| My Fair Lady yesterday | |
| Posted by: pagates 10:18 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
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| I saw this for the second time yesterday (I'm a fan of Benanti). The first time was last year with the original cast, and I thought it was terrific. Then, although it took until The Rain in Spain to lift off and achieve "theater magic," it sustained nicely afterward, and I found the "new" ending worked for me, giving a sort of sense to the story for our time. But this cast, this current iteration, is something else again. They create one of the great productions I've ever seen. While I always loved so many of the particulars of this show, I've long felt MFL was problematic in how it asks us to embrace the leads' love fantasy in face of their conflicts. When I was in grade school as the show made its first appearance, it was easy enough, I suppose, to accept that the romance between Higgins and Eliza was all it was about, and in particular that he would prevail in spite of himself. The man always did, didn't he? The intervening half century has shown how difficult it is to make good sense of that resolution. And to be honest, the text always seemed ambiguous on the point anyway. The new cast in this production aims for the joy of the story immediately and it lifts off promptly, building to a glorious peak at the first act curtain. The second act carries it forward appropriately as it opens. But quite soon (as the embassy ball ends) the gaps between the realities of the diverse worlds the characters inhabit and the fantasy worlds they (and we) want them to live in begin to open up. Ultimately the new ending puts paid to the truths of the conflicts among Edwardians and the whole show now provides a moving study of the pathos inherent in their contrasting experiences across their rigid class and gender roles. Shaw's insights, wisdom and conviction are wittily and emotionally intensified by Lerner and Lowe and vivified by this production which is keenly human and humane having been created by a glorious blend of cast, creators and crew. I think it usefully unveils how much closer we are to the Edwardian world than we like to imagine. |
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