If a writer is fortunate enough, just once in a lifetime they come across the perfect subject. For Andrew Lloyd Webber, it was Phantom of the Opera. For Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, it was My Fair Lady. They opened the musical on Broadway in 1956 where it soon became the longest running musical of its time. In 1964, the story conquered the world of film and won an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2002, this London production revival received the Hilton Award for Outstanding Musical Production and with very good reason.

Based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady is the story of what happens when Professor Henry Higgins (Christopher Cazenove) accepts a good-natured challenge from his friend, Col. Hugh Pickering (Walter Charles) after he runs into a young and unrefined flower peddler, Eliza Doolittle (Lisa O’Hare). Pickering bets Higgins that he can’t turn Eliza into a “proper lady” in regards to her speech, dress, and mannerisms. Eliza is eager to take on the challenge so she can climb the social ladder.

Some popular targets of the story include English class, the inequality of English society, and English snobbery. Eliza is introduced as an outsider on two fronts: class and gender. This is clearly demonstrated in the opening scene when bad weather (some nice effects here) drives the poor flower peddlers and market vendors to seek shelter elsewhere so patrons emerging from the opera can seek shelter without being pestered.

The predominant theme of the musical is transformation. It is a humorous delight to watch Eliza struggle her way up the social ladder, especially when she attends a peaceful racing event and screams at her horse to “move your bloody arse.” The most surprising transformation comes from Prof. Higgins, who is presented as a scientist more comfortable viewing other people as specimens and objects of study, not as real people. Though the story has no romance in the traditional sense, his song “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” speaks of the kind of love that sneaks up on you.

This revived production is a stellar piece of work. Prof. Higgins played by Christopher Cazenove continues the Rex Harrison tradition of speaking rather than singing his musical ruminations. Eliza Doolittle played by Lisa O’Hare manages to carefully improve her English pronunciations over the course of the musical. Eliza’s father Alfred Doolittle played by Tim Jerome wins the crowd’s affection with his broadly comic, anti-establishment antics and commonsense approach to life. He is a tremendous joy to watch, earning long applause after choreographer Matthew Bourne’s raucously stages Stomp-inspired “With a Little Bit of Luck” number complete with its trashcans and multiple set locations.

Overall, the entire choreography was very inventive; as was the set design with its soaring arches serving as the structure for the Higgins’ house, race tracks, ballroom, and mother’s conservatory. The producers of the show made sure this version of the story maintained its momentum. Just in the course of the song “Show Me,” Eliza takes us on a brisk tour of London, starting on Wimpole Street and moving into a jostling Underground car before winding up waving a protest sign with a group of women suffragettes, with the sets moving in and out with such choreographed precision.

Revivals of famous musical productions the like of My Fair Lady will continue to be a priority for 62-year-old producer Cameron Mackintosh. He is the mastermind behind the four biggest musicals in history: “Cats,” “Miss Saigon,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Les Miserables.” In fact, he was knighted in 1996 in recognition of his contribution to the British economy. Let’s hope he brings us more elegant revivals like My Fair Lady with its witty script, stellar cast, stunningly beautiful costumes, and one wonderful song after another (including “I Could Have Danced All Night”) to create a musical show that is pleasing to both the eyes and the ear.

My Fair Lady is playing until June 15^th at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Tickets range from $20-$75. Phone 714-556-2787 for more info or visit www.OCPAC.org.

I hate to say it, but up until yesterday I had only seen the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera and listened to the London cast recording in my car. So I jumped at the opportunity to see the show that only a few years ago was titled the longest-running show in Broadway history with 7,485 performances.

What were my expectations coming to a show that has earned $3 billion dollars in world-wide sales? One word: high. In the back of my mind, I thought that this might be one show worth saving for viewing on Broadway. Fortunately, to my delight, it seems that this 36-member touring Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theater Company production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera was able to bring the quality of Broadway to the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

For a traveling production, it was amazing how they utilized the center to make it seem like the OCPAC was built specifically for their show. The famous chandelier rises and falls over the heads of the audience. The Phantom gives his commands from the catwalk and sings from atop a moving Gargoyle statue. He rows Christine on a boat to his lair that is completely lit by a sea of candles that rise out of the stage.

