By Frank O’Donnell, WPRO Arts and Entertainment Contributor
Both Maria Day and Tom Gleadow speak fondly of the musical, “My Fair Lady.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” says Day. “I’ve never done it before.”
It was Gleadow’s first high school musical. “I ended up playing Harry, one of the Cockneys, in the ensemble,” he says. “And I met girls, so there it is. That’s the reason I did it. Horrible, but that’s why I said yes.”
That was a long time ago. Now, Gleadow and Day are appearing together in “My Fair Lady” at Theatre by the Sea, she as Henry Higgins’ mother, he as Colonel Pickering.
For Day, it marks a return to TBTS. “I started there, my senior year in high school,” she recalls. “I went down to audition for Tommy Brent. I had to hitch a ride.” She was cast in “Grease,” and then was a swing/understudy for a few seasons. “From 1985 to 1987, I was part of their company for the whole season. It was awesome. These are my stomping grounds.”
Gleadow has done a number of productions at TBTS, including “Hairspray” and last year’s “Spamalot.” Later this season, he’ll return in “Young Frankenstein.”
It’s been almost 20 years since Day’s been on stage. She’s been TBTS’s prop master for a couple of seasons – she calls herself the Prop Tart – but she gave up performing to raise her children. “Now, it’s Rose’s turn,” she says, taking a page out of “Gypsy.”
“To be back on the stage is thrilling to me. This is my little theater. I’m home. I wish I felt as comfortable now as I did when I was a kid, but I’m on my toes. It’s like I’m the new kid, and this time I’m not the ingénue or the comic relief.”
Gleadow’s having fun playing his character. “Pickering’s fun. He sits around and occasionally says things, and some of them are funny. You can’t hate that. You have to love that.”
Day spent a lot of time working on Mrs. Higgins. “I started off playing this role as a mirror to Tom (Gleadow). Pickering’s a big of a fumbler, a wordy, funny old man. I was bringing my energy to that as well. But she’s so warm and compassionate to Eliza, a comfort, the voice of reason. So I worked to make her more genuine, less of a caricature.”
The rehearsal process with TV star Charles Shaughnessy, who plays Higgins, was interesting. Gleadow would go to New York once a week to work with him and the other principals, mostly on dialogue. The first time Day met him was when he Skyped into a rehearsal a week before the show’s tech week.
“It was like working with Max Headroom,” Day joked. Unfortunately, some of our younger readers will have to Google that reference, just like a lot of the younger folks in the show’s ensemble.
This process is “different than anything I’ve ever done,” says Gleadow. “I hope this isn’t the new way of theater.” He’s not knocking the show’s star. “Charlie’s great. He’s very good, he’s done theater, he knows this show, he knows how to drive this show.”
It’s just disconcerting when you don’t actually have the star in the room until two days before the show opens.
Still, it didn’t seem to put anyone off their marks. You don’t get any sense at all in watching the show that Shaughnessy had just arrived. “It’ a good show,” says Gleadow. “Charlie is fantastic, and our Eliza is absolutely charming. If you can’t smile watching her, there’s something wrong with you.”
“My Fair Lady” runs through July 18 at Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck. Visit www.theatrebythesea.biz or call 401.72.TKTS for complete information.
