MY FAIR LADY Comes to San Bernardino, 1/26

Lerner and Lowe's classic stage musical "My Fair Lady,"  a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons to become a proper lady, comes to the California Theatre for one performance only on Jan. 26, 2012.

Based on Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion," the 1956 Broadway musical about Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins was a major hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run for any major musical production in history.

Presented by the City of San Bernardino Economic Development Agency, tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $38.50-$77.50, available atwwww.ticketmaster.com, www.livenation.com or theater box office at (909) 885-5152.

The play centers on friendly wager between two English linguists, Henry Higgins and Col. Pickering, that Higgins can transform a dirty, barely understandable Cockney flower girl into a Victorian lady with an aristocratic accent. Despite being instant adversaries, both Henry and Eliza eventually learn that they can't live without each other.

With book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, the show features such songs as "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "With a Little Bit of Luck," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews starred in the original Broadway production, which opened on March 15, 1957. It ran for 2,717 performances in three theaters. The show won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for Harrison.

The Broadway production of "My Fair Lady" was followed by a London production and a popular film version, starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins, as well as numerous stage revivals.

Actors Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes replacEd Harrison and Andrews later in the Broadway run, though the stars later reprised their roles for the London production, which opened April 30, 1958. It ran there for 2,281 performances.

"My Fair Lady" as later revived on Broadway in 1976, 1981 and 1993, and in London in 1979 and 2001. Tours of the United States and Australia followed, and there were Israeli and Paris productions as well.

The Academy Award-winning film version of "My Fair Lady" was made in 1964. Directed by George Cukor, the film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director.

While Harrison again reprised his Higgins role, Hepburn was chosen over Andrews to play Eliza. The choice was a controversial one, especially because Hepburn's singing voice had to be dubbed (by Marni Nixon).

Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times called "My Fair Lady " "One of the best musicals of the century," and John Beaufort of The Christian Science Monitor said: "One of the 'loverliest' shows imaginable … a work of theatre magic.

'MY FAIR LADY'
WHEN: 8 p.m. Jan. 26, 2012
WHERE: California Theatre of the Performing Arts, 562 W. Fourth St., San Bernardino.
ADMISSION: $38.50-$77.50
TICKETS: Available through www.ticketmaster.com, or theater box office
INFORMATION/BOX OFFICE: (909) 885-5152
ON THE WEB: www.californiatheatre.net

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