Sean Mitchell stars as Henry Higgins and Natalie Moe as Elia Doolittle in the upcoming production of My Fair Lady, which runs from May 9 to June 1. Photo by Laura Campbell.
Centerstage is proud to present what is unarguably one of the greatest examples of American Musical Theatre: My Fair Lady.
There's a saying in Broadway circles that on average it takes eight years from the moment a playwright puts down his pen, to his play's opening night on the Great White Way. My Fair Lady took even longer than that.
In the mid-1930s, film producer Gabriel Pascal acquired the rights to produce a film version of Shaw's Pygmalion.
He asked Alan Jay Lerner to write the musical adaptation.
Lerner agreed. He and his partner Frederick Loewe began work, but soon realized the play violated several key rules for constructing a musical: the main story was not a love story, there was no subplot and there was no place for an ensemble.
Oscar Hammerstein told Lerner that converting the play to a musical was impossible, so he and Loewe abandoned the project for two years.
During this time, the collaborators separated, Gabriel Pascal died, and the American musical theatre changed. Lerner had been trying to musicalize Lil' Abner when he read Pascal's obituary and found himself thinking about Pygmalion again.
When he and Loewe reunited, everything fell into place.
However, Chase Manhattan Bank was in charge of Pascal's estate, and the musical rights to Pygmalion were sought both by Lerner and Loewe and by MGM, whose executives called Lerner to discourage him from challenging the studio.
Loewe famously said to him, "We will write the show without the rights, and when the time comes for them to decide who is to get them, we will be so far ahead of everyone else that they will be forced to give them to us."
The bank, in the end, granted them the musical rights.
So, in 1956, twenty years after it was conceived, My Fair Lady opened on Broadway to become one of the most-beloved of all musicals.
Centerstage's production will be directed by noted Seattle actor, John Farrage, designed by Craig Wollam and choreographed by Kerry Christianson.
Musical Direction by Karen Knoller. In the prized roles of Higgins and Eliza Doolittle are Sean Mitchell and Natalie Moe.
The production also features Eric Hartley, Rosalie Hilburn, Ryan Hilders and Anthony Tribolini.
My Fair Lady runs for 16 performances from May 9th through June 1st.
Tickets are available at www.centerstagetheatre.com or at (253) 661-1444.
