Bob Brown

FIFTY-ODD years after its smash debut on Broadway, My Fair Lady shows no signs of flagging. It’s a perennial favorite among regional theaters, where it retains a capacity to charm and delight audiences, regardless of their acquaintance with its Shavian underpinnings. We need not know how much George Bernard Shaw really believed that proper elocution was the key to success. The indelible characters and the immortal tunes are sufficient for full satisfaction.

   An original-cast album from the show, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, has nurtured generations of star-struck youth. Among them is Princeton University senior Laura Hankin. The production now on the Berlind stage of McCarter Theatre is the result of Hankin’s early enthusiasm and the fruit of her senior creative thesis.

   Of course, there are productions and then there are productions of this often-performed standard. For example, the Bucks County Playhouse had a run last June, with veteran actors Lauren Brader as Eliza Doolittle and Jim Lynch as Professor Henry Higgins. By contrast, the Berlind production is an all-student affair, cast by Hankin herself (Eliza), who, along with Shawn Fennell (Professor Henry Higgins), has been a regular on Princeton stages. Both have contributed their talents to many performances with the Princeton Summer Theater.

   It’s a pleasure to hear them sing this time. Hankin portrays a somewhat delicate Eliza, with a very lovely and pure soprano voice. She is especially delightful in “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Fennell sing-talks his way amusingly through some of the funnier pieces, notably “I’m an Ordinary Man” in Act 1 (the humor in this show is one of its fortes). Among the very large cast, those with prominent and strong contributions include Gabriel Crouse as the rough-hewn, cocky Alfred Dolittle; Alfred Linz as Colonel Pickering, Higgins’ alter ego and stabilizer; Liana Kissinger-Virizlay as Higgins’ disapproving mother; and Dan Corica as Freddy, who does a plaintive turn outside Higgins’ door, “On the Street Where You Live.”

   Set design and lighting by Mimi Lien and Nick Francone, respectively, are elegant, economical, and period perfect. From the plush purple curtain to the Edwardian-style footlights, the mood is restrained elegance. Even the street-urchins and peddlers in the opening scene at Covent Garden seem to have been drawn from an illustrated Edwardian novel. This carries over to Emily Pepper’s costume designs, which are in a range of very tasteful, muted earth tones, or black and white.

   And what a luxury it is to have the expanse of the Berlind performance space for this lavish production. To fill it, Ryan Migge’s inventive choreography is another standout. Just marshalling the sheer number of dancer-singers must have been a challenge. The payoff is most evident in “Get Me to the Church on Time,” where Alfred is joined by what seems like the entire cast. I don’t know if the back-flips are choreographed too, but my hat’s off to the guys who do several of them in the opening scene (I didn’t see a back-flip credit on the program).

   As for music, one can go in several directions: You could hire a small pit band or, like Bucks County Playhouse, you could just pipe in a canned electronic score (serviceable but hardly captivating). Under the musical direction of Paavana Kumar, this production features a sonorous piano duo: Andrea Grody (stage left) and Itelina Ma (stage right). They are kept quite busy, especially since there are no page-turners. Although the pianos are amplified, they support the singers without overshadowing them. One anomaly in the sound system puzzled me, however. The cast is appropriately miked, but their mikes are on only when they sing. For best clarity, it would seem better to keep the mikes on throughout (unless there’s a technical impediment that’s not apparent to me).

   Although some may consider My Fair Lady the mother of all musicals, its conclusion is non-standard. Unlike Maria and the Captain’s May-December coupling in The Sound of Music, Eliza and the Professor end up together, yet at a certain remove. Shaw did not believe in satisfying audience hopes or expectations with some romantic clinch, and the musical doesn’t offer one either. Instead, the two face each other in the Professor’s sitting room, holding hands; the last line is Higgins’ “Where are my slippers?” Those damn slippers! It’s decidedly unromantic. Moreover, it’s an unliberating conclusion for Eliza by today’s standards. But we embrace it nevertheless. The music is everything.

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  My Fair Lady continues at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, Nov. 19-21, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $10 seniors/students. 609-258-2787 or 609-258-9220; www.princeton.edu/utickets