My Fair Lady at the Peace Center
Bruce Steele: Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady is one of the best stage musicals ever written and it's jam-packed with memorable songs. But after cringing through South Pacific recently because of its outdated portrayal of sexual power dynamics, I feared a similar fate for My Fair Lady in this Broadway touring production at The Peace Center. Does it survive the #MeToo test?
Edwin Arnaudin: Superbly. I wasn’t quite as concerned here, but was still pleasantly surprised at numerous intervals how thoroughly modern the material feels. Phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Laird Mackintosh) often looks quite bad, cluelessly flexing toxic masculinity in his bet-driven tutelage/grooming of uneducated flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Shereen Ahmed), whose rise to social affluence feels like a grand feminist victory. Did you have a similar reaction?
Bruce: I was pleased at how strong Eliza's epiphany and dressing down of Higgins in Act Two feels more than 60 years after the musical's 1956 debut (with then 20-year-old Julie Andrews), and more than a century after George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, from which much of the dialogue comes, word for word. I was even happier that Bartlett Sher, who directed this Lincoln Center Theatre production, found a way to stage Lerner and Loewe's tagged-on ending that makes it work for modern audiences without actually changing a word. But, of course, the real thrills were the musical numbers, wouldn't you say?
Edwin: And how! It’s a hit-parade, especially in the first act. This was my first time seeing My Fair Lady on the stage, and I definitely got goosebumps hearing, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” and was impressed by the character-building and narrative efficiency of “With a Little Bit of Luck,” which tells us pretty much all we need to know about Eliza’s ne’er-do-well father, Alfred (Adam Grupper). Were you especially impressed by the staging of any particular song(s)?
Bruce: Well, the Act Two rendition of "Get Me to the Church On Time" is pretty spectacular, the one time the ensemble really gets to cut loose. The woman to my left could barely contain her excitement that some of the chorus girls turned out to be men! But even the "just people singing" numbers were powerful. I don't remember ever loving Eliza's "Show Me" quite as much as I did here. That and "Without You" are much of the reason Act Two takes the show into a palpably feminist direction. "Without You" can be interpreted as Eliza putting on a brave face, but this time she definitely means it.
Edwin: Back to Higgins looking like a fuddy-duddy, I was also impressed by Mackintosh’s verbal dexterity in his character’s wordy, not-quite-musical numbers, “I’m an Ordinary Man” and “A Hymn to Him.” But nearly as wowsers as the songs are Michael Yeargan’s sets, particularly the 360-degree interior of Higgins’ house. The handful of times that the cast navigates the rotating layout warrant standing ovations, and I was also drawn in by well-orchestrated returns to the building’s study, during which characters dawdle by the front of the stage as the structure slides forward to meet them. It’s a surprisingly cinematic production!
Bruce: After so many big shows that rely on giant video projection systems instead of physical constructions, I was thrilled with all these beautiful, detailed, and highly mobile sets. There's that amazing rotating study with its two levels, plus a full recreation of the front of Covent Garden, a series of building facades that move around to give you an impression of walking through London, and many more. Just the sound of the sets rolling across the floor made me smile, because it was a reminder that we're in the presence of real, old-fashioned sets with dimension and physicality. And then there are the costumes...
Edwin: Brava to Catherine Zuber! Everything from the classy robes of Higgins and his colleague Col. Pickering (Kevin Pariseau) to Eliza’s show-stopping ballgowns — one of which nearly requires the use of sunglasses to counteract all the diamond sparkles — is a delight. And between all of the sights and sounds and movement, Bartlett Sher’s Tony-nominated direction likewise deserves praise for uniting and elevating these various components. With so much going right for this My Fair Lady, is there anything about the production that you wish was better or different?
Bruce: Shareen Ahmed as Eliza is quite a force in Act Two and entirely amusing in the pivotal Ascot race scene, but in early going I didn't buy her Cockney accent and demeanor, which made me worry about whether she'd be able to hold her own against other principals who seemed more at ease. Then "I Could Have Danced All Night" comes along and she sheds both the lower-class accent and her earlier meekness. From then on, she was terrific. What did you think?
Edwin: Ahmed hooked me from the start, especially her extended nasally sound of disgust that severely offends Higgins’ ears. But while tenor Colin Anderson has a lovely (loverly?) voice, he’s so loud in, well, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” that he drowns out Eliza and his fellow quartet singers. (The sound folks must have been asleep during that stretch.) The bright orchestra under John Bell’s direction also jumped out ahead of Mackintosh a few times before getting in sync after a few bars, but these are mere quibbles that can easily be adjusted. My main issue — as it is in the 1964 film — is how much the show drags following “Get Me to the Church on Time.” I keep thinking My Fair Lady will continue its zippy pace and memorable tunes, but it always ends on a bit of a half-finished note for me.
Bruce: Interesting. For me, it was the first time I enjoyed the second half more than the first! I found the post “Church” drama riveting in this production, as there seemed to be some real question as to what Eliza’s final verdict would be between misanthrope Henry and eager but air-headed suitor Freddy (Sam Simahk, who performs “The Street Where You Live” beautifully, which is really his only job). And, as I indicated, I loved the ending. It’s really a complete, lavish, entertaining classic Broadway experience, and, as we critics like to say, not to be missed.
Edwin: Agreed! I’m thrilled to have finally seen the show in person and am confident that novices and folks familiar with the story will throughly enjoy the Peace Center’s latest offering. Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn would be proud.
My Fair Lady runs through February 2. For details and tickets, visit peacecenter.org.
(Photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of The Peace Center)
