Email this Article Printer-friendly RELATED ARTICLES: 02 Mar 2007 -- Center Stage: My Fair Lady

By Andrew Gans
07 Mar 2007

The New York Philharmonic's concert staging of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady — co-starring Kelsey Grammer and Kelli O'Hara — begins performances tonight at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

Rob Fisher conducts the orchestra, and James Brennan directs the semi-staging, which plays through Saturday, March 10. Grammer stars as Professor Henry Higgins, with O'Hara as Eliza Doolittle. The starry company also features Charles Kimbrough as Colonel Hugh Pickering, Brian Dennehy as Alfred Doolittle, Marni Nixon as Mrs. Higgins, Tim Jerome as Professor Zoltan Karpathy, Meg Bussert as Mrs. Pearce, Philippe Castagner as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Michael J. Farina as Jamie and Joe Grifasi as Harry.

The creative team includes Ken Billington (lighting design), Ray Klausen (set design), Gail Baldoni (costume design) and Peggy Hickey (choreography).

My Fair Lady replaces the originally announced concert staging of Company. Plans to mount that Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical were canceled in May due to the Broadway revival of the musical currently onstage at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Kelli O'Hara, Kelsey Grammer and Charles Kimbrough in rehearsal for My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic.
photo by Chris Lee

My Fair Lady is based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and features a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The original Broadway production opened on March 15, 1956, ran for over six years and won nine Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The score contains such Broadway classics as "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and "Get Me to the Church on Time."

Kelli O'Hara was most recently on Broadway in the Tony-winning revival of The Pajama Game, earning a Tony nomination for her performance as Babe. She was also Tony-nominated for her work as Clara in The Light in the Piazza. O'Hara's other Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde, Follies, Sweet Smell of Success and Dracula, the Musical.

Kelsey Grammer played Dr. Frasier Crane on three different TV series: Frasier, Cheers and Wings. For that role he won four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes and a SAG Award. Grammer has been seen on Broadway in Othello and Macbeth; his other theatrical credits include Richard II, Measure for Measure and Sweeney Todd.

Show times are March 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m. and March 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. Tickets, priced $65-$245, may be purchased by calling (212) 875-5656 or by visiting www.nyphil.org.

Brian Dennehy and company in rehearsal for My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic. Performances begin March 7.
photo by Chris Lee

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