Having watched (and stunned by) Audrey Hepburn's film version of "My Fair Lady", I felt it almost irresistible to catch the latest revival of this amazing musical.
"My Fair Lady" is unique in so many ways. For starters, it's not a love story. One of the most genius things about it, I think, is that the male lead barely sings, in a musical! And after ten minutes or so you watch it, you would fully understand why: Because Professor Higgins was a man who enjoyed solitude, who never gave away affection, let alone love. Singing would be too emotional for him so he would only speak in rhythm. To balance the professor's emotionlessness, the show has a flower girl-turned fair lady, who is both interesting and elegant. There is no "bad guy" in this show, only tension and conflict between the leading actor and actress. The conflict between them is as old as the human beings itself: the conflict between sexes. That warrants its universal appeal. No matter what language you speak, you would understand what's going on. Only a theatrical genius no less than George Bernard Shaw could have written such an intriguing story.
Musically it is a masterpiece as well. I started to sing along just after watching the film once and I don't think I'm the only one. In this production, two songs by Eliza's father, Alfred, were expanded greatly into almost "street raps". It worked very well and the performance was electrifying.
Christopher Cazenove was unbelievable as Professor Henry Higgins and Walter Charles did a fine job as the comic relief, Colonel Hugh Pickering. As I mentioned before, Tim Jerome as Alfred P. Alfred P. Doolittle led an amazing gang in the two happy songs, "A Little Bit of Luck" and "Take Me to the Church on Time". The only weakness in the cast was, unfortunately, Dana DeLisa as Eliza Doolittle. She started the first song "Wouldn't it be loverly" with some hesitation but got better and better as the show moved on. As a young actress, she did reasonably well and she would have seemed just fine in a lesser production. However, the rest of the cast, especially Cazenove, was too powerful on stage that she was overshadowed. I wonder how Lisa O'Hare, the advertised Eliza Doolittle, would do.
The Opera House in the Kennedy Center was magnificent. It was a pleasure to watch the set could change so fast with some modern equipment. Overall, I would give this performance 9 out of 10.
Once again I went there alone because my desire to see it easily outweighed my (constant) fear of solitude.
"My Fair Lady" is unique in so many ways. For starters, it's not a love story. One of the most genius things about it, I think, is that the male lead barely sings, in a musical! And after ten minutes or so you watch it, you would fully understand why: Because Professor Higgins was a man who enjoyed solitude, who never gave away affection, let alone love. Singing would be too emotional for him so he would only speak in rhythm. To balance the professor's emotionlessness, the show has a flower girl-turned fair lady, who is both interesting and elegant. There is no "bad guy" in this show, only tension and conflict between the leading actor and actress. The conflict between them is as old as the human beings itself: the conflict between sexes. That warrants its universal appeal. No matter what language you speak, you would understand what's going on. Only a theatrical genius no less than George Bernard Shaw could have written such an intriguing story.
Musically it is a masterpiece as well. I started to sing along just after watching the film once and I don't think I'm the only one. In this production, two songs by Eliza's father, Alfred, were expanded greatly into almost "street raps". It worked very well and the performance was electrifying.
Christopher Cazenove was unbelievable as Professor Henry Higgins and Walter Charles did a fine job as the comic relief, Colonel Hugh Pickering. As I mentioned before, Tim Jerome as Alfred P. Alfred P. Doolittle led an amazing gang in the two happy songs, "A Little Bit of Luck" and "Take Me to the Church on Time". The only weakness in the cast was, unfortunately, Dana DeLisa as Eliza Doolittle. She started the first song "Wouldn't it be loverly" with some hesitation but got better and better as the show moved on. As a young actress, she did reasonably well and she would have seemed just fine in a lesser production. However, the rest of the cast, especially Cazenove, was too powerful on stage that she was overshadowed. I wonder how Lisa O'Hare, the advertised Eliza Doolittle, would do.
The Opera House in the Kennedy Center was magnificent. It was a pleasure to watch the set could change so fast with some modern equipment. Overall, I would give this performance 9 out of 10.
Once again I went there alone because my desire to see it easily outweighed my (constant) fear of solitude.
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