My Fair Lady, the classic Cinderella story of a poor London flower seller who is transformed into a lady following lessons from a dialectician/grammarian, is the inaugural staging in the first-ever Broadway-style subscription series — featuring locally-produced productions — at the Paramont, in Aurora, IL. Performances play Sept. 14-Oct. 2.
The company, under the direction of new series artistic director Jim Corti, will also include Chicago's Mary Ernster (a multiple Jeff Award winner) as Mrs. Higgins; John Reeger as Col. Pickering; Paula Scrofano as Mrs. Pearce; 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.
My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, has music by Frederick Loewe and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. For its melding of music, lyrics, script and dance, it is considered one of the major musicals of the 20th century.
Corti will also choreograph. The creative team includes 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).
Prestinario won the Jeff Award for Best Actress as Violet in Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's Side Show in 2007. Hosner was recently seen in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's acclaimed production of The Madness of King George. 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.
Opening is Sept. 16. For more information, visit ParamountAurora.com.
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The first Paramount Aurora subscription series already had 10,000 subscribers for a season that includes My Fair Lady, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line and Hair.
