The Paramount Theatre's new Artistic Director Jim Corti, who also will stage the inaugural production in the Aurora theater's first-ever Broadway musical subscription series, has announced the principal cast and design team for his fall opener, My Fair Lady.
Andrea Prestinario, Jeff Award winner for Best Actress as Violet in Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's Side Show in 2007, will play the Cockney flower girl turned refined lady Eliza Doolittle. Nathan M. Hosner, recently seen in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's acclaimed production of The Madness of King George, has been tapped to portray Henry Higgins.
Also cast in My Fair Lady: "the first couple of Chicago theater" - John Reeger and Paula Scrofano - as Colonel Pickering and Mrs. Pearce; multiple Jeff Award winning Best Actress Mary Ernster as Mrs. Higgins; two-time Jeff Award winner Andy Lupp as Alfred P. Doolittle; James Lee Glatz as Freddy Eynsford-Hill; Susan Gosdick as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill; and Mike Erickson as Zoltan Karpathy.
In addition to this impressive list of top-notch Chicago actors, an all-ages chorus of 22 actors/dancers/singers will bring the loverly world of My Fair Lady to vibrant new life on the Paramount stage. What's more, My Fair Lady will mark the official debut of the Paramount Theatre Orchestra, a 21-member live music ensemble who will provide full orchestration for all four Broadway series musicals in 2011-2012.
Behind the scenes, Paramount's My Fair Lady design team includes Jim Corti, director and choreographer; Shawn Stengel, music director/conductor; Jim Dardenne, scenic designer; Melissa Torchia, costume designer; Michael Rourke, lighting designer; Ray Nardelli, sound designer; MerEdith Miller, properties designer; Robert Quinlan, assistant director; Monique Haley, associate choreographer; William Collins, stage manager; and Donald Claxon, assistant stage manager.
My Fair Lady will run September 14-October 2, 2011 at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., in the heart of downtown Aurora, Illinois. The performance schedule is Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Press opening is Friday, September 16 at 8 p.m.
Already, more than 10,000 music theater fans have taken advantage of the Paramount's introductory Buy Two Shows, Get Two Shows Free Broadway subscription offer, which includes My Fair Lady, plus Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (November 2-November 20, 2011), A Chorus Line (January 18-February 5, 2012) and Hair (March 14-April 1, 2012). With packages starting as low as $70, Paramount Broadway series subscribers will enjoy four incredible musicals for the price of just one show downtown.
Single tickets to My Fair Lady ($34.90-$46.90) are also on sale now. To purchase subscriptions or single tickets, go to ParamountAurora.com, call the Paramount box office, (630) 896-6666, or visit the box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 2 hours prior to evening performances.
More about the Paramount's production of My Fair Lady
One of the greatest American musicals ever written, My Fair Lady is the sweeping tale of a common flower girl and the distinguished professor who bets he can make her a refined lady. With book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe, this glorious musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1912 classic masterpiece, Pygmalion, features lavish sets, gorgeous period fashions, and songs you've long loved such as Wouldn't It Be Loverly?, The Rain in Spain, I Could Have Danced All Night and I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. Funny, sweet and delightful in every way, Paramount audiences will soon be reminded why My Fair Lady is the standard by which all other musicals are written.
