Fair Lady

Hats off to a lady: Trevor Nunn's technically exquisite My Fair Lady has finally made its way to the U.S. from London, and with a little bit of luck you can catch it this week or next at the Hippodrome Theatre. She has her flaws, this grand old gal, mostly to do with that elusive theatrical element known as chemistry; a bit of fizz has been lost during shipping (and may dampen any Broadway ambitions reasonably harbored by this high-gloss Cameron Mackintosh production). But the formula's only marginally off, and there's so much right with the show that fans of old-fashioned musical comedy won't want to miss it. If you go Showtimes for My Fair Lady are 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 18 at the Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. $25-$70.

Q: Enclosed is a picture of my umbrella; it is made of paper. As you can see, it came from the Chicago World's Fair.Could you please tell me if it is worth anything?A: This paper umbrella appears to be in remarkably good condition for its 60 years. It would probably be worth about $65 to $75.Q: This mark is on the bottom of a ceramic bowl that measures 9inches in diameter and is 3 1/2 inches deep. It is also marked "A.F.S." It is decorated with green trees in a meadow against a blue sky.Can you tell me who made it, when, and what is its value?

Marni Nixon has the prettiest voice you've never seen. When moviegoers watch Deborah Kerr singing in "The King and I" (1956), Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" (1961) and Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" (1964), it's Nixon's voice they're hearing. If you'd like to see and hear the woman behind the voice, Nixon joins film restoration experts James Katz and Robert Harris for the Maryland Film Festival screening of the restored version of "My Fair Lady" today at 1 p.m. at the Senator Theater.

FAMILY MUSICAL ON ICE Disney's High School Musical: The Ice Tour skates its way to 1st Mariner Arena tonight and remains through Sunday. Inspired by the Disney Channel movies High School Musical and High School Musical 2, the ice show features skaters taking part in song and dance, telling the story of an unlikely pair who try out for the school musical. .................... Performances are at 7:30 tonight; 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow; 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday; and noon and 4 p.m. Sunday at the arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. $16-$56.

The world premiere of a film by actress Jill Hennessy and a documentary about the career of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be two highlights of this year's Maryland Film Festival, organizers are expected to announce today. The festival will also feature the U.S. premiere of a film about the Baltimore Orioles' 1999 trip to Cuba and "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me," the filmed version of David Drake's play. In keeping with a tradition established last year, local luminaries will present their own personal choices, and John Waters will introduce yet another fabulous stinker from his gallery of great failed movies.

BOB HAMPT, of Pikesville, has designed and built sets for plays at Liberty High School in Eldersburg for the past three years.His handiwork now forms the setting for "My Fair Lady," which finishes its run next weekend in the school auditorium.With the help of students and graduates he trained, he also built sets for "Pippin," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Snow White," "Scrooge" and "The King and I."Organization's comments: "We say to Bob, 'This is what we need, and we need it this wide,' . . . and he goes to it," said Cathy James, who teaches English and drama at Liberty High.

Franz Allers, 89, who conducted the original production of "My Fair Lady" and other Broadway musicals, died in a Las Vegas hospital Thursday of pneumonia. He lived in Munich, Germany, and had stopped in Las Vegas on his way to visit relatives in Palm Desert, Calif., when he became ill. He was musical director for the original productions, and later some revivals, of the biggest musicals created by the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Among them were "Brigadoon," "Paint Your Wagon," "My Fair Lady," and "Camelot."

Nellie Y. McKay, a distinguished scholar and critic who helped secure a place for African-American women in the modern literary canon, died of cancer Jan. 22 at a hospice in Fitchburg, Wis. She was believed to have been in her mid-70s. She was Evjue professor of American and African-American literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she lived. An authority on black American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, Dr. McKay specialized in the study of fiction, autobiography and women's writing.

The irony of it is oh so loverly.Here is John Neville, cast as Henry Higgins, who struggles to teach Eliza Doolittle to speak proper English in "My Fair Lady."On the one hand, Mr. Neville is one of the most respected classically trained actors on the English-speaking stage. On the other, as he admits, "I grew up with the accent Eliza has."In fact, the British-born Mr. Neville says it's easy for him to slip back into Eliza's cockney. Until his father's recent death, he acknowledges, "Whenever I visited him, I'd find after a week or so I started to revert."

TVHere's a nice new marriage to tickle your TV memories. In the 1960s, Diana Rigg, right, and David McCallum starred in separate light-hearted spy series, "The Avengers" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (as Emma Peel and Illya Kuraykin, respectively). Now the two come together in "Mother Love," this week's edition of the PBS "Mystery!" series (a three-parter, seen again at 10 tonight on Washington's Channel 26 and 10 p.m. tomorrow on Maryland Public Television channels 22 and 67). Rigg, the host of the series, plays a murderously maternal divorcee and McCallum is the former husband she still hates.