Leading lady is, indeed, fair
DOMINIC P. PAPATOLA, THEATER CRITIC
A loverly adaptation with an Eliza Doolittle who does much to make it worth ever dime of the ticket price.
Norah Long plays Eliza Doolittle in Chanhassen Dinner THeatres' new production of "My Fair Lady," but she isn't merely fair.
She's magnificent. Luminous. Sublime.
The actress, making her Chanhassen debut, offers what is certainly the most intelligent, engaging and well-considered take on the role I've ever seen.
Long's is a completely integrated performance, a seamless blend of sweet soprano singing and keenly comic acting. It's evident throughout the show, but never so much as in two scenes near the end of the first act.
After incessant drilling by her dour mentor, Henry Higgins, Eliza finally makes a breakthrough in transforming her gutteral Cockney accent into something more refined. Shuffled off to bed, she sings "I Could Have Danced All Night."
It's a "charm song" – jammed into the score for its pretty tune and not its ability to advance the plot. Long sings it with unfettered glee, but she also makes it a revelatory moment: By playing with words, phrasing and pronunciation, it signals Eliza's transformation from flower girl to proper lady.
Much conversion work remains, though, and that's made clear in the following scene where Eliza dips her first furtive toe into London's upper-crust society. Long shows that Eliza's rough edges and street smarts are still evident in a bravura bit of comic acting.
Long's loverly performance, airy and open but with a classical flair, is a perfect accompaniment to director Michael Brindisi's vision of the show. He has deepened and widened the stage in Chanhassen's big room as far as it can go, allowing set designer Nayna Ramey to fill it with Tuscan columns and platforms. It's an elegantly blank tableau on which individual scenes are suggested with a few representational props.
Any money saved on building a full-blown set, though, was gobbled up by Sandra Nei Schulte, whose opulent costumes make even the most minor chorine look like a princess.
Chanhassen veteran David Anthony Brinkley is as irascibly clueless as one could want in a Professor Higgins, and the way that he and Long tussle is a joy to watch. But his performance isn't quite as fully realized as that of his leading lady. He takes the Rex Harrison route to his character's songs, talk-singing his way through them. It's an unwise choice – Brinkley has the vocal chords to sing the role properly; besides, no one is going to out-Rex-Harrison Rex Harrison.
The rest of the cast runs in the range of capable to very good. Wayne Morton could use less sugar and more vinegar in playing Eliza's dad, Alfred. His two big numbers – "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time" – don't have the good-timey feel they might.
Despite fumbling a lyric on opening night, Henry Gardner brings just the right amount of stuffy jocularity to Col. Pickering. And in a small but memorable performance, Katherine Ferrand is deliciously pompous and imposing as Higgins' mother.
But Chanhassen's "My Fair Lady" is worth every dime of its ticket price to see the performance at the top of the cast list. In 1956, the show helped make a star of Julie Andrews. If this is a just world, it will do the same for Norah Long.
Theater critic Dominic P. Papatola can be reached at dpapatola@pioneer press.com or at (651) 228-2165.
[return to My Fair Lady press page]
A loverly adaptation with an Eliza Doolittle who does much to make it worth ever dime of the ticket price.
Norah Long plays Eliza Doolittle in Chanhassen Dinner THeatres' new production of "My Fair Lady," but she isn't merely fair.
She's magnificent. Luminous. Sublime.
The actress, making her Chanhassen debut, offers what is certainly the most intelligent, engaging and well-considered take on the role I've ever seen.
Long's is a completely integrated performance, a seamless blend of sweet soprano singing and keenly comic acting. It's evident throughout the show, but never so much as in two scenes near the end of the first act.
After incessant drilling by her dour mentor, Henry Higgins, Eliza finally makes a breakthrough in transforming her gutteral Cockney accent into something more refined. Shuffled off to bed, she sings "I Could Have Danced All Night."
It's a "charm song" – jammed into the score for its pretty tune and not its ability to advance the plot. Long sings it with unfettered glee, but she also makes it a revelatory moment: By playing with words, phrasing and pronunciation, it signals Eliza's transformation from flower girl to proper lady.
Much conversion work remains, though, and that's made clear in the following scene where Eliza dips her first furtive toe into London's upper-crust society. Long shows that Eliza's rough edges and street smarts are still evident in a bravura bit of comic acting.
Long's loverly performance, airy and open but with a classical flair, is a perfect accompaniment to director Michael Brindisi's vision of the show. He has deepened and widened the stage in Chanhassen's big room as far as it can go, allowing set designer Nayna Ramey to fill it with Tuscan columns and platforms. It's an elegantly blank tableau on which individual scenes are suggested with a few representational props.
Any money saved on building a full-blown set, though, was gobbled up by Sandra Nei Schulte, whose opulent costumes make even the most minor chorine look like a princess.
Chanhassen veteran David Anthony Brinkley is as irascibly clueless as one could want in a Professor Higgins, and the way that he and Long tussle is a joy to watch. But his performance isn't quite as fully realized as that of his leading lady. He takes the Rex Harrison route to his character's songs, talk-singing his way through them. It's an unwise choice – Brinkley has the vocal chords to sing the role properly; besides, no one is going to out-Rex-Harrison Rex Harrison.
The rest of the cast runs in the range of capable to very good. Wayne Morton could use less sugar and more vinegar in playing Eliza's dad, Alfred. His two big numbers – "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time" – don't have the good-timey feel they might.
Despite fumbling a lyric on opening night, Henry Gardner brings just the right amount of stuffy jocularity to Col. Pickering. And in a small but memorable performance, Katherine Ferrand is deliciously pompous and imposing as Higgins' mother.
But Chanhassen's "My Fair Lady" is worth every dime of its ticket price to see the performance at the top of the cast list. In 1956, the show helped make a star of Julie Andrews. If this is a just world, it will do the same for Norah Long.
Theater critic Dominic P. Papatola can be reached at dpapatola@pioneer press.com or at (651) 228-2165.
[return to My Fair Lady press page]