| My Fair Lady | Opera Australia |
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Reg Livermore and Taryn Fiebig star in this exuberant Broadway favourite
Opera Australia's 2008 Winter Season opens at the Sydney Opera House on
21 June 2008 with Lerner and Loewe's smash hit musical, My Fair Lady,
directed by Opera Australia’s executive producer Stuart Maunder. It
stars two of Australia's all-time stage greats, Reg Livermore AO as
Professor Henry Higgins, Nancye Hayes OAM as Mrs Higgins and gorgeous
young soprano Taryn Fiebig as Eliza Doolittle.
Reg Livermore is a legend of the music theatre stage. He began putting
on his own shows at the age of 13 and was rocketed to stardom when he
appeared in Hair in 1969. He is a regular on stage, screen and
television and, of course, in countless musicals including The Rocky
Horror Show and The Producers and with Opera Australia, The Gondoliers,
The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe.
Nancye Hayes' stage career began as a dancer in the original J C
Williamson production of My Fair Lady in 1960. From there she went on
to become a leading lady in shows including Sweet Charity, Funny Girl
and her own show, Nancye with an E. She now comes full circle to play
Mrs Higgins, mother to Reg Livermore's Henry Higgins.
Taryn Fiebig began her vocal studies in 1993 and focused initially on
early music: she studied with Emma Kirkby and Jane Manning in the UK
and made her Sydney debut with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. In
2005 she joined the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program and has
since expanded her repertoire to roles ranging from Mozart to Gilbert
and Sullivan to Janácek. She now takes on one of the most prized roles
in music theatre.
Rhys McConnochie as Colonel Pickering, Robert Grubb as Alfred P
Doolittle, Adele Johnston as Mrs Pearce and Matthew Robinson as Freddy
Eynsford-Hill complete this outstanding cast.
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical is an adaptation of
George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which is, in turn, a reference to
the Greek myth told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Pygmalion is the sculptor
who falls in love with a woman he has carved out of ivory. The statue
comes to life and they fall in love.
In George Bernard Shaw's comedy of manners the story is far more about
the process of transformation than the romantic denouement. It all
begins with a bet, when Colonel Pickering challenges Henry Higgins,
professor of linguistics and confirmed misogynist, to take a Cockney
street seller and turn her into a lady.
The show was always destined to be a smash hit. It features a glorious
succession of show-stopping numbers from ‘I could have danced all
night’ to ‘Get me to the Church on time’ to ‘Wouldn't it be loverly’ to
‘There's something about her’. The original score was written for Julie
Andrews and Rex Harrison, and after a record-breaking run on Broadway
it was adapted for film, starring Audrey Hepburn.
Director Stuart Maunder works once more with the award-winning design
team of Roger Kirk and Richard Roberts. He is looking forward to a
musically and visually spectacular production, saying: "From Ascot to
the Royal Opera House, to the Pearly Kings and Queens to a grand ball
there are so many opportunities for wonderful frocks!"
Conductor – Andrew Greene
Director – Stuart Maunder
Set designer – Richard Roberts
Costume Designer – Roger Kirk
Lighting Designer – Trudy Dalgleish
Choreographer & Assistant Director – Elizabeth Hill
Sound Designer – John O’Donnell
Chorus Preparation – Andrew Greene
Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra
Music Preparation – Phoebe Briggs & Stephen Walter
Henry Higgins – Reg Livermore
Eliza Doolittle – Taryn Fiebig
Alfred P Doolittle – Robert Grubb
Freddy Eynsford-Hill – Matthew Robinson
Colonel Pickering – Rhys McConnochie
Mrs Higgins – Nancye Hayes (except 15 & 19/7)
Adele Johnston (15 & 19/7)
Mrs Pearce – Adele Johnston (except 15 & 19/7)
– Hester van der Vyver (15 & 19/7)
Mrs Eynsford-Hill – Clarissa Foulcher
Harry – Byron Watson
Jamie – Benjamin Rasheed
Zoltan Karpathy – Nick Christo
Butler – Frank Garfield
Mrs Hopkins – Hester van der Vyver
Opera Australia presents
My Fair Lady
Lerner and Loewe
Venue: Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Dates: 7.30pm – June 21, 25, 28; July 2, 4, 9, 15, 19, 24, 26; August 1 & 4
Matinees: 1.00pm – June 28; July 12
Duration: 2 hours and 50 minutes including one 20-minute interval
Free Opera Talks: July 12, 19; August 1, 4 - 45 minutes before performances
Tickets: $55 - $156. A children’s price of $50 is available for matinee performances only
Bookings: Opera Australia Ticket Services (02) 9318 8200
Sydney Opera House (02) 9250 7777
www.opera-australia.org.au
www.myfairlady.org.au
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