Friends of the Arts to offer Broadway hit My Fair Lady

In less than a week the Friends of the Arts will be bringing one of Broadway’s grandest and most successful productions, My Fair Lady, to the local stage.

In this bittersweet tale taken from George Bernard Shaw’s classic play, Pygmalion, Henry Higgins, an egocentric linguist, attempts to make his version of the perfect woman out of the enchanting Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle. After making a bet with a friend, the well-educated professor Higgins takes in, from off the streets of London, the lowly, uneducated Eliza and trains her in the ways of proper speech and high society etiquette to attempt to pass her off as a high society lady. Little in life ever works as planned and Eliza remains very much her own self and rebels against her creator.

This story has captivated and warmed the hearts of generations of audiences since its Broadway musical production beginning in 1956 and then all over again in 1964, when it was made into an instant classic film that won eight out of its 12 Academy Award nominations.

With music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, come and enjoy the Friends of the Arts’ own production of what has been called “the perfect musical.” This local theater performance of My Fair Lady, as in previous Friends of the Arts productions, highlights the wealth of talent that exists on Saipan.

Kerry Uhl plays the fair maiden Eliza Doolittle. Professor Henry Higgins is portrayed with skill and polish by Rich Hamilton. Higgins is joined in his experiment by Colonel Pickering, characterized as a gentlemanly regular chap by Frank Gibson. In his comic debut, Rev. Dave Bucher plays Eliza’s self-professed “undeserving” father. Paul Dujua shares his musical gifts as the infatuated Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

The production team consists of Marilou Connor as the executive producer, Susan Fishman-Tudor as the director, Paul Dujua as the musical director, Will DeWitt as the orchestra conductor and Harold Easton as the technical director.

Come and enjoy an entrancing night at the theater on April 30 and May 1 and 2 with night performances, starting at 7pm, and a Sunday, May 3 matinee starting at 3pm. All performances will be held at the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe. Tickets will be $8 for all students, $12 for Friends of the Arts adult members and $15 for non-member adults.

This production is sponsored in part by a grant from the Humanities Council. The Friends of the Arts is a non-profit community organization with a mission to promote and provide opportunities for the Northern Marianas Islands community to experience, participate in, and enjoy the arts. Contact Susan Fishman-Tudor, President) at 233-2225 (e-mail: msmrizus@yahoo.com) or Frank Gibson, membership chair, at 287-7476 (e-mail: flgibson@yahoo.com) for tickets. Tickets can also be purchased at the door. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]