Standing ovations for Rockwell's production of My Fair Lady

Running for three nights last week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to a packed house this visual and musical extravaganza went down a treat with the audiences. Excellently produced by Suzanne Buttimer, who runs the Music Academy in Rockwell, this production had it all, music, fabulous costumes, humour and acting.  

Pic: Sam Rapport, Luke Fogarty, Theo Martin in Act of My Fair Lady

‘My Fair Lady’ is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion', with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick  Loewe.  The mid-20th century musical  transcends not only social class, but also time, to offer real lessons about the interactions between men and women, as well as the educated and the masses. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetics expert, so that she may pass as a lady.

The original Broadway and London shows starred Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. In Rockwell’s production Poppy Kane stars as Eliza Doolittle, Sam Rapport as Professor Higgins, and Theo Martin as Colonel Pickering and each looked as if they were born to the part as they carried the parts with aplomb. The accents were superb and one might be forgiven for feeling that he/she was back in London of 1913. Great credit must go to Suzanne Buttimer and her team, led by John Mc.Hugh, for putting this together in such a short time frame of just under two months, rehearsing largely at night. In all 50 students were involved in this and there were leading lights in some of the lesser roles, too many of them to mention.