‘My Fair Lady’ coming to Colorado Springs | Arts & Entertainment

Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” will be hitting Pikes Peak Center this week as part of its Broadway series.

The musical tells the story of a young Cockney flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, who is spotted by linguistics professor Henry Higgins. Set in London during the early 1900s, Higgins becomes determined to transform Doolittle from a working-class girl into a “proper lady.”

“Over the course of the show, Eliza realizes that she is a lot more than just what a man tells her she is and that she can be her own person,” said Nathan Haltiwanger, who plays Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the show. “She’s a strong and independent person, and she kind of gains a lot of power throughout the show.”

Haltiwanger’s character, Freddy, is an aristocrat who becomes captivated by Eliza, camping outside her house for weeks, serenading her and writing her love letters.

“He believes her to be this high-class aristocrat, but because she is low class, she’s so different from everybody he’s ever met,” Haltiwanger said. “Her personality and the way she carries herself is so different and he just finds that so enchanting, and he can’t get enough of it.”

The musical is based on a play called “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw. Haltiwanger describes it as “a great love story,” but also a tale of women empowerment.

“For being written as in the early 1900s, it’s a really amazing show about woman empowerment and about women being these strong, independent people, and being able to kind of pick themselves up by the bootstraps and not needing somebody to kind of guide them along,” he said.

Haltiwanger also said the show was relatable in its portrayal of falling in love.

“In Freddy’s case, I think he has such a relatable love story of that he is this kind of young guy who falls in love with this woman and doesn’t know how to handle it,” he said. “He just has that feeling that I think everybody gets when they first have a crush or fall in love, and they just have all this energy and they don’t know what to do with it and they’re so excited and they just want to be around that person all the time.”

As for the performance, Haltiwanger said to expect a magical, classic take on the well-known musical.

“I think it’s just a really great interpretation of a fantastic musical and you kind of get everything you want from this musical,” he said. “Most people kind of know what they want going into ‘My Fair Lady,’ and I think we do a really good job of delivering that.”