"MY FAIR LADY" DELIGHTS IN WATERBURY AT THE PALACE

When you seek theatrical perfection, look no further than the romantic musical classic “My Fair Lady.” For more than six decades, the story of a poor, dirty faced and uneducated Cockney flower girl, eking out a living selling bunches of violets for a tuppence in Covent Gardens, has charmed the world. This particular girl, one Eliza Doolittle, is ready to spread her magic once again when the Waterbury’s gilded Palace Theater brings the wonderful musical "My Fair Lady" to the stage for three days only, Tuesday to Thursday, January 24-26, at 7:30 p.m.. This is the acclaimed production from Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady" and is the winner of 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, 5 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical Revival and 3 Drama League Awards including Best Musical Revival. The production premiered in the spring of 2018 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. Come make the acquaintance of as delightful a Eliza Doolittle as you could hope to meet, with just the right amount of skepticism and wonder as you might expect when, suddenly, she is plucked from the gutter by an arrogant and aggressive Professor Henry Higgins and informed that he has the powers to make her a princess, or duchess, or any number of a member of royalty as he so chooses. The professor in question, a master of languages and at the top of his field, has been challenged by his good friend and colleague Colonel Pickering to take this "squashed cabbage leaf," this "guttersnipe," and pass her off as a sophisticated lady of privilege. As the masterful professor, Higgins is clearly up to the daunting task. How Henry accomplishes this feat, which he takes full credit for, discounting all the work and effort by one Miss Doolittle herself, is a pure pleasure to watch. When Eliza's old dad comes by to save her soul, or at least get paid for her loss of reputation, the goose feathers fly. The wonderful Lerner and Loewe tunes are stuffed in that fat pillow and soar through the air, like "I Could Have Danced All Night," "Get Me to the Church on Time," "On the Street Where You Live" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." For all her efforts, Eliza only has the support of two females, the professor's mother who knows all too well what a bully her son is and the professor's housekeeper, Mrs. Pierce who sees his impervious ways on a daily basis. Eliza also earns the adoration of her suitor Freddie. For her part, Eliza is swept up in the monumental task of transforming herself from head to toe, inside and out, and she does a magnificent job of the business at hand. Samantha Saltzman directs this tour cast, fit for the whole family to enjoy, with energetic choreography by Jim Cooney, lovely sets by Michael Yeargan and lush costumes by Catherine Zuber. For tickets ($45-85), call the Palace theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203=346-2000 and online to www.palacetheaterct.org. You can reserve a four course dinner for $73 at the Poli Club at 5:30 p.m. before the show. Special events such as 2nd Act, Jazz Series, table readings, I Wrote That! and Coffeehouse Series are also available to enjoy in the Poli Club. Cheer on Miss Eliza Doolittle as she trades in her bunches of flowers for a tiara and title, all thanks to a bet that the conceited Professor Henry Higgins can't resist making and winning.