Ela Theatre to present 'My Fair Lady'

Don't judge a book by its cover.

That is the message that a group of 68 children ages 9 to 17 hope to tell through song, dance and a classic story.

The Ela Theatre Co. will present "My Fair Lady" performances at 7 p.m. today and Saturday for the first time at Lake Zurich High School's Performing Arts Center.

The Ela Theatre Co. is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization designed to create opportunities in the performing arts for adults and children in Ela Township.

"My Fair Lady" tells the story of Professor Higgins, played by Ryan Gorey, who makes a bet with Colonel Pickering, played by Jeffrey Kornfeld, to turn Eliza Doolittle into a proper speaking lady. Bridget Euker plays Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl from Lisson Grove working outside Covent Garden.

As England's leading phonetics expert and upper class bachelor, Higgins drills Eliza on the English language. He puts her to the test by introducing her to his mother's snobbish guests at a horse race and to high society at an Embassy ball.

Eliza feels treated like an experiment and not a human and runs away. While Higgins seeks to transform Eliza, it is Higgins who is transformed. He learns the value of a person and how he has grown fond of her.

Mary Beth Euker, who directs the cast with Robin Kern, said they chose "My Fair Lady" not only to bring a story brought many times on Broadway to the community stage, but also because it shares an important message.

"Don't try to change people. Take them for who they are," said cast member Madi Maskalunas.

Helping to tell the story will be children who took dialect lessons to speak and sing with the proper accent to play British society ranging from aristocrats to cockneys.

"It is fun talking in accents," Casey McGinnis said. "In school, we are always goofing around and talking like that."

Euker added what surprised her most preparing for the show is watching the children learn to dance.

"Everyone has learned to do the waltz. Everyone has learned to do the tango," she said. "I didn't learn these 'til I was an adult."

Filling the story will be music co-written by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, who also wrote the screenplay. Among the songs are "Wouldn't It be Loverly?", "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time."

Tickets purchased at the door cost $12 for adults and children and $8 for children under age 6.

If you go

What: Ela Theatre Co. presents "My Fair Lady"

When: 7 p.m. today and Saturday

Where: Lake Zurich High School Performing Arts Center, 300 Church St.

More info: www.elatheatrecompany.org