THE BASICS: MY FAIR LADY, a musical by Lerner & Loewe, directed by Bartlett Sher, North American Tour, part of the Shea’s Broadway Series, opened on March 1 and runs through Sunday, March 6, Tuesday – Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 1 and 6:30 at Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, 646 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14202. (716-847-1410) sheas.org. Neither proof of vaccination nor masks are required, but many people did wear masks which I appreciated. Runtime: 3 hours exactly (Act I 90 minutes, 15 minute intermission, Act II 75 minutes)
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion, book and lyrics were by Alan Jay Lerner and music was by Frederick Loewe. MY FAIR LADY is a romantic comedy about Eliza Doolittle, the cockney flower girl, transformed into an elegant lady on a bet. The bet is between Professor Henry Higgins, a “Phonetician,” and a Colonel Pickering, who dabbles in linguistics and speech himself . The bet is that Higgins, through speech training, can transform Eliza into a proper lady who can be presented at The Embassy Ball. It has one of musical theater’s greatest scores including “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”
In both the original play and the musical, Higgins wins the bet after which Eliza is outraged at being treated like a lab rat, but in the play she storms out, for good, apparently to marry a young suitor named Freddy and presumably to open a flower shop. Higgins is amused at her feisty nature and the play ends with his laugh of delight. In the musical, Eliza falls in love with Higgins, and despite his cynical nature and being a cold fish, Higgins in his way falls in love with Eliza, but the ending, after the big fight and walk-out, is ambiguous. In the musical, Eliza returns (but why?) and then leaves again, although in both the play and musical, the curtain comes down with Higgins laughing.
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: This musical is a must-see, if only because it’s a Bartlett Sher production, chock full of his signature touches. Although he works in musicals, plays, and movies I’m mostly familiar with his productions for The Metropolitan Opera, including the comedies LE COMTE ORY, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, (with dramatic staging out into the audience), THE ELIXIR OF LOVE, as well as the “opera fantastique” THE TALES OF HOFFMAN. With Sher, things are always in motion. I’ve also seen his two super-dark Verdi operas – OTELLO and this year’s RIGOLETTO. With Sher, dramatic scenes are very focused.
And that was the case with MY FAIR LADY, where the sets by Michael Yeargan and costuming by Catherine Zuber are stunning. I was particularly impressed by the choral scene at the horse-races at Ascot and the huge choral number, all over the stage, “Get Me to the Church on Time.”
The Higgins house set is also a delight in its detail although on opening night there was a 5-minute delay in Act I when the huge revolving interior caught on one of the side pieces. Hey, it’s live theater. But as the house revolves, Eliza is shepherded from room to room where all physical vestiges of her street life are removed (and burned) and she emerges ready to work on becoming a lady.
The cast is strong with Laird Mackintosh as a spry Henry Higgins, Shereen Ahmed (one of the ’40 under 40 accomplished Arab Americans in the U.S.’) with whom the audience fell in love, and a particularly strong voiced ‘Freddy’ sung by Sam Simahk.
The cast is strong with Laird Mackintosh as a spry Henry Higgins, Shereen Ahmed (one of the “40 under 40 accomplished Arab Americans in the U.S.”) with whom the audience fell in love, and a particularly strong voiced “Freddy” sung by Sam Simahk. Kevin Pariseau was a delight as what I’ll call the “Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes sidekick” role of Colonel Pickering and Martin Fisher brought a whole new energy to the role of Eliza’s father, Alfred P. Doolittle. Leslie Alexander had good comic timing in the role of Mrs. Higgins (Henry’s mother) as did Gayton Scott as Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper, and the “Loverly Quartet” was, well, loverly!
Lerner and Loewe collaborated on sixteen musicals including, to name a few, BRIGADOON, PAINT YOUR WAGON, CAMELOT, and GIGI so this is a beloved part of the American Musical Canon.
Lerner and Loewe collaborated on sixteen musicals including, to name a few, BRIGADOON, PAINT YOUR WAGON, CAMELOT, and GIGI so this is a beloved part of the American Musical Canon with, as mentioned above, a host of songs that are now part of what is known as “The Great American Songbook.”
I realize that you could say that about OKLAHOMA! and while many, many patrons of Shea’s Broadway Series were unprepared for the new interpretation of OKLAHOMA! last month and left disappointed, rest assured that the Broadway series is back on track with this musical.
Coming along next for Shea’s Buffalo Theatre M&T Bank Broadway Series will be the highly anticipated Aaron Sorkin play (note: not a musical) TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, March 27-April 2 (starring Richard Thomas); then ANASTASIA from April 19-24 (book by Terrence McNally based on the 1997 animated film); then AIN’T TOO PROUD (the life and times of The Temptations, a jukebox musical with book by Dominique Morisseau) which will run May 10-15.
Trivia Time: The musical’s 1956 Broadway production was a success, winning six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It set a record for the longest run of any musical on Broadway up to that time and was followed by a hit London production. Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews starred in both productions.
While MY FAIR LADY won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Musical and Rex Harrison won that year for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical as Henry Higgins, Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical but did not win. (The Tony went to Judy Holliday for BELLS ARE RINGING and Holliday went on to play the same role of Ella Peterson in the movie.)
However, in 1964, when the movie MY FAIR LADY was released, there was controversy that Julie Andrews had been replaced by Audrey Hepburn (although Rex Harrison was in the movie). Apparently, Jack Warner of Warner Brothers felt that she didn’t have the same name recognition as Hepburn. Adding further insult to Julie Andrews, Hepburn’s singing had to be dubbed by Marni Nixon. But don’t feel too bad for Julie Andrews. While Harrison won an Oscar in 1964 for his role as Henry Higgins, Audrey Hepburn didn’t win an Oscar that year. Who did win the Academy Award (and the Golden Globe) for Best Actress? ” Why it was Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins!”
I read that in a 1979 interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, Lerner revealed that when Higgins sings, “Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters / Condemned by every syllable she utters / By right she should be taken out and hung / For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.” Lerner said he knew the lyric used incorrect grammar for the sake of a rhyme and thought that perhaps no one would notice. But… two nights after MY FAIR LADY opened, Lerner ran into Noël Coward in a restaurant who said: “Dear boy, it is hanged, not hung.” To which Lerner replied: “Oh, Noel, I know it, I know it! You know… shut up!”
Lead image: The Company in The Lincoln Center Theater Production of Lerner & Loewe’s MY FAIR LADY | Photo by © Joan Marcus
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!