STAGE REVIEWS : ‘My Fair Lady’ Is Still a Charmer : Crisp Production by the Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera Has Some Winning Performances

“My Fair Lady” is such a well-crafted American musical that one almost forgets that the play that inspired it, “Pygmalion,” was written by the most vociferous social critic of his time and place, George Bernard Shaw. When he took to task the arrogant, upper-class scholar Prof. Henry Higgins and pitted him against the natural intelligence and streetwise humanity of the lowly flower-girl Eliza Dolittle, he was transcribing a class war and not a deathless love affair.

The musical version’s absence of class-war implications is not all unpleasant, however, as the crisp production currently presented by Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera demonstrates. The famous songs by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner are as witty and tuneful as ever, rendered by an adroit company under the clean direction of Marla Gam-Hudson.

The story, based loosely upon the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion and his creation, Galatea, follows the transfiguration of Eliza from a “guttersnipe” into a perfect lady under the tutelage of the famous dialectician Higgins and his genteel associate, Col. Pickering.

Steven Biggs gives a winning performance as the callous pragmatist Higgins, finding charm and passion in Higgins’ insufferable self-possession. And he manages to articulate every word of those tongue-twisting patter songs in spite of a relentless, prerecorded orchestral accompaniment that races on whether the performer is ready or not.

Cori Lanting-McCormick brings clear, confident singing and a shining smile to Eliza. Her physical interpretation is exaggerated, but it does pay off in her “deliciously low” and amusing handkerchief technique.

As Pickering, Roger Axworthy is round and friendly and bumbling. His uncertain accent is distracting, principally because the story concerns itself so much with proper speech and meticulous enunciation. D.D. Calhoun has an easy elegance as Mrs. Higgins, long-suffering mother of the professor.

Edward Wright, his mischievous blue eyes aglitter, nearly runs away with the show as Eliza’s father, Alfred P. Dolittle. He is greatly abetted by the large chorus that joins him in rousing renditions of “With a Little Bit of Luck” and “Get Me to the Church on Time.”

The choreography by Wade Collings though lively, is uninspired. But the big sound coming out of that chorus (under the direction of Tim Nelson) still makes one want to dance.

Director Gam-Hudson’s whole production has the smooth airiness of a well-oiled society fete, where everything is a little larger than life.

The turntable set design by Gil Morales and Spectrum Design rolls the events along neatly. The back-lit cutouts of London give an extra hint of cartoonishness. The costumes, coordinated by Barbara Canton, are at least flavorful and at best truly gorgeous. Eliza’s ball gown is a white, beaded confection that seems to have leaped right off Audrey Hepburn’s back.

The last moments of the story, in which Lerner’s book irrevocably transforms Shaw’s social war into a romance, have a very awkward feeling about them, and to my mind, always have. The awkwardness is likely accentuated by the sexual politics of our age, which require kindness and even affection of a man in love. As my 6-year-old companion commented on Higgins’ acerbic lament, “A Hymn to Him,”: “What does he mean, ‘Why can’t a woman be more like a man?’ Why can’t a man be more like a woman?”

‘My Fair Lady’

A Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera presentation of the musical. Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Music by Frederick Loewe. Directed by Marla Gam-Hudson. With Billy Aniceto, Todd Davis, Scott Caster, Bonnie Moran, Cori Lanting-McCormick, Mark Slama, Roger Axworthy, Terri Gandy, Steven Biggs, Ron Lipp, Tom Royer, Marty Silva, Vince Aniceto, Val Aniceto, Michael Pugliese, Stu Erikson, Edward Wright, Tangie Velie, Gloria Nichols, D.D. Calhoun, Adrianne Poole, Leslie Holland, Jill Wolf, Danielle Avey, Paige Burt, Leslie Holland, Shirley Nichols and Kim Royster. Choreographer: Wade Collings. Music director: Tim Nelson. Set Designer: Gil Morales. Lighting designer: Edward Huber. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through June 21 at the Forum Theater, 4175 Fairmont Blvd., Yorba Linda. $12, general; $10, children and senior citizens. (714) 779-8591.