Threaded Order Chronological Order
| My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| "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. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: lowwriter 12:28 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I totally disagree with everything you said about Harry Haddon-Paton. Higgins has qualities that you're not supposed to like but by the last third of the show I had some sympathy for Higgins as played by Haddon-Paton because we saw his vulnerability and his realization of what he may lose without Eliza. I certainly enjoyed his singing and physicality and his being younger made the relationship between Eliza and Higgins less creepy. I also did not find his singing nasal at all. And I didn't think once of Rex Harrison while watching him. He made the part his own. I hope he or Ethan Slater wins the Tony for best actor in a musical. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: larry13 11:30 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - lowwriter 12:28 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
|
|
|
| "...his being younger made the relationship between Eliza and Higgins less creepy." Are you saying the relationship between Rex Harrison and either Julie Andrews or Audrey Hepburn was creepy? | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: Pjayactor 11:13 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Thank you StanS - I could not agree more. I found this current production of MFL humorless. I have seen all three of the musical revivals and would place this one in 3rd. Although I did hang on Dana Diana’s every word. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: tealady 07:19 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| i also did not like it. Thank you StanS for pointing out its not the be all and end all of MFL. i found the set changes dumb, again actors and stagehands moving the set around. the big turn table left the action playing over the moat of the apron. i was just off center section and got tired of seeing the stagehands and dressers in the wing when the side rags flew up for the set change. i hated her ball dress, what a disappointment. her hair don't a bun plop on the top of her head... what... they spent all the money on the dress, and a good hairdresser was out of Higgins price range... the awning for the ascot scene upstaged the action... really it had to pivot and then pull up... wow it was a total focus pull the accents were miss placed. Higgins, a nice performance but i started to look at the cracks in the walls. Best thing... the onstage band for the Ball, that was simply wonderful... over all i am glad I saw it, but once will be enough. send me back to Oklahoma. miss T |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| Another naysayer here | |
| Posted by: wisebear 07:45 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - tealady 07:19 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I was disappointed, too. I thought the direction was a mess. The spinning set wore out quickly. The flys were constantly distracting, as were the stagehands. Holding the table in place was absurd. I agree with your hatred of the ball gown, but even more ridiculous is that she entered from...the bathroom. Well, from the room where they previously bathed her. Of all times not to use the staircase! Agree about the awning - what a distracting fuss. Haddon-Patton left me cold. While I appreciate he didn't want to approximate Harrison's speak-song, the written notes were simply too low for him. Much lost humor, and an annoyingly repetitive song delivery style. So much punching the air. Ambrose's thin, reedy soprano didn't work for me, and her acting seemed mechanical. There was no belt when she needed it, and no passion, no fire. I agree that Butz seemed to be in a different show. The staging and choreography of his numbers did him no favors. I did adore Dame Diana, and especially enjoyed Linda Mugleston as Mrs. Pearce. While I, too, grew up on the OBC album, that's not my touchstone. My thrilling MFL was the sublime '75-'76 revival - Christine Andreas, Ian Richardson, and the immensely talented but so sadly damaged George Rose. That was something. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: caseyko 07:25 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - tealady 07:19 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Nice first world problems we all have! Seeing it next month. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:38 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - caseyko 07:25 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| "Nice first world problems we all have!" Sometimes I think that, too. A friend once got very upset when I posted that most of what we discuss here is pretty trivial (and I was referring to what I had just posted). But still . . . this site is devoted to first-world matters. That's why we all come here. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: JohnDunlop 05:27 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I do not see the Lincoln Center production until later this month. And "My Fair Lady" is one of my favorite musical because of the OBC recording. But, I have never seen a production that comes close to the recording, including the Rex Harrison revival and the London Jonathan Pryce revival.. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: TGWW 03:31 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| '"My Fair Lady" is my all time favorite musical. I have yet to see a production that has made me happy...." Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: StanS 03:45 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - TGWW 03:31 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| But I didn't do the same thing over and over. Each production was totally different. Different cast, different directory, etc. But I won't see this one again. Sane enough for you? | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: Mac29 03:22 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Hi; We saw the show three weeks ago and must have seen a totally different performance than you did. We are talking about the My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center in New York City, NY., Right? All the leads were wonderful, both in singing and acting. Lauren was right on pitch and tempo all night. For us, the show soared, not sank. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: StanS 03:47 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - Mac29 03:22 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Don't worry we saw the same production. I realize I'm outnumbered. But that's how I felt. But I was not the only one in my party that noticed that Ambrose was continually behind the beat. It seems to be her style of singing. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| Lauren Ambrose behind the beat | |
| Posted by: reed23 04:22 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
| In reply to: re: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 03:47 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I realized in 16 bars of "Loverly" that this person was singing behind the beat on every single syllable, and she did so for the entire performance. At first I thought it might be a failure in the sound design, that she couldn't hear the orchestra or see the conductor or something. But I realized soon enough that it's just her utter lack of musicianship and understanding of the style of the score. I was also annoyed every time she threw in some meaningless pause between random lyrics, which made no sense and further violated the very tight operetta style of Lerner's lyrics matched with Loewe's precise Vienesse-operetta derived music. Add to that her curious habit of gazing aimlessly at the ceiling while she sang, never once including or opening up to the audience in her song delivery. Overall, I got the extremely negative impression of someone who had no clue had to play a musical and had never done one before (the latter proves to be basically the case from her bio) – and the mean-spiritied vindictiveness of her characterization and the production's re-purporsing to shove a feminist shiv into Higgins' back in the spuriously re-written final scene completed my disaffection and hearty disapproval of this revisal. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Lauren Ambrose behind the beat | |
