Events on March 25, 2010

Hear what community life in Muncie was like during the 1930's from retired Ball State Librarian Nancy Turner. This program will span the years of the Great Depression up until the beginning of World War II. Thursday, March 25 from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. No admission fee.

Ball State's University Theatre will transform into the heart of England with its rendition of the classic "My Fair Lady." Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins will light up the stage with song and laughter in the musical made famous by Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. The musical opens March 25 at 7:30 p.m. Additional shows are scheduled for March 26-27 and March 30-April 3 at 7:30 p.m. Patrons can catch a matinee showing April 3 at 2:30 p.m.  

"My Fair Lady" is the transformation of Eliza Doolittle from a poor flower maid with a cockney accent to a "proper" English lady. Her journey is guided by the very strict and grumpy Professor Henry Higgins. The more Eliza learns how to be an English lady, the more independence she gains from Higgins, which forces the uptight professor to change as well in this witty and entertaining musical.  

Director Michael O'Hara said, "My Fair Lady is one of the greatest musicals from a Golden Age of Broadway; it was adapted from one of the greatest comedies of the English stage, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion; and here it will be performed by some of the most talented people that I have ever worked alongside."

Harold Mortimer, associate professor of musical theatre, is playing the part of Professor Henry Higgins while Ball State students are playing the other roles. The musical includes the well-known numbers "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

O'Hara added, "The best part is the joy in sharing the happy but hard work of collaborating with such great students and colleagues to create a complex work of art that says something significant about our human experience."

Audiences of all ages will be entertained and delighted by the brave Eliza Doolittle and the irritable Professor Higgins in the this rendition of "My Fair Lady."