\u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d boasts more than its fair share of memorable music thanks to the team of composer Frederick Loewe and lyricist-book writer Alan Jay Lerner.<\/p>\n
The 1956 Broadway hit musical is based on George Bernard Shaw’s \u201cPygmalion\u201d and starred Rex Harrison as an English professor of phonetics and Julie Andrews as the Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from him in order to become a lady.<\/p>\n
Broadway By the Bay\u2019s production features Scott Solomon as the professor, Henry Higgins, and Samantha Williams as the flower girl, Eliza Doolittle.<\/p>\n
The differing success of their performances reflects the overall quality of this production, directed by Ken Savage.<\/p>\n
Williams has both the vocal and acting prowess to undertake the challenges of transforming from a hardscrabble but proud flower seller to an elegant, well-spoken woman.<\/p>\n
With her refined vocal technique, she delivers fine renditions of such songs as \u201cWouldn’t It be Loverly?\u201d \u201cThe Rain in Spain\u201d and \u201cI Could Have Danced All Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon got off to a shaky start opening night with \u201cWhy Can’t the English?\u201d and never quite commanded the stage as the domineering, inconsiderate Higgins.<\/p>\n
Supporting characters come off better, especially Praveen Ramesh as Colonel Pickering, Higgins\u2019 colleague; Kristina Hudelson as Mrs. Pearce, Higgins\u2019 housekeeper; and Karen DeHart at Mrs. Higgins, Henry\u2019s mother, who bewails his lack of manners.<\/p>\n
The vocal standout among supporting characters is Sergey Khalikulov as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who\u2019s charmed by Eliza. His \u201cOn the Street Where You Live\u201d is a show-stopper.<\/p>\n
Gary Stanford Jr. plays Eliza\u2019s drunken, opportunistic father, Alfred P. Doolittle, but he\u2019s too blustery, especially in \u201cWith a Little Bit of Luck\u201d and \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time.\u201d He’s a good dancer, though.<\/p>\n
Musical direction is by Jesse Sanchez, whose 11-member orchestra seems under-rehearsed and sometimes tinny in Jon Hayward\u2019s sound design.<\/p>\n
The set by Annie Dauber is intended to be a \u201ccrystal palace which doubles as a rigid glass cage,\u201d according to director Savage\u2019s notes. \u201cThe glass ceiling of this musical bars women and minorities from fully becoming equally respected members of British society,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Hence it seems appropriate that Eliza, traditionally played by white women, is played by Williams, a black woman.<\/p>\n
Running nearly three hours, opening night seemed slow with a low energy level. Still, the memorable music and plot show why \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d has endured over the years.<\/p>\n
It will continue through June 21 at the Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway St., Redwood City. For tickets and information, call (650) 579-5565 or visit www.broadwaybythebay.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n