DEXTER, Mich.–The stakes were very high for The Encore Musical Theatre when it lured Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner Tony Walton to design and direct My Fair Lady at the intimate black-box space in Dexter. Add to that pressure, casting Broadway veterans Jessica Grové as Eliza Doolittle and Daniel Gerroll as Henry Higgins, and you had a lot of people, I imagine, walking around the the village of Dexter saying, “We’d better get this right.”

They sure did. The small space of the Encore was transformed into the best, most multi-dimensional set that the theatre has ever put forth, accessorized by two large rear projection screens on either side that carried images of London street scenes and the house library of Henry Higgins.

So, how did Walton, Grové and Gerroll all land in Dexter? Grove is married to artistic founder Daniel C. Cooney, and Walton and Gerroll are both friends of the couple. But no matter. Those connections are to the theater’s benefit. This My Fair Lady, which was sold out before opening night for the entire run, transcends anything the theatre has done, including last summer’s superb Into The Woods, which also featured Grové, and is nominated for a 2016 Wilde Award for Best Musical.

[Buy advanced tickets for the 2016 Wilde Awards at The Berman on August 29 at this link.]

Grové could take her Eliza for a run on Broadway or a national tour tomorrow. Her vocals are pitch perfect, and she embodies the cockney flower seller as easily as she does the transformed society gardenia in Act 2; and her cockney never wavers when she needs it for the story. Gerroll may have an even bigger lift in my mind as the Henry Higgins role is so indelibly identified with Rex Harrison, who played the role on stage and in the film. Gerroll embodies Higgins with all the mahogany lined superiority and droll comedy flourishes required. His chemistry with Grove was just a touch incomplete on opening night, but looks sure to make the full connection after a few performances.

Supporting the two stars is perhaps one of the best big ensembles around, with several players having played leads in Encore’s past productions: Keith Kalinowsky as Alfred P. Doolittle; Emmi Veinbergs as Mrs. Pearce; Marlene Inman, Jeff Steinhauer and Dan Morrison in multiple ensemble roles. Connie Cowper also made for an appropriately sassy Mrs. Higgins who goes from nose-in-the-air Dame to earthy ally of Eliza’s. Dale Dobson seems almost type-cast to play the stuffy Colonel Pickering, and held his own nicely with his starry stage-mates. And keep an eye on Riley McFarland, a University of Michigan theatre major whose Freddy Eynsford-Hill would work for any company doing this show. His “On The Street Where You Live” is one of the most memorable turns in the show.

The music ensemble, led by director Tyler Driskell, did a solid job of leading, and at times following, the crowded action on stage. Mr. Gerroll’s patter songs, written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for the singing-challenged Rex Harrison, can be challenging for the musicians to stay with, but they managed very nicely.

If there is anything limited or limiting about this My Fair Lady, it is not in the performances, but rather the space itself. The Encore has put on plenty of big shows–Les Miserables, Damn Yankees, Carousel, The Music Man. Walton’s set design goes a long way to making the space work harder than I have seen before–including a center movable piece that, for example, gave McFarland the right setting on the stoop of the Higgins house needed for his big song and its reprise. There are only a few times, as when a dozen or so ensemble members moving to Matthew Brennan’s smart choreography seemed to be looking to break out of the box a bit.

My Fair Lady is a show that many write off as being a “moldy oldie,” with themes that don’t hold up in 2016. But with this company’s lively and polished execution, and a completely sold out run, it’s worth noting, perhaps, that a theme of men trying to dominate women and mold them into the beings they want is not so out of date as we’d like to think, and neither is the tense interplay between the most well-to-do 1% and the bottom 10% on the income ladder. Put to memorable music, the show actually holds up nicely if you see it through the right lens.

Click here for show days, times and details. [There is a waiting list for tickets in case of cancellations].