"My Fair Lady" a fabulous triumph

Thursday night's performance of "My Fair Lady" at the Anderson Union High School Performing Arts Center was a truly fabulous example of community theater at its best.

What made it an even greater triumph for all involved is knowing that this is a high school production that combines youthful talent from Anderson Union and West Valley high schools into nearly three hours of non-stop entertainment.

Anderson senior Delanie Specht performing as Eliza Doolittle , the Cockney flower merchant in 1912 London, is virtually flawless and therefore totally believable in her transformation from illiterate guttersnipe to sophisticated lady under the tireless and sometimes cruel tutelage of Michael Chambers, a senior at West Valley High cast in the role of linguist Henry Higgins, a renowned professor of phonetics.

Although this is his first production, Anderson High senior Preston Arthur, 17, plays a strong second to Chambers as his wealthy patron, Col. Hugh Pickering, with whom Professor Higgins makes a five Crown bet regarding the outcome of Higgins' idle boast that he could turn a "Covent Garden cabbage girl" into a duchess simply by dressing one up in fancy clothes and tutoring the girl for six months in proper diction, pronunciation and vocabulary as well as etiquette and deportment.

Other strong performances of note included Anderson High senior Jordan Kaze cast as Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza's estranged and ne'er-do-well father, and Anderson High senior Nathan Saunders who in his fourth high school production plays the part of Freddie Eynsford-Hill, a high-society gentleman smitten by Eliza Doolittle's stunning good looks during the horse races at Ascot but later spurned when Eliza captures the man of her love interests as the play ends.

Thirty-two student actors and actresses are listed in the program, along with a singing and dancing ensemble of another 16 students so forgive me for not including the names of all those budding thespians.

The off-stage orchestra of 12 musicians, accompanied by Cheryl Dummer and directed by Ted Dykstra added much to the production, as did the 100 or more costumes created by a team of 14 women led by Charleen Miller and Ginger Wilcox.

The Ascot racing scene and the Transylvanian Embassy ballroom scene amply displayed the talents of each seamstress as well as the overall vision of Artistic Director Nancy Dutton, who collaborated with her assistant Shaye Keenen and at least seven other high-powered adults to pull the production into its polished, final form.

Amply evident from the quality of performances drawn from even the most secondary of youthful actors were the professional coaching tips provided by Drama Director John Truitt and his assistant, Cassandra McEachen.

"The musical 'My Fair Lady' gives us all an opportunity to stop and look at how we are seen by others and what we can do to lift ourselves," said Hughes, who was quoted in the program notes.

If that is the case, then everyone involved in this stage triumph has truly done some heavy lifting.