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| "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 12:27 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| We have had a great deal of discussion about Bartlett Sher's "revised" ending to "My Fair Lady" which basically has Eliza return to make a gentle, conciliatory goodbye to Higgins and then leave to create her own independent future. Sher seems to be following Shaw's original vision for the play (which is a different creature from the musical). Shaw's vision of the final scene changed a lot even as early as 1913 to 1914 with a postscript "sequel" written in 1916 and further changes for the 1938 movie. There are changes to the ending in the original playing script compared to the published version and Herbert Beerbohm Tree sweetened the ending in the original production much to Shaw's dismay and anger. The 1993-94 Broadway revival was troubled and I saw it fairly well along in the run in the winter of 1994. The production had toured the country for eight months before it opened on Broadway in December 1993. A lot of changes happened on the tour. It was the first time "My Fair Lady" was revived in a new production that wasn't a remounting of the Moss Hart/Oliver Smith/Cecil Beaton 1956 original as the 1976 and 1980-81 revivals were. The star of the production was matinee idol television and movie heart throb Richard Chamberlain with Melissa Errico at the height of her critic's darling phase as Eliza. I did not see Errico but her understudy, a capable Meg Tolin who usually did one of the maids. Evidently, Richard Chamberlain loathed Melissa Errico and publicly expressed a preference for the understudy who went on a fair bit, IIRC. There were complaints of lack of chemistry between the leads. There were newspaper reports of the production conflicts. The production was directed by British director Howard Davies with sets by Ralph Koltai. Davies, like Sher, wanted to hew closer to Shaw's original concept and take a darker, revisionist approach to the material. The sets by Ralph Koltai were dark and shadowy with a limited palette of black, gray and white giving a stark look to the production in stark contrast to the elegant lavish Oliver Smith/Cecil Beaton original. I remember reading at the time that Davies had initially attempted to portray the training of Eliza as dark and sadistic with Higgins and Pickering as a pair of Frankensteins with Eliza as the Creature. Davies was going for an openly unsympathetic Higgins which is a provocative but ultimately self-defeating approach to the character. The final scene was envisioned as Eliza returning as merely a figment of Higgins' imagination - she is not really there but has gone off on her own and now is only a disembodied memory repeating words she spoke before in the show. That was abandoned and the usual "My Fair Lady" denouement was restored. Evidently the producers Barry and Fran Weissler and/or the Lerner & Loewe estates stepped in and basically denatured Davies' radically revised concept. The dark, fragmentary settings were reworked and were billed as "based on original designs by Ralph Koltai". Donald Saddler did the choreography which was nothing too distinct from the Hanya Holm original. My memories of the production were that Richard Chamberlain was a quite good Higgins with a convincing accent who sang more notes in his solos than Rex Harrison. Meg Tolin was capable and earnest but lacked star quality. Paxton Whitehead was his usual excellent self as Col. Pickering. Robert Sella was funny as Freddy Eynsford-Hill and sang his solo winningly. I have no memories whatsoever of Julian Holloway (son of the original musical Doolittle Stanley Holloway) in his only Broadway outing as Alfred P. Doolittle. No one else in the cast made any impression on me and I don't have any recollection of them either i.e. Dolores Sutton as Mrs. Higgins. I remember the sets looked cheap and sparse with a heavy glowering atmosphere which didn't make sense in a more traditional production concept. Chamberlain did his best to carry the production which wasn't really top notch nor was the supporting company. The production lacked elegance, sparkle and wit and it kind of lay there onstage despite Chamberlain's best efforts. Anyone have memories of this production or saw it in its original concept on tour or saw Michael Moriarty or Paxton Whitehead who took over for Chamberlain? Memories of Melissa Errico? Corrections to my faded memories? Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) |
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| Eliza wore pants in the Covent Garden scene | |
| Posted by: BrianJ 10:05 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| And her ballgown was red. And the intermission was changed (as it is in Sher's production) to happen after Eliza, Higgins, and Pickering leave for the Embassy Ball, instead of coming after the ball scene itself. Those, along with the aforementioned enormous head sculpture and Ascot racegoers flown high above the stage, are pretty much my only strong memories of the production. |
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| Does anybody knew who sang "I Could Have Danced All Night"... | |
