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| He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: but it doesn't make sense - mikem 04:43 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| Well, it would be really odd if any production had her pick up his slippers, much less bring them to him. It's very clear that Higgins is not actually asking for his slippers. And it all goes back to the 1938 film. That's where the ending came from. The ending is about Higgins trying to hide how happy he is that Eliza has come back. Lerner's stage directions make this very clear. Unfortunately, you can't read stage directions to an audience. Well, you can, but that's a sort of post-modern approach. Kind of like having Eliza return and then exit up the aisle of the theatre. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: BobD 02:02 pm EST 02/25/19 | |
| In reply to: He's not really asking for his slippers - AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| A community theater production that I saw had an ending of MFL that worked very well. Higgins delivers the "slippers" line smiling; Eliza throws a slipper at him in a playful manner; Higgins throws the slipper back at her, and the slipper gets thrown back-and-forth several times as in a children's game, and the two of them collapse on the sofa, laughing. This shows that Higgins and Eliza are fond of each other, and Eliza is certainly capable of holding her own. The extent to which this relationship is a romantic one is subject to interpretIon, and is dependent of the chemistry of the performers. BTW, this is the second musical I can think of in which footwear plays an important role, the other being SHE LOVES ME (“Where's my other shoe.”) And, as it happened, Laura Benanti was featured in both shoes...er...shows. Bob |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:01 pm EST 02/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: He's not really asking for his slippers - BobD 02:02 pm EST 02/25/19 | |
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| Only the second? The footwear in KINKY BOOTS is so central to the plot that the show is named after it. Later this season, Encores! is presenting HIGH BUTTON SHOES, a show that I don't know at all, but I imagine the footwear must be important there as well. DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES REALLY REFLECT UP?...that title is more of a joke than anything else and doesn't really reflect on the plot, except as it concerns a group of kids in Catholic school growing up and starting to question their lives. The leading man of LUCKY STIFF is a hapless shoe salesman, a fact that gets brought up there a few times. :) That ending to MFL sounds like it could work wonderfully, still keeping the ambiguity of the original, while giving the show more a cap on the end. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: BobD 06:21 pm EST 02/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: He's not really asking for his slippers - JereNYC 04:01 pm EST 02/25/19 | |
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| You're right. I was just thinking of shows featuring Laura Benanti. CINDERELLA is another obvious shoe-centered show. And the ever-useful Google tells me that there was a show called SHOES: THE MUSICAL and THE RED SHOES. With a bit of a stretch, we can include THE WIZARD OF OZ and WICKED. Yes, the shoe must go on! Bob |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:28 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: He's not really asking for his slippers - AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| "The ending is about Higgins trying to hide how happy he is that Eliza has come back. Lerner's stage directions make this very clear." I agree that this is the intent behind Higgins saying "Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?" But I believe the stage directions for the original production then say, "Eliza has tears in her eyes. She understands." And I'm not 100 percent sure WHAT she understands, or why she has tears in her eyes. If what she "understands" is that Higgins is happy to have her back but can't come right out and say that, and is going to continue to behave that way -- where he's unable or unwilling to come say how much affection he has for her, and is going to continue to treat her like a servant -- then her returning to him makes NO SENSE, because in the previous scene she has already stated emphatically that she will NOT continue living with him under those terms. Further confusing the issue: In the film of the musical, Audrey Hepburn does not have tears in her eyes after Higgins asks her where the devil his slippers are. And in the PYGMALION film, there is no shot of Eliza after Higgins asks her about the slippers, so we have no idea what her reaction to that might be. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: garyd 07:56 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: He's not really asking for his slippers - AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| I have been involved with two productions of HUGHIE in which a "third character" has been added to voice O'Neill's stage directions (or actually the very detailed inner thoughts of Erie and Hughes). Both productions were excellent and, quite frankly, the best versions of the play I have seen. Of course I would not recommend such an approach for MFL or any other play that comes to mind. On the other hand some off or off-off group did a whole evening of O'Neill stage directions which I found quite interesting and entertaining. gary...who likes Sher's ending for the current MFL. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 06:27 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: He's not really asking for his slippers - AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| You're very right. I think maybe the best of both worlds is having him deliver the line like a cocky ass, covering up how happy he is, and then look directly at her and smile and she smiles back. No getting the slippers, no walking out through the walls or otherwise. Just two people who have come to love and need each other, who get something from each other no one else does, and who have grown through knowing each other, accepting that they want to be together again. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:31 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: He's not really asking for his slippers - Chazwaza 06:27 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| "I think maybe the best of both worlds is having him deliver the line like a cocky ass, covering up how happy he is, and then look directly at her and smile and she smiles back. No getting the slippers, no walking out through the walls or otherwise. Just two people who have come to love and need each other, who get something from each other no one else does, and who have grown through knowing each other, accepting that they want to be together again." I agree, that ending would be better than any of the others I've seen. |
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| re: He's not really asking for his slippers | |
| Posted by: mikem 06:15 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: He's not really asking for his slippers - AlanScott 06:03 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| I think Harry Hadden-Paton is following the stage directions as you state. He's clearly happy that Eliza is back and doesn't want to show it. He also smiles to himself while Eliza disappears up the aisle. I guess that's supposed to mean that he understands and accepts her choice. |
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