My Fair Lady at the Eccles

I'm a big fan of the musical My Fair Lady (there is just something comforting about all of the old favorites from Broadway's Golden Era) so I have been looking forward to the Lincoln Center production currently touring ever since the 2023-2024 Broadway at the Eccles season was announced!  I was able to see it last night and, unfortunately, I was a little bit underwhelmed by it.  When Professor Henry Higgins (Jonathan Grunert) and Colonel Pickering (John Adkison) encounter a Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Annette Barrios-Torres) in Covent Garden, Higgins boasts that he could pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball within six months by teaching her to speak properly.  Even though Eliza is a success at the ball, she becomes a true lady when she compels Higgins to treat her like one.  While I love all of the music in this show and wait with great anticipation for all of my favorite songs, including "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," With a Little Bit of Luck," "Just You Wait," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," I found the performances to lack energy despite the fact that everyone in the cast has a beautiful voice (especially Borrios-Torres).  The big production numbers, "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time," are the best scenes in the show thanks to Michael Hegarty's comedic turn as Alfred P. Doolittle (and some cross-dressing can-can dancers) but every other number has surprisingly unimaginative choreography and nothing really grabbed my attention.  I especially found the ball scene to be oddly anticlimactic because it features couples dancing without much opportunity for Eliza to practice her correct diction with Professor Zoltan Karpathy (Christopher Isolando).  The costumes at Ascot are usually a highlight of the show for me but the ones in this scene are muted pastels rather than the dramatic black and white ones that you usually see (they are admittedly very beautiful, especially the hats, but they do not have a lot of impact).  I did, however, love the jewel-toned gowns, particularly Eliza's golden one, at the ball and both Higgins and Pickering have some opulent dressing gowns and smoking jackets.  The other aspect of the production that really impressed me was the set, especially the opera house in Covent Garden, Henry Higgins' wood paneled study (I loved the spiral staircase connecting the two levels and the large arched window), and the Embassy ballroom (the lighting in this scene is gorgeous).  I will always love this show and this version is "loverly" enough for me to recommend it but, honestly, I have seen much better local productions (especially this one) with tickets at half the price.  It runs at the Eccles Theatre through November 18 (go here for tickets).