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The vocal music department at Dodge City High School brings "My Fair Lady" to the stage next weekend with performances scheduled for Feb. 2 to 4.
The original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" opened in March 1956 and ran for seven years. The original cast recording appeared on the Billboard charts for 482 consecutive weeks.
In 1964 the film version of the musical won several Oscars, including Best Picture.
Rex Harrison starred in both versions, but not without some trepidation. According to Broadway lore, Harrison locked himself in his dressing room on opening night during out-of-town tryouts in New Haven. He refused to go on, claiming he couldn't get through the difficult patter songs with the orchestra distracting him.
The cast was sent home and the opening canceled. But Harrison emerged an hour before curtain, the cast was called back and the show opened to rave revues, a long run on Broadway and a solid place in musical comedy history.
With a little bit of luck
The story is set in 1912 London. A chance encounter between Professor Henry Higgins, a distinguished dialectician, and Eliza Doolittle, a brash Cockney girl selling flowers outside Covent Garden, leads to a discussion of the girl's poor speaking skills — her rough vocabulary, her mangled vowels and dropped consonants.
Higgins bets his friend, Col. Pickering, that he can teach Eliza to speak like a lady and pass her off as a duchess at a fancy ball. Higgins is a blunt taskmaster, but Eliza eventually learns the speech and manners of a proper lady.
After her success at the ball, Higgins takes all the credit for the accomplishment and Eliza leaves.
As it turns out, Eliza has changed Higgins' life just as much as he has changed hers.
With a subplot about Eliza's hapless father and another involving Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a timid suitor, the show has been called "the perfect musical," certainly the prime example of musical theater in the 1950s.
Get your Cockney on
"My Fair Lady" requires a large cast, crew and orchestra, all led by director Kelly Knedler, assistant director Rachel Trombley, accompanist Anne Gaffney and choreographer Nikki Salem.
"We have a younger cast this year, so we're working on things like thinking ahead," Knedler said, "but they're all doing a great job."
Talia Falcon, who plays Eliza Doolittle; Cale Morrow, who plays Henry Higgins; and Stephen Fergerson, who plays Col. Pickering, took a moment before Friday’s rehearsal to speak with the Globe about the upcoming production.
For all three, their roles in "My Fair Lady" are the hardest parts they've ever played.
"I have to learn to talk and sing in two different accents, and they're different and similar all at the same time. There are way more lines than I've had in any other show. There are only a couple of scenes I'm not in — it's a challenge," said Falcon, a senior planning to major in music education at K-State next fall.
"Yeah, the accents are a killer," Morrow said.
A junior, Morrow said he has struggled with the style of his songs — musical numbers which were written with Rex Harrison, a stage actor who barely sang, in mind.
"The songs are meant to be mostly spoken, and there are lots of long phrases," Morrow said. "So I want to put my own stamp on them, but they have to work the way they were meant to."
Morrow also faces the acting challenge of creating a character who, at first glance, may not be very likable.
"He's just kind of a jerk — he's mean and doesn't even realize it," Morrow said.
Fergerson, a senior who's thinking about attending DCCC next fall, agreed that it's a difficult show.
"My problem has been getting all the lines down and keeping the accent up," he said.
The actors have been rehearsing with the orchestra every Sunday and look forward to having full dress rehearsals with the musicians in the pit beginning Monday.
"The sets are looking great," Falcon said.
"Yeah, Mr. Knedler always does a great job with the sets," Morrow said.
For Falcon and Fergerson, this will be the last musical of their high school career.
"It's sad," Falcon said, "because I didn't do my first musical until I was a sophomore, so I feel like it's too soon for it to be my last."
Feergerson, whose first musical was "Les Miz" when he was a freshman, agreed that it's been fun.
"When we get in the musical zone with Mr. Knedler, it's a lot of work but it's worth it," he said.
The vocal music department at Dodge City High School brings "My Fair Lady" to the stage next weekend with performances scheduled for Feb. 2 to 4.
The original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" opened in March 1956 and ran for seven years. The original cast recording appeared on the Billboard charts for 482 consecutive weeks.
In 1964 the film version of the musical won several Oscars, including Best Picture.
Rex Harrison starred in both versions, but not without some trepidation. According to Broadway lore, Harrison locked himself in his dressing room on opening night during out-of-town tryouts in New Haven. He refused to go on, claiming he couldn't get through the difficult patter songs with the orchestra distracting him.
The cast was sent home and the opening canceled. But Harrison emerged an hour before curtain, the cast was called back and the show opened to rave revues, a long run on Broadway and a solid place in musical comedy history.
With a little bit of luck
The story is set in 1912 London. A chance encounter between Professor Henry Higgins, a distinguished dialectician, and Eliza Doolittle, a brash Cockney girl selling flowers outside Covent Garden, leads to a discussion of the girl's poor speaking skills — her rough vocabulary, her mangled vowels and dropped consonants.
Higgins bets his friend, Col. Pickering, that he can teach Eliza to speak like a lady and pass her off as a duchess at a fancy ball. Higgins is a blunt taskmaster, but Eliza eventually learns the speech and manners of a proper lady.
After her success at the ball, Higgins takes all the credit for the accomplishment and Eliza leaves.
As it turns out, Eliza has changed Higgins' life just as much as he has changed hers.
With a subplot about Eliza's hapless father and another involving Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a timid suitor, the show has been called "the perfect musical," certainly the prime example of musical theater in the 1950s.
Get your Cockney on
"My Fair Lady" requires a large cast, crew and orchestra, all led by director Kelly Knedler, assistant director Rachel Trombley, accompanist Anne Gaffney and choreographer Nikki Salem.
"We have a younger cast this year, so we're working on things like thinking ahead," Knedler said, "but they're all doing a great job."
Talia Falcon, who plays Eliza Doolittle; Cale Morrow, who plays Henry Higgins; and Stephen Fergerson, who plays Col. Pickering, took a moment before Friday’s rehearsal to speak with the Globe about the upcoming production.
For all three, their roles in "My Fair Lady" are the hardest parts they've ever played.
"I have to learn to talk and sing in two different accents, and they're different and similar all at the same time. There are way more lines than I've had in any other show. There are only a couple of scenes I'm not in — it's a challenge," said Falcon, a senior planning to major in music education at K-State next fall.
"Yeah, the accents are a killer," Morrow said.
A junior, Morrow said he has struggled with the style of his songs — musical numbers which were written with Rex Harrison, a stage actor who barely sang, in mind.
"The songs are meant to be mostly spoken, and there are lots of long phrases," Morrow said. "So I want to put my own stamp on them, but they have to work the way they were meant to."
Morrow also faces the acting challenge of creating a character who, at first glance, may not be very likable.
"He's just kind of a jerk — he's mean and doesn't even realize it," Morrow said.
Fergerson, a senior who's thinking about attending DCCC next fall, agreed that it's a difficult show.
"My problem has been getting all the lines down and keeping the accent up," he said.
The actors have been rehearsing with the orchestra every Sunday and look forward to having full dress rehearsals with the musicians in the pit beginning Monday.
"The sets are looking great," Falcon said.
"Yeah, Mr. Knedler always does a great job with the sets," Morrow said.
For Falcon and Fergerson, this will be the last musical of their high school career.
"It's sad," Falcon said, "because I didn't do my first musical until I was a sophomore, so I feel like it's too soon for it to be my last."
Feergerson, whose first musical was "Les Miz" when he was a freshman, agreed that it's been fun.
"When we get in the musical zone with Mr. Knedler, it's a lot of work but it's worth it," he said.
