Latest Milford Cabinet Article

Riverbend School of Theatre presents
My Fair Lady
By Janine Leffler



Come enjoy the timeless classic My Fair Lady performed by the Riverbend School of Theatre. The cast and production staff looks forward to entertaining you with a fabulous and most enjoyable show.

The Riverbend School of Theatre is a new troupe which differs from the Riverbend Youth Company. In the School of Theatre, run by Tody Tarnow, professional actors help to train the young actors and teach them to withhold to professional standards. The ages of the actors in the Riverbend School of Theatre is 12-18 with very few students cast who are under age 13. The age level of Riverbend Youth Company typically ranges from age 8 and up depending on the production.

Producer Toby Tarnow says that she is excited about putting on the show My Fair Lady. It is a multilayered show full of quick and complex scene changes. Even though the show is challenging, Tanrow feels blessed to be working with such a talented production staff and cast and looks forward for the upcoming performances.

The show has been cast and rehearsals have been underway for several months. When performing this musical, actors face many more responsibilities than simply memorizing their lines. They also have to remember music and choreography, British accents, familiarize themselves with the plot, as well as dealing with the length of the show. Anastasia Feraco elaborated on the fact that it is sometimes difficult to switch back and forth between the dialects of the upper and lower class British accents. When it comes to character portrayal Emily Getchell Lacey says her biggest challenge has been acting snobby and stuck up because it is not something that describes her real personality. For Alec Paulson, who plays Freddy, Eliza Doolittle’s love interest, the difficulty is acting ‘love struck’ because he has never been in that situation in real life. He said that another challenge has been hitting the high notes in his song On the Street Where You Live.

Actors in this production have various methods when it comes to getting into character and memorizing their lines. Kristin Withers likes to read books about the time period so she can learn more about the history. This also helps her from a technical standpoint when it comes to designing the costumes. Alec Paulson uses the simple method of going over his lines numerous times until he is comfortable with saying them. When it comes to line memorization, Andrew Cass of Milford tape records his lines and the preceding lines so he can figure out the proper time for him to say his lines. People in the ensemble, who do not have a speaking role, have creative ways to get into character. Adele Patnaude and Brittney Gentilhommme like to picture themselves in certain scenes and imagine what they would say to bring out the emotion of the character.

One thing that stands out to Emily Getchell Lacey is how close the cast has become over the period of rehearsing. “We’re all really close, almost like a family.” Getchell-Lacey stated. From both an acting and technical standpoint Kristin Withers enjoys seeing how everything has come together. Both the cast and producer Toby Tanrow look forward to performing My Fair Lady, at The Amato Center for The Performing Arts in Milford from November 13-November 22nd. Friday and Saturday performances will be at 7:30pm and there will be a Sunday matinee at 2:00pm.