My Fair Lady

Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Learner
Music by Frederick Loewe

Directed by Roger Moon

October 14-17, 20-23, 1976

   The Story  

"Adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Play and Gabriel Pascal's motion picture 'PYGMALION'" The first encounter between Professor Henry Higgins, the brilliant, crotchety, middle-aged bachelor who is England's leading phoneticist, and Eliza Doolittle, the little cockney gutter sparrow, takes place near the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, late on a cold March night. Eliza is selling violets. Higgins is out on his endless quest for new dialects of London's speech. Eliza comes to Higgins' flat to be instructed in the English language, in order to transform herself into a "lidy." Higgins' house guest Col. Pickering challenges Higgins to "metamorphose the guttersnipe into a paragon of verbal correctitude." Higgins looks upon her not as a person but as raw material for his experiment; he drills Eliza for weeks. As no hint of progress is made Eliza loses her courage, Higgins loses his temper and even Pickering's patience wears thin. At last she improves, and they all proclaim the victor in The Rain in Spain. In the flush of his first success, Higgins puts Eliza to a preliminary test. He will introduce her to his mother's snobbish guests at the Ascot Race Meeting the following week. Eliza, strikingly pretty in her new gown and hairdo, appears at the races. Instructed to restrict her conversation to the weather and everyone's health, she says her little set pieces flawlessly. The illusion is shattered when her enthusiasm for the horse she is backing impels her to indulge in a bout of violently unladylike cheering. Handsome aristocrat, Freddy Eynsford-Hill falls hopelessly in love with the new Eliza, and takes to haunting Higgin's doorstep hoping to see her. Six weeks later Higgins, in a crucial test, presents Eliza at a full-dress Embassy Ball. She is the object of admiration and everyone speculates on her identity. It becomes obvious that Eliza must charm Karpathy, a European phonetics expert. At the height of the ball, Karpathy invites her to dance and comments on the pureness of her English. Pickering and Higgins, back at the flat, indulge in self congratulation. Neither of them takes into account Eliza's personal accomplishment in the matter. Eliza has absorbed the sophistication and the courage to see the unfairness of this, and she blows up, demanding recognition. The Professor is not so much affronted as astonished; it is as though a statue had come to life and spoken. Infuriated and frustrated, Eliza storms out of the house. She encounters Freddy and turns her fury on him. Eliza aimlessly walks the streets of the town, the remainder of the night. She encounters her father, drunk and dressed for a fashionable wedding. He has become wealthy, and Eliza's mother is marrying him at last. Higgins discovers that he is hurt because Eliza left him. He meets her at his mother's flat where she has gone for advice. They argue violently and she storms out. It is only a moment after her departure that Higgins finally wakes up to the fact that Eliza has become an entirely independent and admirable human being. He realizes that he will have a difficult time getting on without her. Back at his flat he sinks into his chair prepared to face a bleak, lonely future. But just then -a moment before the final curtain falls-a figure emerges from the shadowy corner of the room, and Higgins recognizes Eliza. He leans back with a long, contented sigh and speaks softly: "Eliza? Where the devil are my slippers?"         

Produced by special arrangement with Tams-Witmark Music Library.

  The Cast   

Eliza Doolittle	Judy Gibson
Freddy Eynsford-Hill	Eugene Shields
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill	Judy Herlocker
Colonel Pickering	Kent Collinson
Henry Higgins	Norman Albright
Alfred P. Doolittle	Warrall Clift
Mrs. Pearce	Mary Harris
Mrs. Higgins	Grace Anthis
Zoltan Karpathy	Ken Brown
Higgins' Butler	Paule Soule
Mrs. Higgins' Chauffeur	Randy Miller
Cockney Chorus	Warren Andreas, Ken Brown, Dorothy Dobbs, Tom Herlocker, Les Hogue, Norma Miller, June Shields, Venita Vasey, Diane Wahto
Higgins' Servants	Jenny Herlocker, Lucy Herlocker, Marya McNeish, Kimi Potter, Theresa Thomas
English Chorus	Warren Andreas, Marge De Poe, Marry Harris, Tom Herlocker, Les Hogue, Greg Little, Jim Nichols, Kathryn Schuster, Sue Simmons, Paul Soule, Carol Tutzauer

  Production Staff   

Director	Roger Moon
Sets	Tom Bossi, Gil Gentry, Marilyn Albright, Claire Graham, Ruth Ann Yeary, Jerry Yeary, Dwight Ramsy, Don Wilson, Tom Herlocker, Wayne Cherveny, Jane Cherveny, Wayne Priest, Warren Andreas, Steve McSpadden, Marilyn Fulk, Merrill Gordon, Bill Archer
Costumes	Betty Stark, Margaret Guillory, Veda Rogers, Peggy Kindt, Mary Lou Chapman, Rhodna Sparks, Marian Kinkaid, Judy Herlocker, Kathryn Schuster, Susan Hill, Montra Bergdall, Monica Pullman, Milton Spengler, Karen Irwin, Magleen Patterson, Ethek Spengler, Ruth Ann Yeary, Jan Calvin, Marilyn McNeish, Evelyn Potter, Mary Harris, Debi Miller, Norma Bossi, Louise Albright, Judy Gentry.
Lighting	Ned Graham, Claire Graham, Marilyn Albright, Brian Biggs
Properties	Gennie Thomas, Patty Gordon, Jody, Streck, Diane Detter, Jenny Auber, Betty WIlson, Marilyn Albright, Jane Cherveny, Frances Platt, Nancy Priest, Vida Brown.
Makeup	Edie Ele, Jane Lamb
Publicity	Hall Reed, Jenny Herlocker, Marya McNeish, Janice Simmons, Sharon Mossman, Emily Ohm, Kirk Brown

  Musicians   

Violin	Susan Johns, John Paulin, Karen Hamm, Mrs. Dan Nutter, Margaret Nutter, Nancy Swope, R.B. While
Viola	Ross Williams, Mrs. Wayne Green
Cello	Don Gibson, Ann Cook, Janice Burgess
Bass	Winston McKeon
Flute	Margaret Rogers
Clarinet	J.J. Banks, Robbie Banks
Oboe	George McNeish
Percussion	Claire Casselman
Piano and Rehearsal Accompanist	Merlene Waltner