My Fair Lady, Royal City Musical Theatre (Massey Theatre 735 - 8th Ave., New Westminster), until April 26. For more information visit royalcitymusicaltheatre.com.
Julia Ullrich has grown accustomed to being swept up off her feet through whimsical musical theatre scores.
The Deep Cove-raised actress gracefully danced across the stage during productions of Hello, Dolly! and The Boy Friend, put on by Capilano University's musical theatre program, which she graduated from two years ago.
For Ullrich, playing the lead in The Boy Friend - a spoof musical comedy centred around female roommates at a French boarding school and their quest to find love - solidified her decision to stay on the theatrical path. Ullrich's acting steps can be traced back to Seycove secondary and a time when the drama student desperately wanted to be wooed by the glitz and glamour of the stage. "I first decided not to pursue (musical theatre) and then I decided, 'Nope, I'm going to and see how this goes,'" says Ullrich, speaking to the News last week.
She credits the three-year CapU musical theatre program and its principle tenets - singing, dancing and acting - for setting her up for future stardom, but without the ego. "The training is really excellent, I think," Ullrich explains. "And (the instructors) really stress behaving to a degree of professionalism - being on time, being a good communicator on stage, not being a diva - and that's been very important to me going forward."
Indeed, CapU was a good place for Ullrich to get her footing. The 23-year-old has since attended the BFA acting program at UBC, and even landed a role in the venerable Theatre Under the Stars' past production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Then last summer came Ullrich's big break - and paying job - when she joined the ensemble of Les Misérables at the Chemainus Theatre Festival on Vancouver Island. "So I played a lot of whores and village people," says Ullrich. At the same time Ullrich understudied the three female Les Mis leads, which proved to be an invaluable experience - even if she didn't step into their tattered shoes.
"It was intense, because I had to learn my own part and watch those three women and then learn their part simply by watching them," recalls Ullrich. "But it was pretty crazy at any time, because I basically knew the entire show from four points of view - it was a lot of information."
Next up for Ullrich is a role in the Royal City Musical Theatre's production of My Fair Lady, running April 9 to 26 at New Westminster's Massey Theatre.
"It's fun, lighthearted and the story is very sweet," describes Ullrich, who is part of the My Fair Lady ensemble. "I like the ballroom scene, it's very lovely."
Ullrich rather enjoys twirling to the famous Lerner and Loewe standard "I Could Have Danced All Night." "It's me and the other maid and we get to sing and dance with Eliza (Doolittle)," gushes Ullrich, of her moment in
the spotlight.
My Fair Lady follows the story of Doolittle, a poor Cockney flower girl who overhears a crotchety phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, wager a bet that he can teach her proper English decorum.
Fellow North Van thespians - Jonathan Boudin and Geoff Campbell join Ullrich for the RCMT adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical based on George Bernard Shaw's acclaimed 1913 play Pygmalion.
Boudin, 35, who graduated from Argyle secondary, didn't take part in drama or music classes but says he had a wonderful violin teacher on the North Shore named Ursula Beale.
He began his singing career at age eight with the Vancouver Bach Children's Chorus, and most recently, Boudin played the role of Roger Davis in Rent (ExitStageLeft Productions). Training for My Fair Lady's intricate dance sequences has helped
Boudin gain confidence in that department.
"I consider myself to be more of a singer than a dancer, but the dancing has come a lot easier than I expected," reveals Boudin. "I am now the proud owner of a pair of ballroom dance shoes."
Campbell, 43, says he is thrilled to be back on stage with RCMT for his fourth appearance with the company. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts alum has performed on stages all across the Lower Mainland, including his turn as Curly Mclean in a TUTS production of Oklahoma!.
The Windsor secondary grad is excited to perform in the iconic My Fair Lady musical, which he grew up watching and figures has not been done in Vancouver in his memory "The songs are all so recognizable to many generations," says Campbell. "It is a blast to meet new people and be a part of a full-scale production like this one."
