Production of ‘My Fair Lady’ loverly Sound-quality glitch fails to spoil play

You’ve got to love Broadway staple “My Fair Lady,” and patrons at the university’s Maine Center for the Arts in Orono certainly did Friday evening.

The audience rose to its feet as Henry Higgins and his protege Eliza Doolittle, put their heads together at the end of the evening, possibly a start to living happily ever after.

Or not.

The familiar story based on “Pygmalion” was there, the music of Lerner and Loewe still enchanting, the acting fine in the Troika Entertainment LLC production directed by Dallett Norris.

But 45 years after “My Fair Lady” debuted on Broadway, heightened sensibilities make it clear that linguistics professor Higgins was more than a curmudgeon. He was judgmental to the point of being mean, and it’s questionable that love would ever have reformed him.

Tom Henry was certainly energetic and in strong voice as Higgins, who took on the posture of a vulture as he leaned over the Cockney flower girl, imploring her to become his pupil.

“If you refuse this offer, you will be a most ungrateful girl and the angels will weep for you,” he rumbled. Later, having passed off Eliza as a lady at the grand ball, Higgins accepted congratulations from his friends, while the overlooked Eliza stood forlornly to one side.

The romantic in Higgins came out at play’s end in “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” but it’s hard telling whether he’d really learned anything by that time.

Eliza might have done better with Freddy Eynsford-Hill, the young man who was immediately charmed by her and chose to hang out “On the Street Where You Live.” Adam MacDonald’s sweet tenor made listeners wish they’d seen and heard more of Freddy.

Fred Armstrong was a worthy Col. Pickering, financier of Higgins’ projects, and Gordon Gray seemed born for the part of Eliza’s ne’er do well father, the thirsty Alfred P. Doolittle.

“I’m one of the undeserving poor,” he gloated, sitting back on the sofa in Higgins’ flat. “I mean to go on being undeserving. I like it, and that’s that.”

As Eliza, Lauren Kling had everything the role called for, from a clear voice to the ability to convey the flower girl’s inner resources. If only the sound technician had juiced up the volume on her microphone a little more. Especially in the first part of scene 1, the sound was uneven, dampening the impact of opening speeches of the actors, and of the classic “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”

But Gray and Ethan Krasnoo and John Saunders, playing Jamie and Harry, revved things up “With a Little Bit of Luck.”

Kling was convincing as the young woman who couldn’t get her vowels just right, scrunching up corners of her skirt in her fists as she struggled with each syllable of “The Rain in Spain.”

Kling’s singing was great fun, and she was equally outstanding while putting Higgins in his place: “The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated,” she explained.

The dancing, too, was noteworthy by the entire ensemble, and the costumes deserve praise, as well.

At Ascot, the pearl grays, blacks and whites of the clothing were too beautiful for words. The beaded gown and red velvet cloak Eliza donned for the ball were exquisite. The one clothing misstep was the peach-toned outfit Eliza wore after leaving Higgins’ abode.

The music for the production was extremely well-done, with Todd Barnhart an accomplished flutist and musical director Richard Coombes doing a nice bit of ragtime on keyboards.

Overall, the evening was oh, so loverly.