CenterPoint Legacy Theatre’s My Fair Lady in Centerville is a Smashing, Positively Dashing Spectacle!

By Bailey Loveless

Virtually flawless and absolutely lovely, CenterPoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville presents an astounding production of My Fair Lady, the classic musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, My Fair Lady is the story of Eliza Doolittle’s (Sarah Jane Watts) transformation from a lowbrow cockney flower girl to a proper English lady. One day, when Eliza is selling her flowers in the street outside Covent Garden, phonetics expert Professor Henry Higgins (Andrew Heyward) is astounded by her rough speech and pronunciation. Higgins boasts to Eliza and his new friend Colonel Pickering (Kevin Burtenshaw) that in six month’s time he could train Eliza to speak and behave like a duchess. Eliza seeks Higgins out the next day in want of elocution lessons. With some prodding from Colonel Pickering, Higgins concedes to make good on his word and spend the next six months teaching Eliza how to speak and behave like a lady.

It’s no small feat to step into the shoes of Eliza Doolittle, one of the most coveted female roles in all of musical theatre, originated onstage by Julie Andrews and immortalized by Audrey Hepburn in the film adaptation. But Watts is a capable actress and a breath of fresh air as Eliza. Watts is charismatic, believable, and likeable from the moment she steps onstage. Her interpretation of Eliza is joyful, sensitive, and gentle with moments of abandonment and spontaneity that shine through in numbers like “I Could Have Danced All Night.” She also does an amazing job of shifting through the different dialects and speech patterns used during Eliza’s metamorphosis, an impressive feat in and of itself. It’s easy to forget that you are watching actors when Watts is onstage.

Heyward’s portrayal of Higgins is equally as skilled and life-like. Heyward employs great nuance and subtlety in order to portray a dynamic range of emotions underneath Higgins’s arrogant, self-absorbed, and combative exterior. He commands the stage with his character work, use of subtext, and commitment to each emotion. Not only is his comedic timing perfect during Higgin’s plentiful snarky moments, but he does not shy away from the glimpses of vulnerability, creating a fully realized character. I also appreciated that, while playing the phonetics professor, Heyward has the best diction, hands down.

Also in need of special mention is Christian Lackman as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Hazel Rowe as Mrs. Higgins, and Chuck Gilmore as Alfred P. Doolittle. Lackman’s rendition of the “On the Streets Where You Live” is the vocal performance of the evening. Rowe’s portrayal of Higgins’s mother is dignified and saucy, leaving the whole audience laughing and cheering. Rounding out the cast as Eliza’s father, Gilmore is a charismatic and hilarious rogue. The whole cast should be proud of their achievements. It has been a while since I have seen a cast with their level of professionalism and cohesion.

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I also appreciated the quick and seamless set changes performed by the cast and crew. The sets designed by Ricky Parkinson include some truly massive and impressive pieces with the crown jewel being Professor Higgins’s study. The study is an intricate two level piece with a spiral staircase that is perfectly decorated to capture the inner landscape of the character who lives there.

Another aspect of the production that I enjoyed was that it did not shy away from the script’s more serious undertones. While it never became heavy-handed, under the direction of Maurie Tarbox, this production asks questions about classism and explores the complexities of interpersonal and social relationships. I found myself asking whether the actions and behaviors of the characters were moral, justified, or understandable, and wondering what my answers say about me. In my opinion, when you can get an audience member to question themselves along with the characters, especially in a show full of romantic comedy tropes like My Fair Lady, you have hit the jackpot.

The runtime of My Fair Lady including intermission is about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The realistic and impressive acting combined with the effective technical achievements make it a spectacle not to be missed. CenterPoint’s production promises to be an entertaining, immersive, and thought-provoking evening. This is theatre at its finest.

CenterPoint Legacy Theatre presents My Fair Lady, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe
Barlow Main Stage, 525 N 400 W, Centerville, UT 84014
Contact: 801-298-1302
June 12-July 13, 2019, 7:30 PM
Tickets: $17.75-$28.25
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