AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) - This past Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 6 and 7, the Gogue Performing Arts Center brought the early 1900s to the 21st century as the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady, took the stage. Directed by Moss Hart, My Fair Lady traveled to Auburn to present the tale of a linguistics professor who is determined to transform a young Cockney flower seller into a “proper lady.”
My Fair Lady is based on the 1938 film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play called Pygmalion. My Fair Lady premiered on March 15, 1956, on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City. The duration of this play is 2 hours and 55 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. Since then, the production has had over 2,717 performances and continues to be on its worldwide musical quest.
The plot centers around Henry Higgins, played by Jonathan Grunert, and Eliza Doolittle played by Anette Barrios-Torres, as they navigate their relationship or “business bet.” This play is a modern version of the original play as it features a more diverse cast and eliminates some old-fashioned ideals. According to Morgan Mackenzie, an Auburn student who watched the play, it was “refreshing” to see a play that broke down the stigma around women in the 1900s.
The play opened with the song Why Can’t the English?, as Higgins mocks Doolitle’s English dialect. According to Mackenzie, Higgins was the most complex character and was revealed to the audience as an “extremely flawed man.” His goal was to transform Eliza Doolittle’s voice and persona but was met with challenges within himself.
The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center will continue their Broadway series as they will be showing a Harper Lee original, To Kill a Mockingbird, on stage next week on February 13 and 14.
