Jeff Award winner Andrea Prestinario is Eliza Doolittle to Chicago Shakespeare Theater veteran Nathan M. Hosner as Henry Higgins in the classic Cinderella story of a poor London flower seller who is transformed into a lady following lessons from a dialectician/grammarian.
The company, under the direction of new series artistic director Jim Corti, also includes 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.
The ensemble includes Carl Draper, Adam Estes, Nicholas Foster, Elizabeth Haley, Amanda Hartley, Katie Huff, Bobby Johnson, Kristina Larson-Hauk, Emilie Lynn, Amanda Grace Marcheschi, Alex McCrary, Brandon Moorhead, Liam Quealy, Jay Reynolds Jr, Todd Rhoades, David Rice, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Jill Shellabarger, Jennifer Shine, Tiffany Trainer, Lauren Villegas and Genna Walden.
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 also choreographs. 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 marks 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.
For more information, visit ParamountAurora.com.
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The first Paramount Aurora subscription series already has 10,000 subscribers for a season that also includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line and Hair.