Though the motion picture and the soundtrack by itself are entertaining, neither can hold a candle next to this stage version. The vocals by the whole cast sent emotional vibrations through my body, especially the high notes achieved by Sara Jean Ford’s singing the end of Christine Daae’s “Think of Me.” Jason Mills has a rich voice as the Phantom, but it was his performance that pleased me, especially when he sang “Stranger Than You Dreamt It” while crawling around on his stomach in shame or his soul-wrenching decision to free Christine after she melts his heart by giving him a taste of the joys of the flesh.

The story itself has elements of a backstage musical, with the audience being invited to watch behind the scenes as the characters put on their own musicals. Some of these numbers like the dress rehearsal of “Hannibal” and “Don Juan Triumphant” offered interesting history on what musicals looked like coming out of Paris around 1881 and featured some of the most lavish costumes.

Besides the obvious special effects already mentioned like the falling chandelier, other impressive illusions included the transparent mirror, fire effects, and the amazingly quick and smooth transitions between every scene. The sets were mostly three-dimensional and special props should be given for the winding staircase during “Masquerade” and the city of Paris during “Wandering Child.”

My only complaint was that despite knowing the lyrics, the house mix sometimes had the orchestra overpowering the vocals and I sometimes had to strain to hear the words being sung. This could potentially be problematic for those not fortunate to be sitting close in the orchestra section.

Walt Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia was an experiment in animation and music. BLAST!, brought that animation to life on the stage with real people not only by playing the music, but interpreting it visually to create a phenomenal mix of music, choreography, color, athleticism and vocals.

There are 16 musical selections that cover a mixture of fast numbers like “Malaguena,” wailing blues like “Everybody Loves The Blues,” techno like “Lemontech,” and a vocal piece called “Simple Gifts.” The musical gamut from classical to pop to jazz is recreated with almost nothing except percussion and brass instruments to our delight. In fact, one of the most exciting acts of the evening in this already very exciting show is the “Battery Battle,” where a battle between two drummers nearly becomes Armageddon as they beat on their drums, muscles, the stage floor, and even each other, bringing multiple rounds of applause from the audience.

These 32 artists are some of the most versatile (in every sense of the word) performers I’ve seen on the stage. They each played a variety of instruments that ranged from trombones, French horns, snare drums, and trumpets to xylophones, whistles, bongos, beaded gourds, triangles, cymbals, and cow bells. Not only did they play, but they moved, with beautiful choreography that required some to play their instruments while either doing one-handed cartwheels, being thrown through the air, or spinning around at a dizzying pace.

The show is music in motion and the choreography can best be described at kaleidoscopic. Instruments, flag poles, glow sticks and bodies were tossed through the air, always landing on the beat. The first act began with a single drummer onstage and continued to stay separate from the audience. The second act broke the 4th wall and brought the performers into the audience, making us clap our hands to the beat like we were part of the show. The audience was spellbound watching wholly synchronized movements that must have required endless days of rehearsal. In fact, one performer informed me that half of the cast is new and learned the show over 10-hour demanding rehearsals the last four weeks.

Color seems to be the single constant that connects the performers, choreography, and music together. The first act utilizes cool colors in which the musical piece “Loss” is emphasized by the color blue and the number “Appalachian Spring” is brought to life with green. The “Battery Battle” focuses the spotlight on two drummers with nothing but a black background. The second act explores warm colors with “Lemontech” exploding in bright yellow and “Malaguena” drenching us in red.

BLAST! evolved from the drum corps Star of Indiana under the creative direction of James Mason. It was the 2001 winner of the Tony Award for “Best Special Theatrical Event” and also won the 2001 Emmy Award for “Best Choreography.”

Don’t miss this opportunity to see BLAST! until February 10, 2008 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. It is one marching band that demands to be seen as well as heard.