![]() To be fair, Powell does her best to connect to her scene partners and is most successful with John Adkinson’s Colonel Pickering. Little attention has been paid to character development or storytelling, making this production feel like the Cliffs Notes version of the musical. In a pivotal, confrontational scene between Henry and Eliza, the duo keeps marching back and forth across the width of the stage, directing their remarks near, but never to each other.Īlthough every member of this company displays outstanding vocal prowess, especially Madeline Powell as Eliza Doolittle, this is not a concert and it’s not enough to sing the notes beautifully. Somehow the adjustment to different stages (Boston is the largest city on this tour), has left the actors dwarfed by a space that is too big for them. ![]() ![]() Scene changes become an endless succession of shifting flats and scrims that fly in and out, but rarely help bring us into the story. Perhaps it’s understandable that Lincoln Center’s revolving set had to go, but along with it went the subtle point about the razor-thin differences between the lavish home of Henry Higgins and the “undeserving poor’s” curbside camps. Madeline Powell as Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady." (Courtesy Jeremy Daniel) Along the way, we are treated to such magnificent songs as “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “Get Me to the Church on Time.” And because this is musical theater there is a bit of romance - or manipulation depending on your perspective - that Sher’s revisions acknowledge and build on. The story follows Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” in which a phonetics professor makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower seller how to be a lady in six months. So, it’s disappointing to report that in the production that stops at the Citizens Bank Opera House through April 30, nearly every corner has been cut to adapt this “My Fair Lady” to a national tour. The arrival of the touring production of the 2018 Lincoln Center revival of “My Fair Lady” was eagerly anticipated not only for Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner’s songs, but also for director Bartlett Sher’s gentle tweaking of the story to reflect George Bernard Shaw’s play more accurately. Strangelove" and "Mary Poppins," making it one of the most overrated Oscar winners ever.Facebook Email Jonathan Grunert (Henry Higgins), Madeline Powell (Eliza Doolittle) and John Adkinson (Colonel Pickering) in the national tour of "My Fair Lady." (Courtesy Jeremy Daniel) My bitterness towards it is only compounded by the fact that it criminally won the Oscar for Best Picture over both " Dr. The sole bright spot is Stanley Holloway as Eliza's incorrigibly dodgy old dad. The whole film is so tiresome, and most of the songs are awful, too. I generally love those classic Technicolor musicals from the golden age of Hollywood, but I really hate "My Fair Lady." Everything about Hepburn's performance just triggers me. "My Fair Lady" was adapted from the Broadway musical which, in turn, was an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's famous play, "Pygmalion." It is almost three hours of Audrey Hepburn shrieking Cockney-sounding noises while Harrison huffs, puffs, and tuts. Higgins isn't really the romantic type, however, and after Eliza passes her big test at the ball, she feels under-appreciated and has her head turned by a handsome young suitor (Jeremy Brett). Eventually, they make progress and a bond develops between them. However, the producers wanted someone with more star power (via Parade) and she may have ruined her own chances by refusing a screen test.Įliza reacts rather rowdily to the Professor's heavy-handed methods at first, much to the consternation of his servants who can't stand the racket. By then she was Hollywood royalty, having received her fourth Oscar nomination a few years earlier for one of her signature roles, Holly Golightly in " Breakfast at Tiffany's." She was chosen over Julie Andrews, who originated the role of Eliza on stage and was a natural in the part. Hepburn was at the peak of her career when she was cast as Eliza Doolittle in George Cukor's interminable adaptation of the hit Broadway show. Her attempt at Cockney isn't as bad as Van Dyke's, but she leans way too hard into it. ![]() Or perhaps not, because as the daughter of a rich family attending ballet school, maybe she didn't rub shoulders all that often with street urchins, pearly kings and queens, flower-sellers, and other working-class stereotypes before she hit the big time. Perhaps you'd think Hepburn would develop something of an ear for the local dialect, having moved to London at the age of 15. ![]()
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