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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 03:54 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - Michael_Portantiere 05:59 pm EDT 03/31/21 | |
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| Very nice job! I enjoyed reading each of the 13 points and found your arguments quite interesting. They made me think about certain elements in the film that I had not thought about before. I caught at least some of the grammar errors when I first listened to the OBC LP in '56, and eventually identified others. They don't really bother me because Harrison talk-sings them so beautifully. I can understand why they were not corrected for the film, and I'm fine with that decision. I agree that the American-expression lyrics should have been replaced with the British ones for the film. I actually like the film's ending. I think when Eliza smiles and moves toward Higgins, it's apparent that she loves him and now has a better understanding of his failings. Perhaps their mutual feelings for each other will evolve into romantic ones or (if not) a business relationship might be possible. I like your reasoning on the other points. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:34 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - BroadwayTonyJ 03:54 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| It occurs to me that the ending of the show/movie may reflect Eliza exercising a new found confidence/power in her relationship with Henry Higgins. For a good part of the story, she's very much alone in the world. She seems to have no friends other than other workers in Covent Garden (and even they don't pay enough attention to her to recognize her in a change of clothes). Her father just wants to use her for money. Even as late in the story as the Embassy Ball, Eliza is very much alone as even Colonel Pickering ignores her triumph in favor of praising Higgins for his. But, over the course of the second act, Eliza finds a true ally in Mrs. Higgins and a demonstration that she truly has options now that she never had before in Freddy. And she demonstrates, and Higgins confirms, that she has made herself indispensable in the household. Plus, she has proven herself a capable linguist to the point of potentially becoming a teacher herself. So, when she returns at the end of the story, this is a very different Eliza than we've seen before and I think she's feeling her power and realizing that she's the one actually in charge now (a less frantic version of a shocking and funny moment in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, perhaps). What she chooses to do with her new power is the question...one that people should be debating as they head up the aisle, Lincoln Center production notwithstanding. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 06:05 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - JereNYC 04:34 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| Hopefully, she and Higgins will form a partnership in his business as a phonetician. I assume Henry's clients have all been males. With Eliza as an assistant, wealthy female clients might be interested in considering Eliza as a teacher. Higgins' business could easily double as a result. Economics first, increased mutual respect soon after, romance later (inevitably). | |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:25 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - BroadwayTonyJ 06:05 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| From Pygmalion: "I’ve taught scores of American millionairesses how to speak English: the most beautiful women in the world. I’m seasoned." At the link, you can read Shaw’s postscript to Pygmalion. He did not think that Eliza would become Higgins’s teaching partner. |
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| Link | Postscript to Pygmalion |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:46 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - AlanScott 07:25 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| Yeah, I know. We studied Pygmalion in my H.S. English class. I'm with Lerner on this one. Not even my teacher thought Eliza would end up with Freddy. I like happy endings in musicals. | |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:20 am EDT 04/02/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - BroadwayTonyJ 07:46 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| "Not even my teacher thought Eliza would end up with Freddy." Right. As I wrote elsewhere, it seems to me that Shaw liked to play devil's advocate, and that he may have written that postscript almost in a fit of pique, as a reactionary argument against other people's insistence that Higgins and Eliza would end up together (which I believe had even be reflected in the staging of at least one production of the play). I find it very difficult to believe that he honestly thought Eliza would/should end up with Freddy, as I don't think that would be a happy marriage due to the fact that the two of them are not intellectual equals (she's so much smarter than him). |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 01:20 pm EDT 04/02/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - Michael_Portantiere 11:20 am EDT 04/02/21 | |
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| Yes, he was fighting with Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Herbert Beerbohm Tree were messing with the ending soon after opening. GBS railed at Tree, who countered, “My ending makes money; you should be grateful.” GBS replied, “Your ending is damnable; you should be shot.” Laura |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 02:32 pm EDT 04/02/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG!) - showtunetrivia 01:20 pm EDT 04/02/21 | |
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| Thanks, Laura, I'm familiar with that quote. Love it!!!! | |
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