By Donald H. Harrison
EL CAJON–It seemed as if the entire Pygmalion audience fell in love with actress Hannah Hedgecock as she threw herself into the part of Eliza Doolittle on Thursday night at Grossmont College’s Stagehouse Theatre.
The meaner that co-star Derek San Filippo in the role of Henry Higgins behaved toward Eliza, the more the audience rooted for her as she metamorphosed. under Higgins’ tutelage, from a common flower girl to a proper British lady.
Director Jeannette Thomas, in a pre-production interview, said that from the very first audition, Hedgecock had shown that she could master Eliza’s dual character and dual accents, and Thomas clearly was correct in that assessment. But it was not just technique that made Hedgecock’s opening night performance so memorable, it was her utter commitment to the character of Eliza. Whether she was sobbing on the street in the opening scene of the 100-year-old George Bernard Shaw play, or acting with newly learned refinement–up to one bloody point — in the drawing room of Henry’s mother (played brilliantly by Kate Hewitt), she was all Eliza, all the time.
San Filippo, making only his second appearance on the Stagehouse Theatre stage and the first in a leading role, did a very credible job as the insufferable Higgins, but he had some trouble remembering his lines, which, of course, reminded the audience that he was playing Higgins. Hedgecock, in contrast, wasn’t just playing Eliza. She was Eliza. She incorporated the role into her persona. Brava!
Strong performances were turned in by Ralph Johnson as Colonel Pickering, who bet that Higgins couldn’t pass Eliza off as a duchess, and by Adam Weiner, who played Eliza’s silver-tongued, middle-class-morals-be-damned, n’eer-do-well father, Alfred Doolittle. Compliments also go to Christina Wortman for navigating the brogue of an Irish maid while being subservient enough to Higgins to keep her job, and sufficiently disdainful of him to keep her dignity. Cody Dupree, in the role of Freddy Eynsford-Hill, had his own cheering section in the audience, but notwithstanding the enthusiastic presence of his friends and relatives, he was able to stay in character as Eliza’s love-struck, would-be suitor.
Many people know Pygmalion in its musical adaptation as My Fair Lady. There was no singing in this production, no “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”; no “With A Little Bit of Luck”; no “I Could Have Danced All Night,” no “On the Street Where You Live,” and certainly no “Get Me To the Church On Time.” And yet throughout the play the audience was engrossed–although attention lagged a little bit during the “talking heads” last act. Why was the audience so thoroughly involved? From my perspective, it was Hannah Hedgecock’s captivating performance. She made us believe that no matter how humble a person’s roots, that person has the potential to grow to the top of society’s trellis.
She also taught us the important lesson that being a lady is not a matter of how one acts. Rather it is a matter of how people act towards her. And, as Jewish philosophy teaches, all of us, rich and poor, well-spoken or not, are created in the divine image and deserve to be treated with dignity.
There are seven more performances of Pygmalion before the play will close after only a two-week run on Oct. 12. The theatre’s box office may be reached by telephoning (619) 644-7234.
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Harrison, editor of San Diego Jewish World, is serving as acting director of college and community relations at Grossmont College. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com