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Acknowledgements:

• Brendan Conley for sound technology assistance
• Dordt College Music Department for support, encouragement, equipment, sharing students, and flexibility
• How To Store for specialized paint donations
• Jill Friend & Sioux Center Christian School for musical instruments
• John Wynstra for sound technology assistance
• Kay De Boom for sharing her Bird Cage as a prop
• KDCR for outstanding publicity
• Nancy Kingma for sharing her Tea Cart as a prop
• Northwestern College Theatre Department for props, practical lights, and microphones

Director's Note:

 My Fair Lady was never a production that I wanted to direct.  That’s a bold statement, I know.  Despite this, I spent the last seven months researching, reading, thinking about, planning for, and rehearsing My Fair Lady.  I saw the production in 2002 at the Stratford Festival Theatre in Ontario, and while the set and costumes were superb, I wasn’t interested in the character of Henry Higgins and didn’t like how Lerner and Loewe changed G.B. Shaw’s ending (his play Pygmalion is the source for My Fair Lady).  Fast forward to spring 2018.  In my search for a musical to direct, I came across an article in the NY Times on the revival of My Fair Lady being staged at Lincoln Center.  This article made me think again (and again) about the possibilities that producing My Fair Lady could present to both the cast/crew and the audience.

     As a cast and crew, we’ve wrestled with the relationship between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle and how to portray it onstage.  While we want to honor the musical that Lerner and Loewe created, we also hope to add nuance to the traditional way that the character of Higgins has been portrayed.  Our work hasn’t altered the script (unlike the Lincoln Center production which had permission to do so).  Rather, we’ve looked for acting moments that would enable both Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins to be more well-rounded.  Along the way, actors have improved their singing, singers have improved their acting, and all of the cast has improved their dancing. 

We’ve had a marvelous, “loverly” time!  We are so glad to welcome you to our production of My Fair Lady!

Teresa Ter Haar, PhD