Cast

When Catherine’s mother heard the news that her daughter would be playing Eliza Doolittle, she made the comment that the casting was apt due to the fact they are both ‘urchin-like’. Catherine has tried to refute this statement, but came to accept it mainly because of her ‘homeless chic’ clothing style and number of times she has eaten food off the floor.

Catherine has been performing in Wellington since 2013 and joined Footlights for its very first show Taking the Minnie in 2014. Most recently she has performed in the Heart and Music Festival (2017), Chess (2018) and If/Then (2018).

Her favourite thing about playing Eliza is her strength. Though her transformation from urchin to lady changes her on the outside, she remains herself and always sticks to her guns, even when wearing a tiara or a hat twice the size of her head.

She hopes you enjoy the show as much as we have enjoyed putting it together!

Ed has taken a very method approach to the role of Henry Higgins. As he is already a teacher of the English language he has found Higgins’ methods to be less effective with the teenagers of today. However, the variety of insults have become very useful during trying times and his students have resented being called “squashed cabbage leaves”.

Ed has been a member of Wellington Footlights since 2015 and performed in nearly every show Footlights has produced including RENT (2015), Heathers (2016), Spamalot (2017) and If/Then (2018). Ed finds performing to be a great escape from the world of teaching and an excellent forum to promote other agendas. Did you know that plastic bags and other forms of plastic in the ocean kills up to 1 million sea creatures annually?

Ed is nervously excited to show you his interpretation of Henry Higgins following months of preparation, research into phonetics, and binge watching Downton Abbey.

Mike has spent most of his creative energy on writing silly bios for a lot of the other people in this show. As such, he's put minimal effort into his own.

Mike joined Footlights in 2015 and loves it with all of his heart.

He is mostly known for playing horrible men, including Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde, Name Withheld on Advice on Council in Yellow Face, Walter DeCourcey in Chess, and Doug Panch in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Mike is finding it an absolute joy to play a thoroughly lovely fellow like Pickering.

Apart from theatre, Mike enjoys horror movies, comic books, crossword puzzles, and not wearing pants if he can get away with it.

Patrick auditioned for Footlights because he thought that it was an international cricket team and was very confused when he was asked to start singing in a cockney accent.

He's been a part of Footlights since the beginning and has never once held a cricket bat onstage, but he assumes that this is all some sort of bizarre team building exercise.

Patrick's personal hero is Sir. Richard Hadlee, and Patrick hopes to be just like him one day.

Patrick has never actually played a game of cricket in his life, but assumes he'll be good at it, and doesn't think it would be that hard to get a hole in one.

Margaret has been a member of Footlights since 2014, and has been involved both on and off stage with all but one of their shows since then.

As with last year's production of Chess, Margaret has thoroughly enjoyed revisiting a show she has previously performed in, and would like to point out that she isn't repeating a single thing she did in the former production. Although she is a little jealous that Mrs Pearce was not allowed to attend either Ascot or the Embassy Ball, she still managed to get her choreo fix by standing in for nearly every member of the ensemble at some point during rehearsals.

Margaret has also performed with WMT, PLT, KAT, Stagecraft, Wellington Repertory, among others, and is a double graduate of WPAC in Musical Theatre and Commercial Dance.

When not in rehearsal, she can usually be found in a dance studio, on the sidelines of a soccer field (Saturday mornings only), acting as a taxi service/conflict negotiator for her two sons, stealing all the duvet, or waiting forlornly at a bus stop.

Vishan has been in every Footlights show he could be since he joined in early 2017. My Fair Lady is a special, nostalgic one for Vishan. The last musical he was in before Footlights was back in his final year of high school (2011) playing this same role!

To see this musical be recreated has been such a pleasure. The whole cast is so creative and it's become a completely new and absolutely thrilling experience. You can really feel the chemistry within the complex (and not so complex) relationships between the characters.

Vishan has also loved the opportunity to revisit the same work as a more experienced and talented performer. 'On The Street Where You Live' was the first song Vishan had to himself on stage, and he hopes everybody will enjoy what he has brought to the hopelessly romantic Freddy.

Ellie has been working on and off the Wellington Footlights stage since co-founding the Society in 2014. Previous roles have included Florence in Chess (2018), The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python's Spamalot (2017), Martha Dunnstock in Heathers the Musical (2016) and Serena in Legally Blonde the Musical (2016).

Off stage, Ellie has been managing publicity for My Fair Lady, and in 2018 she made her directing debut with If/Then.

By day, Ellie works in the little-known world of collectable stamps and coins. In her spare time she enjoys inventing recipes, singing with Wellington choir Supertonic, and taking down the patriarchy.

Ellie has also performed with Summer Shakespeare Wellington, Energy Theatre, Red Scare Theatre Company, The Bacchanals and Kapitall Kids Theatre.

When Miss Stacey O’Brien of Johnsonville announced that she would shortly be celebrating her eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Wellington.

Stacey was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of Wellington for sixty years, ever since her remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches she had brought back from her travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that her Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also her prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Miss O’Brien. At ninety she was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call her well-preserved, but unchanged would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.

Will has been an avid thespian and performer since an early age. This is his 5th show with Wellington Footlights and he is playing 5 characters in this show … coincidence … I think not. His last role with Footlights was as Anatoly in Chess (2018).

Will has had a lot of fun rehearsing for this show and his favourite line in the show is [withheld under s9 (2) (ba) (ii)]. What a line right!

When he is not doing theatre, Will is a professional pirate who is constantly sailing for adventure. However he often gets cabin fever and hence yearns to be something better.

