Big time, classic Broadway is back in Cleveland at Playhouse Square. Yay!
Although My Fair Lady is over 60 years old, she is not showing her age. Director Bartlett Sher has kept the glamour and modernized the emphasis without changing a word in Playhouse Square’s latest touring show. Yes, Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music) still create theater magic.
Now at the State Theatre, this gorgeous My Fair Lady is based on the Lincoln Center Theater’s much-lauded 2018 production of the original 1956 Broadway classic (which [in turn] was based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Gabriel Pascal’s film).
The plot? Eliza Doolittle (lovely Shereen Ahmed), a lower-class girl peddling flowers outside Covent Garden, overhears two wealthy gentlemen deploring her speech. One, whom we later learn is Professor Henry Higgins (a reserved Laird Mackintosh), bets the other, his new acquaintance, Colonel Pickering (a convivial Kevin Pariseau), that in only six months he could improve her English (both accent and expression) enough so that she could pass as an upper-class lady. Eliza approaches, challenges him to do so, and the game is on.
It is hard not to see Shaw, himself a theater critic, in the persona of the fussy, pedantic bachelor Higgins. Mackintosh’s reserve and strait-laced approach successfully conveys why Higgins is still a bachelor. Now Pariseau’s Pickering is another matter, but despite his social nature, it is clear he is not marriage material either.
The women stick together in their reserve concerning Higgins and Pickering’s “improvement project.” Henry’s mother, Mrs. Higgins (the elegant Leslie Alexander), and Henry’s housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce (the crisp and practical Gayton Scott), show Eliza they understand her plight and help her learn to pivot around the male ego.
Speaking of ego: Eliza’s father, a member of the “proudly unworthy poor,” Alfred P. Doolittle (the comic Martin Fisher), makes it clear why married life might be the last thing Eliza would ever seek. His “Get Me to the Church on Time” makes fine mockery of marriage as an institution.
And anyway, as far as Eliza can tell, the young man who is smitten with her, Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Sam Simahk), seems to be quite the loser (sorry, Freddy). The authority Eliza must fool, Professor Zoltan Karpathy (the comic Lee Zarrett), adds a light note but is no match for Miss Doolittle.
All the familiar tunes, some funny (as in the above-noted “Get Me to the Church on Time”), but most romantic, are artfully presented by the talented cast. “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “The Rain in Spain,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” — all songs that make the show beloved — are ably supported by a small pit orchestra conducted by Luke Flood.
Dramatic costumes by Catherine Zuber, beautiful sets by Michael Yeargan, and expressive choreography by Christopher Gattelli all mesh to carry the story from the streets of London to drawing rooms and to elegant ballrooms — not to mention London’s back alleys and lampposts. The fine ensemble switches from nimble servants to upper-class snobs at the drop of a sneer. All dance, sing, and act (as needed) with talented exuberance.
Bottom Line: Absolutely terrific, first-class presentation of one of the best musicals ever.
Caution: If you are expecting a rom-com, you are bound to be disappointed, especially in this subtly modernized version. Ahmed’s Eliza is brilliant, hard-working, and — when the role demands it — gorgeous and charming, but there are no romantic vibes between her and her instructor. It does not matter, it is a wonderful show and if you go home and think Higgins and Eliza are made for each other? Well, anything is possible in fantasy land.