PRESENTS Study Guide for Educators Book and lyrics by JAY ALAN LERNER Music by FREDERICK LOEWE Adapted from PYGMALION by GEORGE BERNARD SHAW Marian Theatre: April 23–May 10, 2015 Photos: Luis Escobar Reflections Solvang Festival Theater: June 11–July 12, 2015 www.pcpa.org Photography Studio TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome to the PCPA / Theater Etiquette..................................................................2 How to Use This Study Guide..................................................................................... 3 Story and Production Elements Production Team and Cast...............................................................................4 About the Authors............................................................................................ 5 Synopsis of My Fair Lady...................................................................................6 Themes............................................................................................................. 10 Key Words........................................................................................................ 11 British Currency Reference Guide................................................................... 12 Student Activities Additional Materials......................................................................................... 13 Writing and Discussion Prompts.......................................................................14 Excerpts from Pygmalion Act 2: Doolittle’s “undeserving poor” speech...................................................15 Act 5: Doolittle’s “middle class morality” speech............................................. 16 Act 4: Eliza and Higgins’s argument................................................................ 17 Sequel: What Happened Afterwards (Shaw’s epilogue)....................................... 20 1 A NOTE TO THE TEACHER Thank you for bringing your students to the PCPA’s Pacific Conservatory Theatre at Allan Hancock College. Here are some helpful hints for your visit to the Marian Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable day of live theater for you and your students. We offer you this study guide as a tool to prepare your students prior to the performance, and to prompt discussion, critical thought, and creativity after the performance. SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE Notable behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience they will remember for years. 1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. Chaperones should be one adult for every ten students. Our ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are visible, between every group of ten students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the entire performance. 2. Once seated in the theater, students may go to the bathroom in small groups with the teacher's permission. Please chaperone younger students. Once the show is over, please remain seated until the House Manager dismisses your school. 3. Please remind your students that we do not permit: ‣ food, gum, drinks, smoking, hats, backpacks, or large purses ‣ disruptive talking ‣ disorderly and inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.) ‣ cameras, iPods, cell phones, beepers, tape recorders, handheld video games ‣ (Adults are asked to put any beepers or cell phones on silent or vibrate) In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the theater without ticket refunds. 4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live performance: Sometimes we forget when we come into a theater that we are one of the most important parts of the production. Without an audience there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet attention, and applause is part of the play. When we watch movies or television we are watching images on a screen, and what we say or do cannot affect them. In live theater, the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance. The PCPA welcomes you as a partner in the live theater experience from the moment you take your seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year. 2 How to use this study guide This study guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the PCPA’s stage production of My Fair Lady. Although the guide’s intent is to enhance the student’s theatrical experience, it can also be used as an introduction to the components of a play and the production elements involved in a play’s presentation. The guide has been organized into three major sections: Story and Production Elements Student Activities Excerpts from Pygmalion Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that My Fair Lady creates onstage. See the “Additional Materials” page in the Student Activities section for recommendations to prepare students before attending the PCPA performance of My Fair Lady or to enrich post-performance discussions and analyses. Use the Excerpts from Pygmalion section as a comparison tool and as a reference for important thematic moments in the story. 3 MY FAIR LADY Book and lyrics by JAY ALAN LERNER Music by FREDERICK LOEWE Adapted from PYGMALION by GEORGE BERNARD SHAW CREATIVE TEAM Director/Choreographer Michael Jenkinson Musical Director Callum Morris Scenic Designer Jason Bolen Costume Designer Eddy L. Barrows Lighting Designer Michael P. Frohling Sound Designer Elisabeth Rebel Stage Manager Jahana Azodi* CAST OF CHARACTERS Eliza Doolittle Karin Hendricks Colonel Pickering Peter S. Hadres* Mrs. Higgins Kitty Balay* Henry Higgins Andrew Philpot* Freddy Eynsford-Hill Matt Koenig Alfred P. Doolittle Erik Stein* Harry Chad Patterson Jamie George Walker Mrs. Pearce Elizabeth Stuart* Mrs. Eynsford-Hill Ambre Shoneff Ensemble Sydni Abenido, Lucas Michael Chandler, Mike Fiore, Annali Fuchs, Holly Halay, Spencer Hamilton, Jacob Inman, Mia Mekjian, Jillian Osborne, Alysa Perry, Alex Stewart, Galen Schloming, Jordan Stidham, Katie Wackowski * Member, Actors’ Equity Association 4 About the Authors Jay Alan Lerner (book and lyrics, My Fair Lady) Lerner was born into a wealthy family in 1918 and studied piano beginning at the age of 5. He attended Juilliard in 1936-1937 and later graduated from Harvard. There he lost the sight in one eye during a boxing match forcing him to give up his plans of becoming a pilot. He opted for Harvard’s theater program and developed a love of writing radio plays. His mentors were Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart. His partnership with Frederick Loewe began in 1942. After three unsuccessful attempts they landed their first real hit with Brigadoon. The team is also credited for creating Paint Your Wagon, Gigi, and Camelot. Their final collaboration, after Lerner coaxed Loewe out of retirement, was the unsuccessful film The Little Prince, 1974. Lerner continued writing musicals, one of which won him an Academy Award for his screenplay for An American in Paris. Working with Burton Lane he wrote Royal Wedding and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. During his career he has collaborate with Kurt Weill, Andre Previn, and Leonard Bernstein twice, once as a fellow classmates at Harvard then much later, in 1976, on Bernstein’s last musical, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After Oscar Hammerstein passed away, Lerner attempted a collaboration with Richard Rodgers, though that proved unworkable. Frederick Loewe (composer, My Fair Lady) Loewe was born in Berlin in 1901. A self-taught pianist (from the age of 8) he helped his father—an operetta star—rehearse for shows. By the time he turned 15, he was receiving public recognition for his compositions and performances. Accompanying his father to New York in 1925 he decided to make a go of it on Broadway, though with little success. He took odd jobs, including playing piano in movie theaters accompanying silent pictures which he improvized on the spot. Loewe met Lerner by chance at a famous night spot, The Lambs Club, in 1942 and their first collaboration was on the production of Life of the Party which was not a hit. It took a couple more attempts before they created Brigadoon which established the writing team with world-wide recognition. Following the film musical Gigi in 1958 – which won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture – the team wrote Camelot to unenthusiastic responses from the first audiences. The stars, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, and Robert Goulet were summoned to sing a few numbers from the musical on the Ed Sullivan Show. Overnight, Camelot was an immediate hit. Lowe retired to Palm Springs, California.