Will hopes you enjoy the show. Boom Shakalaka!

Helena is actually a Dutch woman named Olive Clustinfork who recently kidnapped the real Helena. No one is sure where the real Helena is, but all members of Footlights feel that Olive's luxuriously thick eyebrows and thick, woolen floor-length skirts are a far more natural fit.

Olive has worked for the Dutch Council of Espionage and Hot Chocolate since her birth, and has the voice of an angel and the strength of ten men.

Olive has been trying to get information on Footlights for what she vaguely calls "international espionage purposes."

We've loved working with Olive.

Update: We found Helena. If you see Olive, tell her that we miss her.

Laura has been a member of Footlights since its creation in 2014, and has worked in some capacity on nearly all of their shows both on and off stage. She recently succeeded in her evil master plan at the 2019 AGM by becoming Chairperson of the Grand High Council of Footlights, and has been loving the role of herding the gaggle of cats that is Footlights ever since.

Her day job also involves the herding of metaphorical cats as an executive assistant, though she won’t make too many jokes at their expense as she is pretty sure that the CEO she assists is coming to see the show… Hi, Tom!

Working with Footlights never ceases to be a delight for Laura, and though her muscles hurt from all the dancing and her abs hurt from all the inappropriate laughter, she has loved working on this show and hope that you all enjoy it as much as she has!

This is not Chris’ first rodeo! He may seem like a simple little man from the south, but he has big dreams to make up for it. Chris has participated in several musicals including: Grease (The Arena Spectacular), Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera and many more. This is his third musical with The Wellington Footlight’s society, and he is loving every second of it!

When he is not busy dancing, singing or acting, Chris enjoys taking a trip down the slides at Trade Me where he spends his days unlocking the Matrix (or as he calls it “developing their Jobs app.”)

Other skills include; Tearing it up on APEX Legends, the ability to pull off a Fedora (debatable), and if you’re lucky, handstands (only after a couple cheeky bevvies).

Mike has decided to write Marley's bio using the madlibs technique. Words in quotation marks indicate words that Marley supplied without any other context.

Marley was first introduced to theatre when he saw "Keanu Reeves" appear as the "stupendous" "origami expert" in "BoJack Horseman" the musical! And he has felt a deep sense of "stress" ever since. Marley's favourite role was as the dancing "bathroom sink" In the "New Brunswick" production of Beauty and the Beast.

Aside from theatre, Marley is also interested in "dancing", collecting "puppets" and "long public transport journey's to The Hutt."

His nickname amongst local youths is the "Running" "cormorant" because of his habit of fidgeting with "paper" in a "lonely" fashion.

This is Marley's first Footlights show.

India is a country in South Asia. It is the second-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

India's modern age was marked by British Crown rule and a nationalist movement which, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolence and led to India's independence in 1947.

Letitia Garrett has been on stage for as long as she can remember. Growing up in a household surrounded by musical parents and siblings Letitia began learning the cornet at age seven and joined the Marlborough District Brass Band. Letitia is currently playing flugelhorn for the Trust Porirua City Brass Band and has just returned from the National Brass Band Championships where the band placed 8th in the B grade.

Letitia found her passion for singing and fell in love with Musical Theatre during her high school years and still considers her 2012 appearance as Ms Piggy in the charity competition Stars in your Eyes her greatest performing highlight. Letitia took part in every school and community production that she could before leaving for university and was delighted to come back to musical theatre and join the Wellington Footlights Society in 2017.

Kirsty Huszka, formally Moir, loves musical theatre and when she arrived in Wellington in 2012 Kirsty dove right into the musical theatre scene with Grease, Mamma Mia, Witches of Eastwick and Bloodlines to name a few. Kirsty joined Footlights in 2015 and, despite travelling overseas for years and running away to get married, she always seems to come back to her wonderful Wellington Footlights Family.

Kirsty performance highlight to date was playing Elle Woods in the Footlights season of Legally Blonde closely followed by her adventures in the Queenstown Rocky Horror Picture Show Production. Working as a Business Coordinator for MPI Kirsty loves the escapism theater offers, because who wouldn’t love a chance to muck around on stage with this crazy group of people! It's been a challenging experience with more tricks and choreography than ever. Kirsty loves that she get this opportunity to perform with such a talented cast and crew and cannot wait to see what the season will bring.

Fynn Bodley-Davies (8) is Footlights’ first ever accidental member, having walked into the wrong office a few months ago and is now too scared to stop showing up to the rehearsals he was told to attend. He is still confused as to what a ‘My Fair Lady’ actually is.

This is a seems to be a trend with Fynn as he has somehow managed to perform accidentally in many different shows in his hometown of Kirikiriroa such as ‘Les Misérables’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Grease’. It is speculated that he is attracted by the bright stage lights, and promise of free biscuits, much like a moth.

Even though this is his first show with footlights, he has already managed to leave his mark on the group by leaving almost every possession he has in the rehearsal space over the past three months.

In his spare time Fynn eats pasta and tries to remember where he left his glasses.

Tradition dictates that Mike write Abi's show bio. Here goes nothing.

Abigail Helsby is a beloved children's magician, better known by her stage name, The Great Mysteria. She first came to prominence when she performed at the fifth birthday party of Zendaya, which many of her fans (called Mysteriettes) consider to be her big break.

After the resounding success at the party, Abi toured the world with her one woman show "Omni-presents" which was nominated for the annual "Better Than I Expected Awards."

Abi has been on the run from police since 1974, due to a disastrous miscalculation during the saw-the-lady-in-half trick.

She appreciates your discretion.