UNION, NJ — American Theater Group presents “My Fair Lady” at three New Jersey venues. From Feb. 26 through March 15, it will be running at the Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge, the DMK Black Box Theater/Union Arts Center in Union and Union County Performing Arts Center’s Hamilton Stage in Rahway.
The classical musical has an unforgettable score including, “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”
It will be directed by ATG’s producing artistic director, James Vagias, with choreography by Victoria Casillo and musical direction by Chase Kessler.
Vagias has been in the entertainment industry since 1983. He started out as a young attorney for the Screen Actors Guild. Then working with Actors’ Equity Association, he decided he wanted to be on the other side of the glass window – not looking in. And he did it without any theater educational background. “Pure luck,” he said.
He began working as a managing director at a theater, then ran his own entertainment company, and then, in 2012, he started ATG with Joe Mancuso and Rick Sordelet. He’s produced more than 50 new – and classic – plays and musicals.
Theater was something he thought was for other people. He said, “When you grow up, you get a real job and become a lawyer or doctor. I was still a lawyer. I went to watch a client rehearse for a show. I was enthralled. I was leaving to go back to work. I said, ‘The folks I’m leaving, that’s really cool work. I’m doing the wrong thing.’”
Vagias considers “My Fair Lady” to be one of the great American musicals of all time. He said, “The score is priceless, flawless. The script is magnificent. I’m enjoying drinking in the lyrics, the score, the book. It’s second to none.”
ATG will be doing the chamber version, involving 10 actors doing multiple roles versus 25 actors. “The audience gets a chance to see an actor play so many different roles. We have a beautiful arrangement of two pianos,” said Vagias.
If you’ve never seen “My Fair Lady,” Vagias feels this show would be a great way to introduce yourself to it. Or reintroduce yourself to it, if you have seen it.
He said, “It will be fresh and it will feel fresh. It’s not like ‘My Fair Lady’ you’ve seen in the past. It’s one of the greatest scores ever written for musical theater.”
For tickets, visit https://www.americantheatergroup.org/, Early bird ticketing is in effect until Sunday, Feb. 1.
Photos Courtesy of Michael Messing
