A Loverly Evening...

What fun! As TC's birthday gift to me, we went to see a production of My Fair Lady last night and had a wonderful time. I was a little bit worried before going, since the movie version is one of my all-time favourites and I didn't want to come away disappointed, but my fears were unfounded. I think the producers/director made a wise decision in that they didn't add the burden of trying to be different from the movie to the play. Instead, they kept most of the same elements and made them their own. The result was a beautiful, well choreographed, thoroughly enjoyable performance!

As a fan of the movie, I was especially excited to find out that the lady who was playing Mrs. Higgins, the professor's mother, was the same lady who did the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in the movie version. Her name is Marni Nixon, and it turns out that she was also the singing voice for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, as well as for Natalie Wood in West Side Story.

I think one of the things that I enjoyed the most about the performance was the signing that was going on for the deaf and hearing impaired to one side of the stage. Two ladies signed the entire musical, which must have been exhausting for them - especially given the fact that My Fair Lady is largely about sound. How does one translate an accent and the intricacies of its social connotations into sign? I had no idea what they were saying, but it was beautiful to watch!

The reason that they had the signers was that the performance we attended was for the benefit of the Canadian Hearing Society, which was holding a silent auction to raise funds as well. Being the crafty, but good-hearted, people that we are, TC and I decided to put a bid in on an item early on, just to build it up so they'd get a good donation for it. We figured that at some point during the intermission, someone would out-bid us. Well, it turns out no one did. So we came home with a lovely basket of maple related products, including maple cookies, 2 bottles of maple apple caramel, a bottle of maple syrup with orange liqeur, a bottle of rum-infused maple syrup, a box of assorted teas and an espresso cup and saucer.

I'd have taken a picture, but TC left for BC this afternoon, and he took the camera with him once again. So we're going to have to go picture-free for the next few days :)