| My Fair Lady | Opera Australia |
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Reg Livermore and Taryn Fiebig star in this exuberant Broadway favourite
Opera Australia's 2008 Autumn Season concludes at the Arts Centre
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 – Julia de Plater
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
Opera Australia Chorus
Chorus Preparation – Andrew Greene
Orchestra Victoria
Concertmaster – Ellen Mentiplay and Susan Pierotti
Music Preparation – Estella Roche and 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
Mrs Pearce – Judi Connelli
Mrs Eynsford-Hill – Clarissa Foulcher
Harry – Byron Watson
Jamie – Benjamin Rasheed
Zoltan Karpathy – Nick Christo
Butler – Frank Garfield
Opera Australia presents
My Fair Lady
Lerner and Loewe
Venue: State Theatre, the Arts Centre
Dates: 7.30pm – May 16,17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Matinees: 1.00pm – May 17, 21, 24, 28, 31; 3.00pm – May 25
Duration: 2 hours and 50 minutes including one 20-minute interval
Free Opera Talk: May 17 matinee and evening; 24 evening - 45 minutes before performances
Tickets: $50-$130. A children’s price of $50 is available for matinee performances only
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166, the Arts Centre Box Office or www.opera-australia.org.au
www.myfairlady.org.au
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