(Pic by Val Adamson: Gina Shmukler and Lisa Bobbert share the role of Eliza)Gina Shmukler and Lisa Bobbert each offer delightful Elizas in excellent Playhouse production. (Review by Caroline Smart)
I ran a review of this production last week with Gina Shmukler playing the role of Eliza. This evening I attended the show again in order to see Lisa Bobbert who alternates in the leading role. The following is a mix of original and new impressions
Set to run over the festive season, The Playhouse Company’s production of My Fair Lady in the Playhouse Opera is directed by Ralph Lawson who also gives a fine interpretation of the crusty, volatile and self-centred Professor Higgins. He has also created a well-knit production with good performances from even the smallest member of the cast.
As I predicted in the previous review, the sets are generating much interest as Andrew Botha and Stan Knight’s design offers a completely new “look” for this musical in Durban. Instead of the solid chunky box sets, this My Fair Lady features backdrops and panels which are often “back-lit” to create a certain transparency, effectively created by lighting designer Dylan Heaton. Lending a lightness and visual depth to the show, the panels have considerably reduced the time usually required for scene changes in a production of this magnitude. However, strong backstage control is required so that they appear solid as the various scenes open. The slightest movement destroys the illusion.
Whichever actress you see playing Eliza, you won’t be disappointed. Gina Shmukler’s Eliza is a pure delight – fun, sassy and likeable – giving the right kind of dramatic tone to what is a naiive and endearing character who finds herself catapulted from her poor but safe environment to a level of sophistication over which she does not have immediate control.
While Gina’s soaring voice gives her the edge in the vocal stakes, Lisa Bobbert gives the stronger dramatic interpretation of the elements that make up this spunky and outspoken flower girl from Tottenham Court Road - this “squashed cabbage leaf” as Higgins so bluntly dismisses her! She was delicious when plotting her revenge in Just you Wait.
Frank Graham is solid and dependable as Colonel Pickering, the buffer between the irascible Higgins and the impetuous Eliza, trying to keep the peace in this extraordinary social experiment. Cobus Venter’s lovelorn Freddy is a wannabee Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire – a good directorial decision which makes the character a force to be reckoned with and brings some fun movement to On the Street Where You Live. Themi Venturas shines as Eliza’s father, the irrepressible Alfred Doolittle, well-supported by his two henchmen who are played by Bryan Payne and Michael Gritten (he also plays the smooth Zoltan Karpathy). Jane Ross is suitably dignified as the long-suffering Mrs Pearce and it is good to see Paddy McKew back on stage as Henry’s mother, the indomitable and much put-upon Mrs Higgins,
Naum Rousine conducts the KZN Philharmonic and Music Director Andrew Warburton has drilled the cast into good ensemble work. Neil Stuart-Harris’s designs are impressively elegant and Mark Hawkins has created some vibrant choreography. Gail Muir is sound designer and while there was a marginal improvement on opening night, the sound is still not up to the standard of the rest of the production.
My Far Lady runs until December 30. Prebooked tickets range from R80 to R120. Booking is at Computicket, on 083 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.co.za, or call 031 369 9540. Special low priced performances for groups are available: contact Andre-B van Wyk on 031 369 9407 or email marketingmanager@playhousecompany.com – Caroline Smart
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