By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — My son and I went to the opening night of My Fair Lady at the Civic Theatre. Full disclosure, we were comped tickets by the theatre’s press office in order to review the show, though I actually was planning to buy tickets anyway.
It’s been many years since I’ve seen the play or the movie, so though some of it was still in my memory, for the most part I was able to watch it with fresh eyes. If you haven’t seen the show, it’s based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and is the story of a professor (Henry Higgens, played by Laird Mackintosh) who takes in a young woman who sells flowers in the street, (Eliza Doolittle, played by Shereen Ahmed) and makes a bet with his friend (Col Pickering, played by Kevin Pariseau), that he can turn her from a gutter rat into a duchess by teaching her to speak proper English instead of Cockney.
As this is a review for San Diego Jewish World, we are trained to look for the Jewish angle. We got it in the first song, when Henry is singing about the way people learn to speak and sings “The Hebrews Do It Backwards.” So, that out of the way, we settled in to enjoy the rest of the show.
My son (who prefers to remain nameless and off the grid), was really taken with the sets. He commented on the way they changed the lighting to make it look like the sky at various times of the day. The blue tones going into darker pinks and purples really set the tone. The stage itself was cleverly constructed with the main set being a house on a giant lazy Susan that would turn to reveal different rooms. At other times a screen would cover the house set, and other sets would be lowered down from the ceiling or pushed out onto the stage.
My dad was wondering how they would do the racehorse scene, which in the movie was filmed outside at a racetrack. It was actually pretty smart how they did it. They had a simple backdrop and then the cast moved their head as if they were watching the horses, and the sound of hooves played from the back of the theatre. It was a clever way to induce the feeling of being at the track without having to mess with giant horse props.
I thought that Shereen Ahmed did a great job as Eliza, and her vocal range to hit the high notes was quite impressive. My son really liked Mackintosh’s Higgens portrayal and found him to be an exceptional actor.
We also ran into some friends while we were there. My son saw his best friend’s mom, and I saw a Facebook friend of mine. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show very much.
It’s a pretty short run, only playing through Dec. 5, so if you’re thinking about going, and I recommend that you do, you should get to it.
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When she’s not covering stories for San Diego Jewish World, Sandi Masori helps people self-publish memoirs and business authority books. In her free time, she hangs out with her kids and hunts for the best sushi in town.