{"id":43785,"date":"2018-06-22T17:54:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T23:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=43785"},"modified":"2018-06-24T06:26:03","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T12:26:03","slug":"slts-my-fair-lady-produces-new-leading-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/slts-my-fair-lady-produces-new-leading-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"SLT&#8217;s &#8216;My Fair Lady&#8217; produces new leading lady"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (&#8220;<em>Steppin&#8217; Out<\/em>&#8220;)<\/p>\n<p>With both Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe&#8217;s Jewish backgrounds, there is always more than casual interest in seeing any of their shows on Broadway, as is the case with the current production at Lincoln Center of &#8220;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>.&#8221; However, for those of you keen on staying closer to home, rest assured that the latest production of the very same musical now playing at Tulane University as part of&nbsp; Summer Lyric at Tulane&#8217;s season, will deliver a true reflection of the original cast.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43794\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43794\" class=\"wp-image-43794 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43794\" class=\"wp-image-43794 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2522-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-43794\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jackie Vanderbeck stars as Eliza Doolittle in SLT&#8217;s production of &#8220;My Fair Lady&#8221; by Lerner and Loewe. (Photo by Michael Palumbo Photography)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The latest Broadway production got special permission from the estates of the two creators to alter the portrayal of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl who is transformed into a proper British lady, with new emphasis intended to embolden her character and make her more sympathetic to the #metoo generation.<\/p>\n<p>This production at Tulane neither tries to update or alter the original work that first opened in 1956 on Broadway and later played in London, both times starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle, Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins and Stanley Holloway as Alfred Doolittle, Eliza&#8217;s father.<\/p>\n<p>Directed by Michael McKelvey, this production stars a newcomer, Jackie Vanderbeck,&nbsp; in the pivotal role of Eliza. Having never performed in New Orleans, there were questions about her abilities to carry off this large and heavy part. One needs not only to be a fine singer and able to hit some rather extraordinarily high notes, but the very nature of the role requires a transformation into a woman of extreme beauty and whose countenance captures all who survey her.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Any doubts as to her abilities are soon dispelled with the very first song she sings &#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t It Be Loverly?&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43795\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43795\" class=\"wp-image-43795 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43795\" class=\"wp-image-43795 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2423-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-43795\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eliza Doolittle (Jackie Vanderbeck) and Professor Henry Higgins (Christopher Carey) square off. (Photo by Michael Palumbo Photography)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In addition to a lovely voice, she has the bold and brassy moves needed to keep up with Professor Henry Higgins, played by Christopher Carey, the dashing leading man of so many previous Summer Lyric performances. While he did stumble a bit on his lines, he always corrected and his singing is considerably better than originator of the role, Rex Harrison, who employed a<em> songspiel<\/em> approach to the role.<\/p>\n<p>The tension between the irrepressible Eliza and the intransigent Professor Higgins can be cut with a knife. In her quest to better her station in life, Eliza finds that she frees herself from the chains of poverty only to be circumscribed by society\u2019s expectations of her. &#8220;What&#8217;s to become of me?&#8221; she questions late in Act Two.<\/p>\n<p>Stealing the show is the remarkable Bob Edes, Jr. in his rendition of Alfred Doolittle. The older Doolittle&#8217;s philosophy of life is best reflected in \u201cWith a Little Bit of Luck,&#8221; in which he proudly confesses to sponging off his child, shirking productive work and drinking to excess. This is also a great opportunity to show off some of Diane Lala&#8217;s brilliant choreography in that number and the rousing \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time&#8221; in Act Two.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43796\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43796\" class=\"wp-image-43796 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43796\" class=\"wp-image-43796 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2391-1024x681.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-43796\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alfred Doolittle (Bob Edes, Jr.), center, with support by Preston Meche, left, and Adam Seagrave. (Photo by Michael Palumbo Photography)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Comic performances turned in by Sean Patterson as Higgins&#8217; fellow phoneticist, Colonel Pickering, and Keith Claverie for his&nbsp; featured role as Zoltan Karpathy, a cagey phoneticist on the prowl to investigate Eliza, are both superb<strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Featured at the end of Act One with \u2018On the Street Where You Live,\u201d tenor John Michael Haas reprises that song once more in Act Two. Haas once again thrills us with his golden tenor voice and his charming stage presence this time as Freddy Einsford-Hill. Last seen in JPAS&#8217;s &#8220;West Side Story&#8221; and &#8220;The Huncback of Notre Dame,&#8221; Haas returns to the Summer Lyric stage, where he played Tony and Candide in the &#8220;Bernstein at 100!&#8221; presentation earlier this month.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_43793\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43793\" class=\"wp-image-43793 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-144x144.jpg 144w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43793\" class=\"wp-image-43793 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC2546-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-43793\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Michael Haas as Freddy Einsford-Hill. (Photo by Michael Palumbo Photography)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are many reasons why this Lerner and Loewe&nbsp; musical is among their most beloved and McKelvey handles the direction with aplomb. Another reason this show rises so high is the fantastic conducting by musical director C. Leonard Raybon and his outstanding musical ensemble.<\/p>\n<p>Costumes are wonderfully executed by Glenn Avery Breed with excellent lighting design by Daniel Zimmer and great sound design by Theo Fogleman.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;<strong>My Fair Lady<\/strong>&#8221; continues at Dixon Hall tonight and Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"SLT%27s%20%27My%20Fair%20Lady%27%20produces%20new%20leading%20lady\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7369,7370,5476,9453,7371,9452,8790,8795,9450,8788,3163,9451,5310],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43785"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43808,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43785\/revisions\/43808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}