| Posted by: RobertC (robertcollier930@gmail.com) 07:53 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| ... on the soundtrack on the episode of "Seinfeld" titled "The Raincoats." It aired in 1994. |
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| re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Posted by: steveva 04:23 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| What I most remember was a large group of women who were Richard Chamberlain fans back to the Dr. Kildare days flooding the streets waiting for him to come out after the show. I believe even the producers of the show were surprised by what a devoted following he had. My mom was one of his devoted fans so I'm glad she was able to see him in the show. The show unfortunately bombed after Michael Moriarty took over. Saw Meg Tolin who was perfectly fine. Besides Chamberlain being good, the top performer was Paxton Whitehead, the best Col. Pickering I'm ever likely to see. | |
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| re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Posted by: MTMan 12:30 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| I saw this production twice in New York, once with Errico and once with Meg Tolin as Eliza. Though Errico sang it well (naturally), her Eliza was quite a blank. There was no spine in the girl, she was sort of willowy and dewy--neither of which seem right for Eliza either as the guttersnipe nor the lady she eventually becomes. The strength needed to stand up to Higgins was missing, so the show lacked a satisfying arc. Meg Tolin, however, was a revelation to me. She was completely winning, sang the score beautifully, and went toe to toe with Chamberlain. For the first and perhaps the only time in a production of "My Fair Lady" I truly sensed the connection between the two characters and saw it spark right from the beginning. Tolin's Eliza seemed fascinated with Higgins from the first scene at Covent Garden, and he seemed equally fascinated from the moment she stepped into his home to ask for lessons. In the penultimate scene of the play, Higgins tells Eiiza that she should return in part "for the fun of it", and this was the only pairing I've seen where I actually knew what he meant. Though the production was very strangely staged and the orchestra both times I saw it played abominably, the combination of Tolin and Chamberlain has stuck with me all these years. I was convinced at the time I was seeing a star being born in Tolin's performance. Her "Danced All Night" while walking on the frame of her bed like a balance beam was pure joy. Time has proved me wrong in that she never became the star I believed her to be, though I did see her and Chamberlain together again in "The Sound of Music" tour when it played in Chicago. I believe they became quite close friends, and there certainly was chemistry to spare. |
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| re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 06:29 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 06:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| Thanks for the memory of this ill-fated production. I'm a fan of both Ralph Koltai and Howard Davies but probably neither when their hands have been tied behind their backs. I'd argue a full out artistic failure is preferable to a half-assed artistic failure. | |
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| The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 05:45 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 05:40 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| ...is just about all that I recall. The suspended bodies. It was stylized, and "bold," but what did it say? Not a damn thing. I thought Chamberlain was okay -- and I'd liked his Shannon in "Iguana" opposite Dorothy McGuire. But Tolin* -- also on when I saw it -- made no impression. Errico had voice problems, on top of Chamberlain issues, no? It was a dreary affair. Remember those big head sculptures? It all looked flimsy. *I swore I saw Ringham on B'way. Yet I could not have. She's not listed; there was no replacement during the 165 performances in NY, but Michael Moriarity replaced Chamberlain. |
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| re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:45 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - Delvino 05:40 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| "The Magritte Ascot Gavotte is just about all that I recall. The suspended bodies. It was stylized, and 'bold,' but what did it say? Not a damn thing." I remember reading at the time that it was supposed to demonstrate how the aristocracy float above common people. I guess I got that, but I still thought it was a nutso bit of staging that took the audience out of the story because it was so far out there. The "Ascot Gavotte" is already a very stylized number, and the director and/or choreographer brought the stylization to an even higher level. |
