan's Queens Blvd. in a commercial off-Broadway run.

 

PERFORMANCE & TICKET INFORMATION:

Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Matinee performances start at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Single ticket prices range from $10 to $39. The Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre is located on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs and offers air-conditioned comfort and convenient nearby parking (free parking for the Harriet S. Jorgensen is in Lot 9 across from the Jorgensen Center, paid parking is available in the North Garage). Please call 860.486.4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu for tickets and additional information.

CRT's Season Sponsor for the Summer series is SI Financial Advisors, the Wealth Management Division of Savings Institute Bank & Trust. Corporate sponsors are Hamilton Sundstrand and XL Color. Community Partners for the Summer Series are the Nathan Hale Inn, The Willimantic Chronicle, WHUS 91.7 FM, the Mansfield Community Center and the UConn Dairy Bar.

WHILE AT CRT, THERE'S EVEN MORE IN STORRS FOR YOU TO ENJOY!

PRE-THEATRE DINING: Enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner at the Nathan Hale Inn before the performance (matinee or evening). Reservations are required (please call 860.427.7888).

DAIRY BAR DESSERT- Top off a cool afternoon or evening of hot summer theatre with whipped cream and a cherry! The UConn Dairy bar is open before evening performances, and before and after matinees; daily hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

SUMMERTIME SATURDAY PUPPET SHOWS: The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is presenting its first-ever Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows, on Saturday afternoons through July 23. Admission is $3 for children and $5 for adults. The series features performances of original works by students from UConn's world-famous Puppet Arts Program, in an exciting variety of puppet forms: marionettes, toy theater, and handpuppets. The shows will all take place at 3:30 p.m. at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry on UConn's Depot Campus.

Saturday, July 16, 3:30 p.m. Nicole Hartigan, God Paints a Saint: a marvelous and magical toy theater evocation of 16th-century Mexico, telling the history of the first appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe-Mexico's patron saint.

Saturday, July 23, 3:30 p.m. Thomas Getchell, excerpts from The Proleptic Voice: A Visual Poem: a marionette tour-de-force of vignettes revealing themes of Faith, Hope, and Charity in the poetry of one of America's greatest poets, Emily Dickinson, inspired by her metaphor of life as a circus.

Photo by David Ciano

 

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