My Fair Lady

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

Portman, he can be seen in other recent films, including the romantic comedy Their Finest and Logan , the latest installment in the X-Men series. A native of Swaziland, Grant studied at the University of Cape Town and was a member of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town before moving to London in 1982.

Since 2003, Le Prevost has portrayed Georges Simenon’s fictional detective Jules Maigret for BBC Radio. He is the founder of The Wrestling School, a theater company that explores the relationship between language, performer, and audience through the work of Howard Barker.

ALAN JAY LERNER (Book and Lyrics) wrote these musicals with Fred- erick Loewe: Life of the Party, What’s Up, The Day Before Spring, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Gigi . He also wrote Love Life

LISA O’HARE* ( Eliza Doolittle ) was originally trained at the Royal Ballet School as a ballet dancer. The singer-actress performed in London at Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, before

DONALD MAXWELL* ( Alfred P. Doolittle ), the celebrated British baritone, has appeared with the Royal Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne, and all the other major British

with Kurt Weill, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and Carmelina with Burton Lane, Coco with André Previn, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with Leonard Bernstein, and Dance a Little Closer with Charles Strouse. He wrote the libretto and/or lyrics for the following films: An American in Paris, Gigi, The Little Prince, The Royal Wedding , and film versions of his plays. He wrote two books – On the Street Where I Live and The Musical Theatre: A Celebration . Lerner died in 1986.

making the transition to musical theater. Most recently she earned impressive critical praise originating the role of Sibella Hallward/ A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder that showed on Broadway. O’Hare has played the title role/ Mary Poppins in Australia, on the U.K. tour, and at Prince Edward Theatre in London; Eliza Doolittle on the U. S. and U. K. national tours of My Fair Lady (receiving the Elliot Norton and Denver Post Ovation Award); the title role/ Gigi at London’s Regent’s Park Open-Air Theatre; and Sally Bowles/ Cabaret for the Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles. She has numerous television credits, including roles in Castle , The Closer , and Undercovers . O’Hare’s performance as Sally Bowles/ Cabaret for the Reprise Theatre Company won the 2011 LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance.

companies, as well as the Met, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, and the leading houses of Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and Zurich. His repertoire of nearly 100 roles ranges from Don Pasquale and Falstaff to the Dutchman and Wozzeck, along with major roles of Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet, Janáček, Puccini, Stravinsky, and Britten. Engagements this season include Tosca (Royal Opera), Iain Bell’s In Parenthesis (world premiere, Welsh National Opera), and The Marriage of Figaro (Scottish Opera). In addition to DVDs including La fille du régiment , La bohème , (both from the Royal Opera) and Pelléas et Mélisande (Welsh National Opera), he has amassed a highly varied discography. Maxwell has held several prestigious posts, including artistic director of the Buxton Festival, director of the National Opera Studio, and head of opera studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

FREDERICK LOEWE (Music) , a child prodigy at four, made his concert debut on the piano with the Berlin Philharmonic at 13. He came to America in 1923. In 1942, Loewe approached Alan Jay Lerner in New York and

said he would like to collaborate with him on a musical show. The two went on to enjoy a notable partnership resulting in the stage musicals The Day Before Spring, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot, and the films Gigi and The Little Prince, as well as the stage version of Gigi . Loewe died on February 14, 1988 at 88, the winner of several Tony and Oscar awards.

NICHOLAS LE PREVOST* ( Colonel Pickerin g) was nominated for a 2002 Olivier Award for his performance in My Fair Lady at the Royal National Theatre and Theatre Royal- Drury Lane as well as in 1992 for George Feydeau’s

BRYCE PINKHAM* ( Freddy Eynsford-Hill ) is most widely known for originating the role of Monty Navarro in the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, for which

RICHARD E. GRANT* ( Henry Higgins ) is recog- nized internationally as one of the great performers of his generation. The actor initially achieved renown as the perpetually inebriated title character in his first film, Withnail and I , which

An Absolute Turkey (for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award). Recent successes include a critically acclaimed production of Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Winter Solstice and two Sheridan plays ( Love for Love , Royal Shakespeare Company and The Rivals , Arcola Theatre). Other major achievements range stylistically from Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company), Man and Superman (Royal National Theatre), Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound , and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Critic (both at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester) to most recently Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves (London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket).

he was nominated for Tony, Grammy, and Drama Desk awards. He appeared in the Broadway revival of The Heidi Chronicles as Peter Patrone, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance in 2015. His other Broadway credits include the lead role of Jim/ Holiday Inn , Carl Bruner/ Ghost, the Musical and Henry Clay/ Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson . His latest onscreen appearances include Baz Luhrmann’s Netflix series The Get Down , Robert De Niro’s The Comedian , and as a series regular on PBS’s Civil War drama series Mercy Street . His

has since established a large cult following. Some of Grant’s most memorable film credits include Bram Stoker’s Dracula , Henry & June , L.A. Story , Corpse Bride , Penelope , The Player , The Age of Innocence , The Portrait of a Lady , Spice World , Gosford Park, and The Iron Lady . He has countless television credits, including featured roles on Girls , Jekyll & Hyde , Dig , Downton Abbey, and Game of Thrones . In 2008, Grant performed the role of Henry Higgins/ My Fair Lady with Opera Australia in Sydney. In addition to Jackie starring Natalie

*Lyric debut

22 | April - May, 2017