Musicals ... I've grown accustomed to their pace

Honestly, I don't know what it is about me and musicals. I enjoy the heck out of some of them. Others not so much.

"Guys and Dolls" is an oldie but a goodie. I inherited my appreciation of that from my dad, who had me singing "I got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere ..." when I was about nine. And betting harness races when I was 15.

Love the juxtaposition of characters in "Kiss Me Kate." "South Pacific" is a longtime favorite. I think I inherited that from my mother. I remember her having a set of 78-rpm records from the Broadway version that she'd trot out occasionally.

Among the newer musicals, I wicked love, love, love "Wicked." Saw it in Chicago. Marveled at "Jersey Boys" on stage in Cincinnati. Oh what a night.

Twice I've seen "Cats" -- once at Bloomington with my daughters and once from the front row at ISU's Tilson Music Center in Terre Haute on one of the greatest dates of my life.

But even with that in my memory bank, I have to admit I truly believe that other than the costuming, "Cats" is overrated. Kind of like cats themselves.

Not that I'm a music critic, mind you. I just know what I like and what I don't.

For example, I don't care if I ever see "Oklahoma" or "Sound of Music" ever again. Ever. Not the stage show or even the movie.

I mean, after you've sat through those at every level imaginable -- middle school, high school, community theater, theater-in-the round, Beef and Boards, etc., it's too much. My head is spinning like Julie Andrews on the mountaintop.

And "Annie"? The sun'll come up tomorrow without me caring to see that again.

Then along comes "My Fair Lady." "Pygmalion" in pinstripes. Saw it recently at Beef and Boards.

In a word, "loverly."

Kimberly Doreen Burns, who plays the lead role of Eliza Doolittle, is fabulous. The difficulty of her role with its accents and all is certainly one reason you don't see many high school productions of "My Fair Lady," which is on stage through May 14 at Beef and Boards at Indianapolis.

When I saw it in Indy, I realized I had never seen the musical before. Not as a play, and not even as a movie since the 1964 production with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison came out when I was way too young to appreciate it and way too cool to watch it once it made its way to TV.

So I never realized the catalog of songs coming from that show. Songs I've heard all my life but never even dreamed they were from "My Fair Lady."

Consider "Get Me to the Church on Time," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "With a Little Bit of Luck," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "On the Street Where You Live" and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"

Wouldn't it now? Of course, it would ... and is.