By MICHELLE HERBISON
THE beloved musical My Fair Lady is returning to Geelong after a 15-year absence thanks to Footlight Productions.
Artistic Director Peter Wills said he hoped the February show would delight audiences and entertain the next generation of theatre lovers.
“It’s an absolute classic. It will be of an extremely high standard – a very traditional My Fair Lady but with a modern feel to it.”
The classic Lerner and Lowe musical tells the story of a phonetics professor attempting to pass off a common Cockney flower girl as a duchess.
Recent Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate Lisa Hanley will return to her hometown of Geelong to play leading lady Eliza Doolittle.
“Eliza is a dream role of mine and it’s very humbling to play this character in the place where my love of theatre began,” Hanley said.
The cast also includes Jamie McGuane as Professor Higgins, Howard Dandy as Colonel Pickering, Mary Walker as Mrs Higgins and an experienced ensemble of local talent.
Wills said many of the 30 performers cast in the show prepared for auditions by watching the 1964 Audrey Hepburn film for the first time.
The production of My Fair Lady will follow in the footsteps of Footlight Productions’ rendition of Les Miserables earlier this year, nominated for 11 Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Awards to be drawn mid-December.
“Les Mis is a show that’s so popular, it’s hard to work out why it’s as popular as it is,” Wills mused.
“It doesn’t matter whether we win or not, it’s nice to be nominated and get to the final eight out of the 68 productions that were judged.”
Wills said Footlight Productions cast the show in August then started rehearsals in October.
A dedicated team of sewers was preparing all-new costumes, including ballroom attire with a modern slant and traditional black and white for the Ascot scene.
“It’s a big production and the show’s quite long, so it’s going very well,” Wills said.
My Fair Lady opens at Geelong Performing Arts Centre on 7 February.
