Stage direction by Robert Binder,
Musical Direction by Paul Salter,
Choreography by Arlene Chertoff,
Designed by Roxane Goodkin-Levy.

Performed in English with Hebrew subtitles.
בליווי כתוביות בעברית

Tues. 29 May, 8:00 p.m.
Wed. 30 May, 8:00 p.m.
Thurs. 31 May, 8:00 p.m.
Tues. 5 June, 8:00 p.m.
Wed. 6 June, 5:00 p.m., 8:30 p.m.
Thurs. 7 June, 8:00 p.m.

Hirsch Theatre, Beit Shmuel, 6 Shamah Eliyyahu Street, Jerusalem, (02) 620-3463

- For tickets, order online or call the Encore! box office, (054) 578-9006 or the Hirsch Theatre box office, (02) 620-3463.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/355199204525880/

01 soprano ascot
02 mezzo ascot
03 tenor ascot
04 bass-baritone ascot

Loverly

05 tenor 1 and 2 loverly
06 baritone-bass loverly
07 soprano loverly
08 loverly mezzo 

With A Little Bit of Luck

09 soprano bit of luck
10 mezzo bit of luck
11 tenor bit of luck
12 bass bit of luck 

Flower Market

13 soprano flower market
14 alto flower market
15 tenor 1 and 2 flower market
16 bass or baritone flower market 

Married in the Morning

17 soprano married morning
18 mezzo married morning
19 tenor married morning
20 bass married morning

London Bridge?, repeated the still confused cast member.

“London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
(well, you know the rest!)

Sometimes, one question leads to another, and one might be tempted to inquire about the origin of the nursery rhyme and who was the Fair Lady so mentioned.  Do yourself a favor and don’t go there!  The origin of this paean to the series of bridges crossing the River Thames is as murky as the river, as is the identity of the mysterious woman in the rhyme.  You would be better off pondering something more immediate.

Consider this: Lerner and Loewe, or more formally, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick (Fritz) Loewe met by chance in a restaurant in 1942 and soon began a musical collaboration starting with Life of the Party in 1942, What’s Up in 1943, and The Day Before Spring in 1945, three musicals which have proven as successful as a typical U.N. resolution.  They stepped it up several notches with Brigadoon in 1947, a story about two American men who wander into a Scottish village which comes to life one day out of every one hundred years.  This  musical, with its beguiling songs, was a considerable success at the time and has been successfully revived over the years, including a film version directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse.  Less successful was the team’s next venture in 1951, Paint Your Wagon, about life in California during the Gold Rush.

Following the triumph of My Fair Lady on Broadway, Lerner and Loewe collaborated on the score for the greatly acclaimed film Gigi, also directed by Minnelli, starring, among others, Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier. However, efforts to transport its  magic to the stage fifteen years later were disappointing, to say the least.

After the back-to-back successes of My Fair Lady and the original film version of Gigi, Lerner and Loewe’s next and final work for the stage (1960), Camelot, was eagerly anticipated. This musical, a retelling of the King Arthur legend via E.B. White’s The Once and Future King, has become associated with the the time and the ethos of  the John F. Kennedy administration in the U.S. and is revived with some success (the musical, not the presidency) from time to time.  The music is wonderful — Loewe’s music rarely disappoints — and some of Lerner’s lyrics are witty.  In a better world, a theatrical company like Encore could mount productions of lesser known musicals like Brigadoon or Camelot and make a go of it.  So what separates the handful of musicals, like My Fair Lady, that are so endearing that peoples’ eyes light up when you just mention their names, from the rest, the ones you have to almost beg people to attend?  That’s the something more immediate to ponder over.

Perhaps you have to start with a really good story, one which  is compelling, cogent,  and somehow continues to speak to its audience.  In Pygmalion, Shaw tackles a subject which always seems relevant: the nature of class distinctions and individual identity.  Examinations of social barriers and their effect upon the lovelorn have long been a favorite theme of British writers.   Consider this example from Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Villette:

“Had he seen Paulina with the same youth, beauty, and grace, but on foot, alone, unguarded, and in simple attire, a dependent worker…….., he would have thought her a pretty little creature…….., but it required other than this to conquer him…….  (H)e required all that was here visible – the imprint of high cultivation, the consecration of a careful and authoritative protection, the adjuncts that Fashion decrees, Wealth purchases, and Taste adjusts; for these conditions his spirit stipulated ere it surrendered……”

Those of you who were fortunate enough to see our production of H.M.S. Pinafore will remember Captain Corcoran’s adjuration to his daughter Josephine that her beloved Ralph Rackstraw, a common sailor,  would at every turn commit solecisms that Society would never permit.

In Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw took a slightly different tack.  He wrote a play about  a young woman who was  indeed ‘on foot, alone, unguarded, and in simple attire,’ and had her meet an older, self-absorbed, insufferable man who, to prove a point,  would train her to enter  High Society.  Would he be able to take this  flower peddler, give her lessons in elocution, as well as what would be described on American TV as an “extreme makeover,”, fill her head with Society’s badinage, and recreate her as essentially another person? Shaw’s subversive question: Would anybody notice the obvious forgery?

Shaw, being a master playwright as well as a socialist, went well beyond this simple premise and created a series of characters that are more than the cardboard figures in most musicals, even sneaking in a most unusual love story — or maybe a love-hate-love-hate story, given the constantly changing relationship between Eliza and Professor Higgins. Perhaps having strong characters and convincing dialogue to work with are the key to a composer and a lyricist coming up with their finest work. Whatever the reasons, Lerner and Loewe certainly outdid themselves, creating a musical that from Day One (March 15, 1956 at the Mark Hellinger Theater)  was universally acknowledged as a masterpiece of its kind.  It even somehow survived the film adaptation, something which doesn’t always happen to a Broadway musical.

The challenge for a company like Encore is to re-imagine a work which is ingrained in the memories of so many of our audience, scaling it down to the smaller dimensions of the Hirsch Theatre and the obvious limitations of our budget, yet retaining is opulence, its humor, and the sweep of its music; in other words, making it our own.  We are up to the task, and you may be witness to our accomplishment.

Director: Robert Binder
Musical Director: Paul Salter
Choreographer: Arlene Chertoff

- Actors, singers, dancers and production crew

Auditions will take place on 
Monday, January 16 and
Wednesday, January 18
from 7:30pm to 10:00pm

37 Pierre Koenig (corner of Poalei Tzedek) Jerusalem, second floor
Entrance to left of Maayan Furniture (room 317)

Tell your friends!

More information:
www.Encore-etc.com | binder@actcom.co.il
Tel. (054) 546-4215
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/189693754463384/