Manatee Players stage a charming version of ‘My Fair Lady’

Lauren Nielsen made her Manatee Players debut Thursday. She plays Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and as soon as she sings the first notes of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” Eliza’s first song, you hope that she’ll take a lot more roles with the company soon.

Nielsen has a great look and a perfect voice for the role of the Cockney flower girl who becomes the toast of London society. Her performance is the most immediately impressive element of the charming Manatee Players production of the Lerner and Loewe classic, directed by Steve Dawson, but there’s a lot to recommend about this show.

Becky Evans’ innumerable gorgeous costumes are a visual highlight. From the gritty getup of the working-class characters to Eliza’s formal Embassy Ball gown and the iconic monochromatic high-society garb of the Ascot scene, Evans’ costumes delight the eyes. Evans doesn’t stray too far from the template set by Cecil Beaton’s costumes in the film version, but there’s no need to. And, in fact, the look of those costumes has become so closely associated with “My Fair Lady” that radically different designs would be unacceptable to audiences.

Caleb Carrier’s large and elegant sets are a treat as well. The main set is the library of Henry Higgins’ home, and it’s realistic and imposing, but with help from Michael Pasquini’s evocative lighting, it works as a number of other settings.

“My Fair Lady” premiered on Broadway 60 years ago, and one of the remarkable things about the show is how well its songs hold up. Almost every song is well-known, most are great and none are bad. That’s rare for even the best musicals. The five-piece orchestra for this Manatee Players show (violin, reeds, brass and percussion, led by keyboardist Paul Smith) sounds fuller than Manatee Players orchestras usually do. And while you might long for a bigger orchestra and a richer sound, the performances of numbers such as “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Get Me to the Church on Time” do not disappoint, even compared to familiar professional versions.

Nielsen’s performance is by far the most impressive, but it’s not the only great one. Manatee Players regular Michael Bajjaly is delightful as the curmudgeonly Higgins, and his reading of “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” is an emotional highlight of the evening. Higgins’ numbers were famously written as spoken-word pieces for the non-singing Rex Harrison, but Bajjaly injects a bit of tunefulness into his numbers.

Meliss Kenworthy is a complete delight as Higgins’ mother, a small but meaty role that’s much more about acting than singing, and Joe Hunter is a load of fun as Eliza’s crusty dad. (It’s his fifth time performing the role, according to the program notes.)

On opening night, Peter Ruscoe seemed unfocused as Pickering.

One problem with “My Fair Lady” is that it’s really hard to figure out why the lovely and lively Eliza ends up being smitten by the highly unpleasant Higgins, who treats her as something to be scraped off the bottom of his shoe. The actors in that role have to evoke some chemistry that goes beyond what’s in the script. Nielsen and Bajjaly, despite their outstanding individual performances, don’t manage that, and you find yourself hoping they won’t end up together.

But that feeling doesn’t remain for long. The towering feeling of all those great performances of the great songs stays with you, and you keep singing them in your head, or maybe even out loud, the day after you’ve seen this production.

Details: Through Oct. 9, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $27-$37. 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.

This story was originally published September 23, 2016 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Manatee Players stage a charming version of ‘My Fair Lady’."