DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Arena Stage has a holiday gift waiting for you on the Fichandler Stage - a ‘loverly,' joyful, colorful, funny, brilliantly acted and beautifully sung production of the much loved musical My Fair Lady. If you love Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's timeless score you will simply adore it! It's a feast for musical theatre lovers everywhere. And in the round - in the intimate Fichandler - Professor Henry Higgins (Benedict Campbell), Eliza Doolittle (Manna Nichols), Colonel Pickering (Thomas Adrian Simpson), Alfred Doolittle (James Saito), and Mrs. Higgins (Catherine Flye) are right there in front of you and beside you. And as the story unfolds and those familiar songs are played and sung, it's musical heaven!"
Washington Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...It's no secret that Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith is fascinated by iconic, "gold-standard" American musicals. And now D.C. theatergoers will benefit from that fascination in Smith's highly polished, intelligent production of "My Fair Lady," with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe."
Baltimore Sun - Recommended
"...Now comes "My Fair Lady." This production isn't an unqualified success - a curious bit of miscasting and some cramped, uninteresting choreography take a toll - but it provides a welcome reminder of the masterpiece status of this 1956 Lerner and Loewe hit, which is as rich in plot as in music."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...For those who know this musical like the back of their hand, such issues will take a backseat to the more burning questions of whether the famous lines are delivered with spirit and the songs fly. Here they most certainly are and do. Whatever thoughts may be provoked by questions of class, sexism or confusing accents, before long someone is breaking into song, dance or both and for those who are here for their fix, it's all about the joy."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"... Manna Nichols is a lovely and lovable Eliza Doolittle, making her songs soar while also nailing the comedy and finding her way among the shifting accents. (The fact that she is of Asian descent makes no difference: Smith's program notes mention the bubbling stew of races, ethnicities, and nationalities living in London in 1912.) James Saito is capable as Alfred P. Doolittle, if not quite the galvanizing figure he should be in his major scenes. He is a fine singer and dancer, but he doesn't dominate the stage when surrounded by the grungy men and overly painted women of the chorus."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"... The biggest gift that comes with producing My Fair Lady is the music, and Smith’s cast doesn’t disappoint. Ensemble scenes bring out the best in the production, whether it’s Mrs. Pearce (Sherri L. Edelen) and two maids entreating Eliza to go to sleep, or the entire cast singing about the “gripping, absolutely ripping” action at Ascot in a bored monotone. As Eliza, the flower girl plucked from the gutter to act as an experiment in phonetics, Nichols has a truly lovely singing voice, and Campbell’s Rex Harrison-like affect conveys all the right notes of disdain. It’s a relief after the distinctly flat opening scene, in which the action feels all over the place and the repartee between Eliza and Higgins is oddly listless."
ShowBizRadio - Highly Recommended
"... When talent and energy combine, a cast can really bring the house down. That is what the cast and crew of My Fair Lady at the Arena Stage has done with their lively, beautifully choreographed iteration of the Lerner and Lowe classic. Set exactly a hundred years ago, in 1912, this production took every opportunity to highlight the relevancy of one girl’s battle to find her place in a stratified class society."
MD Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"...Director Molly Smith's production of My Fair Lady is a TRIUMPH! The steampunk idea as well as the nontraditional casting really worked for this musical. Let's wish Molly Smith all the best for this production as well as for her upcoming opportunity to direct a Broadway show, Eric Coble's The Velocity of Autumn, a two-character play that is to star Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
I have fallen in love all over again with My Fair Lady.
I cannot speak for the rest of the capacity crowd sitting in the Fichlander at Arena Stage the other night, but I was bewitched by the artistry and finesse of this production. First and foremost, the show itself is one of the most lyrical and literate titles from the Golden Age of Musicals. With the clear mission of presenting the best American theatre possible, it was inevitable that Arena Stage would mount a production of My Fair Lady and it deserves to run longer than its closing date, January 6, 2013.