For its 21st annual Spring Gala, the Kennedy Center will present My Fair Lady in Concert on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The famed 1956 musical features book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner with music by Frederick Loewe and will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The concert staging will be accompanied by the 35-piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra conducted by Music Director James Moore.
Casting for this one-time-only event includes Tony Award winner
Gregory Jbara as Alfred P. Doolittle, Olivier Award winner
Laura Michelle Kelly as Eliza Doolittle, Academy Award and multiple Emmy Award winner
Cloris Leachman as Mrs. Higgins, Tony Award nominee
Mary Beth Peil as Mrs. Pearce, two-time Tony Award winner
Jonathan Pryce as Henry Higgins, Max von Essen as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, and Michael York as Colonel Pickering. This performance is made possible through special arrangement with Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc.
The black-tie evening begins with a reception on the River Terrace at 5 p.m. followed by an elegant dinner on the Roof Terrace at 6 p.m. The Gala performance begins at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall and the evening concludes with 'Til Midnight, a cocktails and dancing party, on the Roof Terrace. As one of Washington's leading benefit engagements, the annual Kennedy Center Spring Gala provides critical funding to support the Center's performances, education programs, and outreach initiatives.
My Fair Lady is adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and Gabriel Pascal's motion picture. The story is about a poor Cockney flower girl (Eliza Doolittle) who takes speech lessons from a snobbish phonetics professor (Henry Higgins) in order to pass for a lady in high society. It features one of Broadway's most beloved scores including "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," and "Get Me to the Church on Time."
The original production of My Fair Lady opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York on March 15, 1956 where it ran for 2,717 performances-the longest-running musical of its day and still one of the top 15 longest-running Broadway musicals of all time. It won six 1957 Tony Awards including Best Musical. My Fair Lady subsequently opened in London with the same cast on April 30, 1958 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and it enjoyed a record-breaking five-and-a-half year run. The 1964 film of My Fair Lady has become a beloved classic worldwide, winning eight 1964 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Concert-only tickets starting at $25 go on sale to the general public on April 3 and can be purchased at the Kennedy Center Box Office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan calling area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324 or visit kennedy-center.org. To inquire about VIP packages and the gala events surrounding this performance, patrons may e-mail springgala@kennedy-center.org or call (202) 416-8338 for additional information.
The Kennedy Center Spring Gala Premier Sponsor is The Boeing Company, whose contributions play a crucial leadership role in supporting the presentation of the Kennedy Center's artistic and educational programs throughout the year.
For more information about the Kennedy Center visit www.kennedy-center.org.
