By Ruvini Godakandae
Canterbury High School students are taking a trip back in time waltzing to music of the early 1900s and fine-tuning their British accents, in preparation for their biggest, upcoming musical ever.
Ottawa’s top art school will showcase their talent in a revival of the classic production, My Fair Lady.
The play, set in 1912, is a romantic comedy based on George Bernard Shaw’s original play Pygmalion.
It stars a poor, cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle whose life changes after she’s educated on how to speak properly by an uptight English professor named Henry Higgins.
Higgins makes a bet with his friend that he can transform her into a ‘lady.’
Claire Rouleau, who studies drama at the school, says she was thrilled when she heard the play was selected.
“I love musical theatre and when I heard we would be doing My Fair Lady, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to audition!’”
Rouleau says she enjoys being part of such a large production playing Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, the mother of one of Eliza’s love interests, Freddy.
Whether it’s the acting, singing, dancing or instrumental accompaniment by the school’s orchestra, Rouleau says there’s something for everyone.
The production will be the school’s second musical.
Two years ago, the students performed The Boyfriend which attracted 520 people, according to Paul Griffins, the director.
The hope is that the older generation’s familiarity with the play will increase ticket sales, says one of the director’s assistants.
According to Griffins, the musical was chosen because of the quality of the music and script. He says it’s “the perfect musical” with beautiful music and a nice flow throughout the play. “In musicals, scripts are often secondary to singing but the script in My Fair Lady is actually a good play by itself,” says Griffins.
Maija Buckley, the director’s assistant, says the play will have some new features with the addition of dance routines and a new twist to the ending.
“We want to stay true to the script but at the same time make it new and not your run-of-the-mill My Fair Lady production,” she says.
Bradley Barkman, who plays Higgins, says the students have been having a lot of fun adding a fresh and youthful feel to the play.
“The production has really turned into something more for me. It’s no longer a production of the boring 1950s Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn show. It’s more today’s satire of what happened back then.”
The production is the school’s largest yet with 60 cast members, not including the production crew and orchestra.
The play brings together students from a variety of age groups and disciplines including visual, dance, drama, music or literary divisions of the school.
Students taking part in the play come from all over the city including Centretown causing them to travel long distances.
Bridget Hall, a Grade 9 Canterbury drama student, says the musical is her first production and, that she had the incentive to join after her older sister became involved in the musical two years ago.
“It just seems like such a great play and there’s such a great atmosphere.”
Laughter, energy and excitement are expressed by cast members who practice their fancy footwork and rehearse smaller parts of the play.
Alex Leafloor says the most difficult part of becoming Eliza Doolittle has been learning how to move like a ‘lady’ and making the transition to speaking in a British accent.
Despite these challenges, she says the play is very funny and has been really fun to work on.
Leafloor says the school has a reputation for putting on great productions, a tradition she says they hope to uphold.
The musical will run from Dec 7-11 starting at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults.
Reservations for tickets can be made by calling the school at 731-1191 or they can be purchased in the main lobby at noon and from 3:35 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays until Dec. 2.