| Posted by: lonlad 04:33 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
| In reply to: Lauren Ambrose behind the beat - reed23 04:22 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
|
|
|
| What a complete misreading of the final scene, and of Bart Sher's intentions. Oh well. To each his sniping own. The performance couldn't be more open-hearted and less vindictive. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: liam44 02:21 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| If you have no expectations, you can never have a disappointment. Mr. Sondheim | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: TMGnyc 01:56 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I must say, I felt the opposite of you regarding the lead performances. I found Hadden-Paton to be quite a wonderful Huggins. He made me laugh, and I thought he portrayed someone who thought of this young girl as a toy to be played with - until he suddenly realized she was, in fact, a person in her own right. Ambrose, to me, was too soft and warm hearted throughout the piece. I get any fire from her at all. She sounded fine to me, but I wasn't thrilled with the singing. To be honest, I would rather have seen her in a production of Pygmalion than My Fair Lady. And while you focused on the leads, I would add that I felt Norbert Leo Butz was in a totally different show than anyone else. He was doing a musical comedy, and the others were treating it as though it were a play. I found his two songs to be long and uninteresting, especially Get Me To The Church, which seemed to go on and on and featured chorepgraphy that was just inane to me. I had lots of trouble with the direction of the piece - placing someone looking at a street address while asking where it is, too many people standing at the front of the stage just so they could turn their backs to most of the house, the ball gown entrance staged behind a couch. Many of the people around me were quite pleased at the end - and I enjoyed myslef - but, the one thing we all were talking about and no one could figure out - why did she have to exit through the house at the end? Why does Sher have her leaving the world of the play? |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: frankm 01:54 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| nm | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 07:50 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - frankm 01:54 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Reality hasn't measured up to his imagination when hearing all those lovely voices on the ORC. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Last Edit: Unhookthestars 08:05 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| Posted by: Unhookthestars 08:05 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - PlayWiz 07:50 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Kinda like how I felt after listening to the cast recording of “Spring Awakening” on repeat for months all the while imagining what was happening on stage and feeling excited about how seeing the show live would resolve the enticing mysteries suggested by the lyrics. Then I finally see the tour and feel disappointed that the reality doesn’t match the fantasy. Biggest disappointment: I thought the book would clarify why the summer was “purple.” It didn’t. I still love the recording, though. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: SCH 10:21 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - Unhookthestars 08:05 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| The summer is purple because Sater's prose is purple, and so is his verse. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: Unhookthestars 12:10 am EDT 05/19/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - SCH 10:21 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| SCH — Uh, thank you for the clarification. Now, I can rest in peace with Wendla and Moritz. 😂 | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: JayBee 03:11 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - frankm 01:54 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| I have to admit I was also baffled by someone claiming My Fair Lady being a favorite musical, but never seeing a production s/he liked. Seems an odd choice for a favorite musical if you never liked seeing it. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: Budinsky 03:55 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - JayBee 03:11 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Bingo. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: StanS 04:22 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - Budinsky 03:55 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Did you or the poster you replied to bother reading my reply to this question before you posted? And if you did, why is the concept of loving a musical independent of any production of it so difficult to understand? |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:47 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - StanS 04:22 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| FWIW, I don't find it difficult to understand. I love The King and I, Carousel and Oklahoma! despite feeling that I've been disappointed every time I've seen them onstage. But I don't blame the shows. I know they're very good. Not perfect but at least very, very good. It helps that the film versions of the first two are good, even though I don't like many film versions of musicals, and I no longer love the film of The King and I as I did at one time. But it's good enough, better than most film versions of Broadway musicals. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: StanS 11:44 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - AlanScott 06:47 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| Thank you AlanScott, WIW is a lot. I was beginning to wonder whether people were being deliberately obtuse or if the concept was just too foreign. I'm reminded of Shaw himself, who regarded Don Giovanni as the greatest of all operas, but despaired of ever being able to witness a production in his lifetime that did Mozart justice. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm | |
| Posted by: StanS 02:56 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: All time favorite yet no production has ever made you happy? Explain, please. nm - frankm 01:54 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| It's my all time favorite score (with West Side Story a close second). The score is the main thing for me in a musical. It also happens to be my all time favorite book. I base this on a reading of the script, playing through the score on the piano, and listening to the Original Broadway Cast recording. From these materials, I have in my mind how a production that serves this material would play out. Of course I try to keep an open mind to accept different interpretations as long as they still serve the material. But as someone already implied on this thread: The secret to happiness: low expectations. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: My Fair Lady last night | |
| Posted by: student_rush 12:34 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
| In reply to: My Fair Lady last night - StanS 12:09 pm EDT 05/18/18 | |
|
|
|
| To each their own, but I disagree with your assessment of Hadden-Paton. I thought he oozed charism and delivered many laugh-out-loud lines. He was probably the highlight of the evening for me. I think the entire production had a strong sense of humor that (obviously) is rooted in the book and score, but is brought to life by Sher, Hadden-Paton, Ambrose, and the entire supporting cast. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.116605 seconds.