A marathon musical worth seeing

By Joe Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'My Fair Lady' Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 16; Oct. 31 show cancelled $26, $22, and $18 235-7433

Midway into the two-hour first act of "My Fair Lady" at Windward Community College's Paliku Theatre, we get the idea that director Ron Bright has staged this Lerner and Loewe classic without cuts —and that it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

The entire show runs more than three hours with intermission and unexpectedly tires its audience, despite being filled with wonderful songs and a central character who transforms from guttersnipe to princess.

Traditionally, "My Fair Lady" is expected to have a big and lavish look. This production follows that lead right from its gorgeous opening scene. A rainy London street filled with flower sellers is beautifully painted and lit by designer Lloyd S. Riford III. The foreground melts seamlessly into the backdrop cityscape, and vivid blooms emerge from the misty middle distance as elegant opera goers scurry for taxis.

Later, when the rear curtains part and Higgins' two-story library rolls majestically downstage, we anticipate another scenic delight. Riford teases his audience by having Higgins and Pickering listening to recorded vowel sounds in the dark, backlighting the housekeeper as she throws open the double doors, then instantly flooding two floors of mahogany paneling with light as she clicks on a switch.

Evette Tanouye follows suit with a traditional costume design stunning black and white dresses and impossible hats for the racetrack scene, an elegant white gown for Eliza to wear to the embassy ball, and assorted tweeds and rags for Higgins and the street folk.

But despite its big look, "My Fair Lady" needs only three characters to work — Higgins, Pickering and Eliza. Sure, it helps to have a good voice for Freddy and a comic song-and-dance man as Doolittle, but if the three central characters click, the rest falls into place.

Unfortunately, in this production, the central chemistry isn't all it could be.

As Eliza Doolittle, Tricia Marciel sings beautifully and transitions believably from Cockney to upper-class speech. And she has both the vitality that Julie Andrews brought to the original stage version and the high cheekbones that Audrey Hepburn contributed to the film. But when Higgins demands she find his slippers in the final scene, the only thing that brought her back to him was the script.

Patrick Torres acts a better-than-passable Henry Higgins, but seems to do so independently of the other characters. He sings well, but his Higgins never convincingly connects romantically with Eliza.

Ken Walter plays Pickering in a way that keeps the character absent from his scenes.

John Gruhler has a pleasant voice but needs a cleaner look to make Freddy a believable suitor. Steve Wagenseller is a wonderful Alfred Doolittle, turning "Get Me To the Church On Time" into one of the show's high points.

Musical director Clarke Bright's orchestra and chorus do well by the show's wonderful tunes) and the designers give it a fine look.

Despite flaws, it is definitely a big evening of musical theater.