BWW Reviews: MY FAIR LADY at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse

Nicole Begue Hackman is so perfectly cast as Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Loewe classic My Fair Lady at Cumberland County Playhouse that all those other characters that people the musical may seem superfluous, despite the splendid performances of the rest of the cast. Oh, certainly, their characters aren't really extraneous, but Hackman's portrayal of the Cockney flower girl is so spot-on, so multi-dimensional and delightful - and she sings the role so exquisitely - that you may just find yourself aching to attend the races at Ascot or to hear your favorite opera Aida at Covent Garden when you are transported by onstage magic to 1912 England.

Director John Fionte and his creative team have crafted a wonderfully buoyant, positively magical revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1956 musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (here's some trivia for you: Rodgers and Hammerstein had taken a stab at musicalizing Pygmalion and eventually gave up the project). The plot of the musical eschews some pertinent - I daresay essential - musical comedy dictates: the central story and its major characters are not in love; in fact, you might think they can't abide each other given their sparring relationship. Yet, the dynamic created by the characters' initial disdain - and their subsequent, however begrudging, respect - for one another, coupled with the lyrical score composed by Loewe, with book and lyrics supplied by Lerner, guaranteed the show's place in the pantheon of musical theater classics.

Fionte and music director Ron Murphy - along with choreographers Michele Colvin, Elliott Cunningham and Leila Nelson - have approached the work with a zealous energy and a very real sense of joie de vivre that underscores the play's action with a harmonious spirit and, quite honestly, a lot of fun. Featuring set designs "adapted" by Fionte and Jim Crabtree, The Playhouse producing artistic director, with gorgeous costumes by Renee G. Luttrell and Rebel Mickelson and creative lighting design by Michael Barnett, My Fair Lady is given a strong visual aesthetic which lends a certain amount of gravitas to the proceedings.

As with most other Playhouse musicals, it is a focused presentation that is sure to delight audiences of all ages, while featuring some of the region's most talented performers onstage. Given the estimable musical support of Murphy's eight-member orchestra, the cast performs the show's memorable score beautifully.

CCP's revival of My Fair Lady, which is faithful to the legacy of the musical, doesn't necessarily tread any new ground or establish any new idioms for exploring the relationship between Eliza Doolittle and London phoneticist Henry Higgins (played with aplomb and a certain starchy-British-upper-class charm by Playhouse favorite Jason Ross), but neither is it a slavish revival. Higgins attempts to win a bet with his linguist pal Colonel Pickering (Bill Frey is terrific in the role) that he can transform Eliza into a genuine lady. Certainly, Henry Higgins remains as self-absorbed and misogynistic as ever (making his eventual acceptance of his total adoration of Eliza all the more significant), but you can't help but be drawn to him, just as Eliza is, due to Ross' impish grace and surefooted confidence. Ross' second act "Hymn to Him" is wonderfully droll and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," which often seems incongruous, is sweetly romantic.

Confident and lovely, Hackman's thoroughly enchanting and totally focused performance ensures the audience's complete investment in her character's gradual transformation from unkempt, gangly and unladylike street urchin into the smooth and sophisticated doppelganger of a woman of the most upper crust of British society. Her performance of a showtune chestnut like "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" (performed with the Cockney quartet comprised of Daniel W. Black, Michael Ruff, Elliott Cunningham and Greg Pendzick) is appealingly fresh, while her "Just You Wait" and "Show Me" exemplify the spirited give-and-take between Eliza and Higgins, and the emotional and dramatic arc of her character.

Nicole Begue Hackman's handsome, real-life husband Nathaniel Hackman is cast as Eliza's well-heeled suitor Freddy Eynsford-Hill, and his performance of "On the Street Where You Live" is, without doubt, the show's musical highlight. Hackman has a gorgeous voice and his complete and utter control - and winning ways in his pursuit of Eliza - make Freddy all the more vital to the play's overall success.

As Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's ne'er-do-well father, Dennis Donald is a certain scene-stealer, commanding the stage with his renditions of "With A Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church On Time."

Among the show's ensemble numbers, the most successful are "I Could Have Danced All Night," featuring Hackman, Carol Ervin (delightful as Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce), Lauren Marshall, Weslie Webster and Lindy Pendzick; and "The Ascot Gavotte," the wonderfully nuanced take on upper class manners and fashion in the Cecil Beaton vogue, which features the entire cast (including Patty Payne, who plays Mrs. Higgins with a biting wit and genteel carriage).

• n My Fair Lady. Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Music by Frederick Loewe. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. Directed by John Fionte. Music direction by Ron Murphy. Choreography by Michele Colvin, Elliott Cunningham and Leila Nelson. Presented by Cumberland County Playhouse, Crossville. Through June 9. For reservations, call (931) 484-5000. For further details about the show and the remainder of the season, visit the company website at www.ccplayhouse.com.

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