Dayton Playhouse Celebrates 60 Years With 'My Fair Lady'
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 11:36AM Yesterday I was informed the Dayton City Paper folded - and the publication would cease immediately. I was in the middle of three stories on deadline and one of those is below. In order to be fair to the Dayton Playhouse, I thought I would post this review of My Fair Lady here. Perhaps it will help them and I hope it does. Please realize this review was written for an entirely different audience than Bring Back Glam! readers. Still I felt it was my duty to share this review because the My Fair Lady production is really great.
How does My Fair Lady, the classic musical by Lerner and Loewe (based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion) fair in the #MeToo era? Fairly well if you have the right actors in place.
Dayton Playhouse kicked off its diamond anniversary season with My Fair Lady on Friday, September 14. This review focuses on the opening night of the production.
Sarah Viola makes a compelling Dayton Playhouse debut as Eliza Doolittle. Viola is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The soprano carries the production and effortlessly hits high notes, at times opening her mouth and music just seems to fall out. Viola is so polished there is a bit of added humor at the beginning of the production when Eliza is still street rough. With her first big number, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” you are immediately drawn in by Viola’s big voice and pretty face. Eliza gets lost in a fantasy of a rich life after meeting Professor Henry Higgins on the street. As a mere scholastic challenge and social experiment for him and fellow academic Colonel Pickering, both men have no problem laughing at Eliza as a poor, uneducated girl who sells flowers on the street. Higgins goes further than Pickering and berates Eliza, refusing to see her as human, let alone equal. This is the #MeToo problem of My Fair Lady.
David Shough returns to the Dayton Playhouse stage as Henry Higgins and he is convincing. So much so, you find yourself muttering “what a jerk” under your breath during the production. For a lesser female lead, it would be easy to get lost next to Shough but Viola shines and the two have real chemistry. Director Brian Sharp was smart to cast the older Shough against Viola. For the first half of the production, the Higgins-as-father role is very clear. In act two, as Eliza spreads her wings and Higgins realizes he has deep feelings for her, the age difference matters less.
There were few, if any, real opening night bugs. Once, when Shough went to light a candle, the flame immediately died. “Damned American matches” he quipped quickly, and Viola laughed right on cue, the two never missing a beat.
The sets for this production are quite impressive including the painted backgrounds of Covent Garden and the Higgins’ home, including details like green walls, bookcases and wingback chairs, all making you feel like you were sitting in an early 1900s era London flat. There are many set changes in My Fair Lady but the actors and crew of this production do their best to keep the pace moving as quickly as possible. The Dayton Playhouse production of My Fair Lady is long, clocking in at three hours and twenty minutes. The good news is that The Dayton Playhouse is debuting new seats as part of the 60th anniversary celebration so you can sit comfortably during such a long production. Still, you’ll want to get up and move around during intermission.
Viola enters the stage with an air of elegance about her, even with the cockney accent and “dirt on her face.” Once she transforms into a “lady” for the Embassy Ball, the audience is hers. In her first appearance in her ball gown, with black hair piled high on her head and adorned with a tiara, a few audience members gasped. She enters the ball with her head held high, pretending to be a duchess or someone of royal lineage and the audience knows she must be trembling with fear, terrified she will be discovered as a fraud. Viola holds it together beautifully and some of her best acting comes in this section of the production and especially during the Higgins, Pickering (played by Dayton Playhouse regular Brian Laughlin) and ensemble production of “You Did It” in which everyone pats Higgins on the back for “fixing” Eliza and forgetting she is even in the room.
This is the last straw for Eliza and for Viola, who sits on the side of the stage, on a couch, staring in amazement at the misogyny around her. How could a man she literally trusted with her life be so crass? And so clueless? This is a common problem of evil for many women, explored time and again in countless books, theatre productions and movies. To make My Fair Lady relevant in 2018, the ending has to resonate with viewers of both genders, while sending a definite message.
Since the production first debuted, fans and critics alike have argued about the ending of the musical. Did Eliza stay with Higgins or did she go? The conclusion of My Fair Lady is one of the most famous in all of theatre history: Eliza simply touches Higgins on the check and walks away. It matters in how this moment is directed and how the character playing Eliza carries herself. For the Dayton Playhouse production is seems clear Eliza is saying goodbye to Higgins and her past life of being walked over by him and the other men in her life, including her father. Viola almost had a spring in her step after she withdrew her hand and walked toward the door before the stage went black. Was this the conclusion of opening night excitement? Perhaps. However it seemed more like a not-so-subtle celebration of female empowerment while staying respectful to a beloved musical.
My Fair Lady at the Dayton Playhouse runs every Friday and Saturday night through September 30 at 8 p.m. There is a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors, students and members of the military. To purchase tickets, visit the box office at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Avenue in Dayton or go online to thedaytonplayhouse.com.
Reader Comments (6)
One thing I know ... Your writing talents run deep and you are heading down a path to many more great opportunities in journalism.
And I am with you, Gary. I’m in front of a computer all day long. The last thing I wanna do is go home and basically read a television, which is the experience one feels when scouting the news sites.
Given the option, I’ll take the analog printed version over a web version EVERY time!!!
Best of luck, Allyson! You got this!
You are an excellent, dedicated journalist and career opportunities will befall you in no time. Your tireless work on BBG demonstrates your commitment, enthusiasm and quality to your trade.
I only wish your situation with the DCP wasn't playing itself out across the country. Have you heard any new news about why Noah shut it down? I assume it was purely financial, as independent local papers are folding all over the place or being co-opted by larger corporations. Heck, even the San Jose Mercury News--a full-fledged local paper--is a shell of itself. Sad state of affairs when you can't get local news for local readers written by talented writers.