| My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
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| "My Fair Lady" is my all time favorite musical. I have yet to see a production that has made me happy (I never saw the original), yet I went last night with eager anticipation. And I'm afraid the current one, despite many enjoyable moments, has also come up short. I went home quite depressed. Could it be me? Have I built it up so that no actual production could match what I have in my mind? I have to disclose that the people I was with were thoroughly delighted with it, so this truly a minority report. MFL lives or dies by its two leads. If they are wonderful, nothing else in the cast or production can sink it. If they are not, nothing else can save it. In this case, the whole supporting cast was wonderful, and for the most part I had no problem with the staging, the sets, costumes, etc. Hengry Higgins is a bully, a self-centered, immature brute. But we must like him. Otherwise he is just a straw man foil for a feminist tract and there is no drama. We liked Rex Harrison's Higgins (well, I did, anyway), Why? Because he countered the brute with a larger than life charisma, plus a comic flair and a twinkle in his eye and voice, telling us that on some level, he didn't really take himself all that seriously. Add to that the brilliant wit that comes from the words Shaw and Lerner gives him, which Harrison delivered with a relish and pleasure in the sheer sound of them. Harry Hadden-Paton looked dashing but had little comic flair or charisma. Others said that his Higgins was darker and more vulnerable than Harrison. Perhaps, but for me a brute without charisma is pathetic. No comic timing - those brilliant words came out of his mouth and fell to the ground. His songs were sung almost always where Harrison spoke them. That in itself is not necessarily bad. But "A Hymn to Him" and "I'm an Ordinary Man", among the wittiest lyrics ever penned, just fell flat, and got almost no reaction from the audience. The nasal quality of his voice didn't help. (BTW I found it shocking that whole verses were cut from both songs. Were they trying to save time? Then why did "On the Street Where You Live" get a second almost complete performance in act 2?). I couldn't find my way to like this Higgins or root for him. Without that, the show sinks. Lauren Ambrose was also problematic for me, but less so. She was soft and warm hearted in the proper moments. In fact, her "I Could Have Danced All Night" made me forget Julie Andrews. It was so touching, I had tears coming down my face. Definitely the highlight of the night. "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" was also quite touching, totally different from Andrews, more inward, but just as effective. But when fire was needed, for me she was too soft-centered and just lacked spunk. In her confrontation with Higgins after the ball, she showed more sorrow for herself than rage against Higgins. She also has a habit of singing behind the beat. That worked for the above songs, but "Just You Wait" and "Show Me", which need fire and rhythmic presence, failed for me. Last week, the Encores "Me and My Girl" put me on a high that lasted days, with its tunes running around my head almost constantly. I was hoping that MFL would replace that. Alas, it was not to be. |
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