Sixty years of My Fair Lady

06 Oct 2016

The 60th anniversary production of beloved musical My Fair Lady has hit the stage at the Sydney Opera House last month, directed by stage, screen and theatre legend Dame Julie Andrews.

When the Broadway production first opened in 1956, it starred Dame Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in the lead roles and introduced the world to classics such as I could have danced all night, The rain in spain and Loverly. In 1964, the Academy Award-winning film adaptation followed, starring Audrey Hepburn.

“I am thrilled to be working with this extraordinary cast and crew. Having the opportunity to meet so many actors during the auditions opened my eyes to the vast amount of talent in Australia,” said Dame Julie Andrews.

“I am excited to welcome lovely Anna O’Byrne (who will play Eliza Doolittle) and simply delighted that Alex Jennings will be portraying our Professor Higgins. Directing this lovely piece will allow me to honour my mentor, Moss Hart, and hopefully expose a new generation of theatre lovers to this important musical.”

Mozart in the country

Opera Australia’s The Marriage of Figaro is toured around regional Australia, bringing Mozart’s much-loved opera to Wollongong, Tamworth, Burnie, Albury, Armidale, Dubbo and a range of other towns.

The hilarious Mozart production was performed in English with a chamber orchestra and local children had the opportunity to be trained and perform with Opera Australia through the Regional Children’s Chorus program.

“When you add fantastic music by Mozart, some incredible singing, a small orchestra that’s producing the most amazing sounds for that number of people and have something that’s actually good to look at, I think it’s like an explosion,” said set and costume designer Robert Kemp.