Audiences packed the Majestic Theater for a production of the classic musical My Fair Lady, co-produced by Gettysburg College's Department of Theatre Arts and Sunderman Conservatory of Music. Nearly 2,000 people attended November's four-day run.

"We consider it to be another successful collaboration," said Theatre Arts Prof. Chris Kaufmann, who directed the show, his 14th on campus.

The production featured 36 onstage performers and a pit orchestra conducted by Sunderman Conservatory of Music Prof. John "Buzz" Jones.

"My Fair Lady was an artistic and box office success," said Jeffrey Gabel, executive director of the Majestic Theater. "As a dyed-in-the-tweed Anglophile who hasn't missed an episode of "Masterpiece Theatre" in over 30 years, I was surprised and delighted at how spot on our students' English accents were. The Majestic was built in 1925 by Henry Scharf, a local entrepreneur who attended Gettysburg College and saw the theater as a common gathering place for both the college and community."

"It was a true privilege to be able to perform in such a wonderful theater," said junior Laura Bembridge, who played Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl whom Professor Henry Higgins (junior Adam Pelta-Pauls) tries to refine. "Buzz Jones is a wonderful conductor who was very accommodating and easy to work with. The cast was full of talented actors and actresses whose personal strengths shined through. I was very lucky to be able to work with every single one of them."

"This production provided a great opportunity for our students to encounter a classic musical with incredibly demanding material," added Kauffman. "The students worked hard to meet the challenges the production presented. The faculty and staff of the college also did a tremendous job enabling all of the elements, and I hope the college community and the greater Gettysburg area were pleased with our collective effort."

Additional cast members included senior Jacob Henkoff playing Alfred Doolittle and junior Steve Krzyzanowski as Col. Pickering.

The set was designed by visiting instructor Eric Dixon, with choreography by Julie Herber, costume design by Kay Yaukey, lighting design by Jonathan Stiles, and vocal direction by Sunderman Conservatory of Music Prof. Kathleen Sasnett.

My Fair Lady is adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Nikki Rhoads, assistant director of communications, 717.337.6803