Cortland Rep to Open 53rd Summer Season With Lerner And Loewe's MY FAIR LADY

For the first production in their 53rd annual summer season, Cortland Repertory Theatre will offer My Fair Lady, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Performances will run from June 5 – 14, with evening shows at 7:30 PM.  Matinees are available on June 7, 9, 11 and 12 at 2:00 PM. Tickets may be purchased by calling 800-427-6160 or by visiting the CRT Box Office at 24 Port Watson Street in Cortland.

My Fair Lady is adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play and Gabriel Pascal's film Pygmalion. The 1956 original Broadway production was directed by Moss Hart, starred Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and ran for 2,717 performances making it, at the time, the longest-running musical in Broadway history. The story: Eliza Doolittle is a young flower seller with an unmistakable Cockney accent which seemingly keeps her in the lower rungs of Edwardian society. When Professor Henry Higgins tries to teach her how to speak like a “proper lady”, an unlikely friendship begins to flourish. The show features one of musical theatre's greatest scores, with songs including 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.  

Cortland Rep's production is directed by Bill Kincaid, who has previously directed numerous shows at CRT including the award-winning Chicago and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, along with A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Few Good Men, The Drawer Boy, and others. Donald J. Laney, in his CRT debut, will choreograph and Nicolás Guerrero will music direct, having worked last summer on The Wizard of Oz. CRT's Production Manager Eric Behnke will oversee all technical aspects of the production, with Stage Manager Claire Young making her CRT debut. The My Fair Lady design team is comprised of Rozy Isquith (scenic), Jimmy Johansmeyer (costumes), C.J. Whitiker (sound), Matthew Webb (lighting) and Elizabeth Reaves (properties). Mackenzie Seewagen joins the production as Assistant Stage Manager, and Sarah Lifflick is the Technical Director. This production will be performed as the “two-piano” version, with Mr. Guerrero and Brian Cimmet on the keys.

Molly Bremer and James Tweedale make their CRT debuts as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, respectively. Syracuse actor Derek Emerson Powell, seen in CRT's productions of Kiss Me Kate and Murder on the Orient Express will portray Colonel Pickering and Colin Wasmund, seen in last summer's Unnecessary Farce and previously in Almost, Maine and Rumors will play Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle.  2024 Performing Intern Eli Vanderkolk, a student at Ithaca College, will play Freddy Eynsford-Hill, and frequent CRT actress Catherine Gaffney (…Orient Express, Our Town, The Lady with All the Answers, Over the River and Through the Woods) will portray Mrs. Higgins. Rachel Fry makes her CRT debut as Mrs. Pierce.  The remainder of the cast is comprised of CRT's 2024 Performing Intern Company: Nazareth College students Maxwell Bass, Jaiden Leo Riley and Ally Wolfe, Syracuse University students Alyssa Beaulieu, Matthew Dodaro, Thomas Locke and Gillian Stoltz and Rider University student Madison Winkler.

CRT offers a “Friday Night Talk Back” after the evening performance on June 7, at which a Q & A session with the actors, director, designers, and crew takes place. Tickets are available for all of CRT's upcoming summer productions including The Last Romance, Jimmy Buffet's Escape to Margaritaville, Wait Until Dark, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and the Bright Star Touring Children's Theatre production of Storybook Tales. Tickets are also available for CRT's “Sounds of Music” concert series to be held on every Wednesday in September, including “Close to You: The Music of the Carpenters” on September 4, “Tapestry Unraveled: The Music of Carole King” on September 11, “Jefferson McDonald's Great Balls of Fire” on September 18, and “How Sweet It Is: Steve Leslie Sings James Taylor” on September 25.  Visit www.CortlandRep.org for exact times, dates, and additional information.

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