Daily Iowan

Issue date: 12/14/07 Section: Arts

While no Julie Andrews or Audrey Hepburn, Lisa O'Hare played the role of Eliza Doolittle flawlessly in the onstage rendition of My Fair Lady at Hancher on Wednesday night. As the cockney flower girl, she was impudent, ill-mannered, and lacking the ability to speak properly - and O'Hare's ability to capture her transformation into a "loverly" lady was captivating.

As the rose-petal curtain rose opening night, the gentle anticipatory murmur of the crowd ceased, and the silence continued for the lengthy two-and-a-half hour show, except for laughter and applause that heavily peppered the hilarious scenes, keeping the audience engaged all night.

Aesthetically, the show was resplendent; the light combinations, elaborate scenery and exquisite costumes - complete with all the trimmings of the upper class - immersed the audience in a completely different environment than ice-covered Iowa City.

The second scene set a high benchmark for the rest of the show. Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle, and his barmates droned on about their poor series of misfortune, only to turn into a glorious musical routine titled "With a Little Bit of Luck." The actors' dancing abilities came to life in this scene, as the gentlemen bounced around the bar tops in the Red Lion Public House before heading outside to perform a ramshackle line dance, complete with trash-can-lid tap shoes.

As the outrageous dance number would suggest, the show was consistently humorous. A poor flower lady, Doolittle follows wealthy Professor Henry Higgins (played expertly by Christopher Cazevone) home and begs him to teach her how to be a lady so she can open her own shop. The uptight, stingy old man grudgingly agrees, betting his friend Colonel Hugh Pickering that he can transform Doolittle into a duchess in time for the ball.

It may seem like a fairy tale, but when Doolittle's drunk father comes searching for money for his daughter, Higgins throws five pounds at him. When Pickering asks the beggar if he has any morals, he responds, "Nah. Nah, can't afford 'em, guv'nor. Neither could you, if you was as poor as me."

Expensive tickets coupled with finals cramming kept many UI students away, which was a shame because Doolittle's character was easy to identify with. As a young woman with big aspirations, she worked tirelessly to achieve her goal of becoming a lady. As she makes her first real breakthrough under Higgins' teaching, I couldn't help but be elated alongside her, even though she kept reciting the same line over and over in an annoyingly high voice ("the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain") before launching into the song. However, I also felt empathy for her. Upon completion of her "lady" training, she feels neglected by Higgins - the plight far too many college students endure. As Higgins puts it: "Women are irrational, that's all there is to that! Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags. They're nothing but exasperating, irritating, vacillating, calculating, agitating, maddening, and infuriating hags!"

Luckily for this musical, Doolittle may be irrational and maddening but in a charming, timeless fashion.

E-mail DI reporter Lauren Matovina at

lauren-matovina@uiowa.edu

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