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| re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 02:43 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - Michael_Portantiere 11:45 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| it was supposed to demonstrate how the aristocracy float above common people. Isn't that clear enough already, lol? Isn't it, to a huge degree, what the show is already about? It was like the changes in the Mackintosh production that toured the US maybe 10 years ago, with the last part of "Show Me" nodding to "Sister Suffragette" as it were, with Eliza and Freddie suddenly in the Underground and Eliza becoming part of a "rights for women" rally. Interesting, I suppose, but not at all necessary to understand her emotional state - and in fact, really bringing it far beyond what the song is actually expressing. |
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| re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:49 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - Chromolume 02:43 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| "Isn't that clear enough already, lol? Isn't it, to a huge degree, what the show is already about?" Yes exactly :-) And, in CABARET, isn't it already clear enough that the Kit Kat Club is supposed to be a pretty sleazy place without having the ensemble members display bruises and track marks on their arms, and without having a shadow-play simulation of fisting onstage, and without giving us an image of the cast inside a concentration camp at the end of the show, etc., etc? It's all about directors driving home points with sledgehammers in the guise of creativity. |
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| re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:29 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - Michael_Portantiere 03:49 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| The difference is that in a sleazy place, one might realistically encounter people with track marks and people having non-mainstream sex. No aristocracy literally floats in the air. |
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| re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte | |
| Posted by: bobby2 12:01 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - Delvino 05:40 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| Not sure I'm reading your post right but Nancy Ringham was the Eliza who stepped in during the Rex Harrison revival for the actress who had to drop out there. | |
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| Whoops. I got that very wrong. | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:17 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: The Magritte Ascot Gavotte - bobby2 12:01 am EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| Apologies. | |
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| NY Times on the travails of the production | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 02:04 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| Like Julie Andrews who kept having vocal problems during the original New York and London runs of the musical and Cheryl Kennedy who toured the 1980 revival for months until she developed nodes and withdrew in favor of her understudy, Nancy Ringham who did all the performances on Broadway after the first preview, Melissa Errico ruptured her vocal cords during the pre-Broadway tour. Here is Glen Collins' account of the various crises that occurred prior to Broadway: "Anything but Loverly At Fourth of July picnics a year from now, some theater folk may still be swapping yarns about the bad luck that has bedeviled the national tour of the newest revival of "My Fair Lady." That's the Broadway-bound surrealist reinvention of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical that stars Richard Chamberlain as Henry Higgins. Crisis No. 1: Only a week before the show was to begin its tour in Fort Myers, Fla., Melissa Errico, the actress who had been chosen with much fanfare over 612 others to play Eliza Doolittle, ruptured a capillary in her right vocal cord. Her understudy, Meg Tolin, had never sung the role during rehearsals in New York. Crisis No. 2: On the very first leg of the national tour, in Fort Myers, the set, by the English designer Ralph Koltai, dwarfed the stage. Some frenzied carpentry and instant restaging were undertaken. Crisis No. 3: Miss Errico's costumes did not fit Ms. Tolin, and so there was a last-minute hunt for rental dresses in Florida. Crisis No. 4: On Saturday, April 3, for the first performance, the local stagehands went out on a wildcat strike. ("To this day, we don't know why," said Fran Weissler, who, with her husband, Barry, is producing.) The cast improvised through the performance, and Ms. Tolin and Mr. Chamberlain received a standing ovation. Crisis No. 5: On April 5, at 3 A.M., as the set was waiting in the parking lot to be loaded into 11 trucks for the trip to Orlando, a tornado struck Fort Myers. Part of the set and several costume containers were destroyed. That afternoon, when the set's surviving elements were installed in Orlando, they were still soaked. But The Orlando Sentinel gave the musical an excellent review. Crisis No. 6: After a subsequent profitable engagement in Detroit, the set had to be rebuilt once again to fit the Chicago stage. (The Chicago Tribune review said the show needed much work.) The good news: On April 30, for the last three days of the Chicago run, Miss Errico was able to return to "My Fair Lady." She then appeared on opening night in Washington (to an enthusiastic notice from The Washington Post). Crisis No. 7: On May 23, Miss Errico ruptured the capillary in her vocal cord again. "The doctors said it could lead to something worse if I used the muscle," said Miss Errico, who underwent surgery. Ms. Tolin would open in Boston. Crisis No. 8: On June 1, the day for the first preview at the Colonial Theater in Boston, Ms. Tolin had stomach flu and was too dizzy to stand. The understudy for the understudy, Edwardyne Cowan, took the stage until Ms. Tolin recovered for the opening, which was postponed. (The Boston Globe review was nothing short of a rave.) When the choreographer, Donald Saddler, had another commitment during the Detroit run, Tommy Tune and Jeff Calhoun (he's the director of "Tommy Tune Tonight") were called in by the producers to "give the musical a more rhythmical flow," said Mr. Weissler. Translation: to speed up scene changes and transitions. They have continued to make suggestions, with the approval of Mr. Saddler, who said he "doesn't mind that Tommy is involved," and that he will work on the production again after it heads to the West Coast on Tuesday. A Dec. 9 Broadway opening is planned for the $2.5 million show. "I hope to rejoin the cast in Seattle, and stay right through the New York opening," said Miss Errico. "For me there's been no high drama here. It's just been a nuisance." The producers and Mr. Chamberlain remain optimistic despite their Job-like travails. "Bad luck is a good omen in the theater," said Mr. Chamberlain. "When things go too smoothly in this business, beware." Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) |
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| Link | On Stage and Off July 1993 |
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| 'Show Me' ... the TV commercial from that 1993 revival | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:37 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: NY Times on the travails of the production - Marlo*Manners 02:04 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| Link | TV commercial for 'My Fair Lady,' starring Richard Chamberlain |
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| Video of "The Rain in Spain" | |
| Posted by: keywslt 06:52 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: 'Show Me' ... the TV commercial from that 1993 revival - WaymanWong 03:37 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| With Tolin, I believe. | |
| Link | Richard Chamberlain in My Fair Lady |
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| re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Posted by: broadwaybacker 01:20 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| I consider Melissa Errico to be a friend (and she's a wonderful person) and after I saw the LCT production, I wrote to her and asked her what she had thought of the "controversial" ending. This was her reply: "Our 1993 production had me return in an abstract space - all surrounded with blackness- and Higgins alone w one of his large scientific symbols (a large phrenological head).... as if to say ... that my return was potentially fantasized and not in reality... implying his aloneness ...His culpability in their separateness. A dream. Not necessarily a happy ending. So in some ways it was modernist, as much as we were allowed in those days. But I like that this 2018 production allowed the audience to focus on her feet, HER walking on & into her future." I have not asked her (nor will I) about her relationship with Chamberlain. |
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| re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 12:43 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - Marlo*Manners 12:22 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| I saw this on New Year's Day 1994. My memories are mostly of the bizarre design, and the two things that immediately come to mind are the dandies that descended from the flies on swings dressed like people in Magritte paintings during the Ascot sequence and the giant glowing head in Higgins's laboratory. The latter derailed any possibility of becoming absorbed in any scene set there; it was so overwhelming and ugly. I remember Errico's singing being wonderful, but her accent being suspect. Chamberlain was suave and did his best trying to play scenes next to a giant plaster cranium. |
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| Saw it prior to Broadway | |
| Posted by: chrismpls 01:56 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
| In reply to: re: "My Fair Lady" - the forgotten Broadway revival of 1993-94 - carolinaguy 12:43 pm EDT 08/29/18 | |
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| The concept was intriguing, early in the tour, but the production sorta lurched from scene to scene. Errico's "I Could Have Danced All Night," however, was a stunner. | |
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