My Fair Lady Inglewood Theatre reviews
My Fair Lady is a Fair, Fair to Average Production
So what went wrong? How do you take a fantastic script and score and end up with a below average musical play? It starts with an musical accompanyment that is too small, too quiet, too sluggish, and lacking in energy. The tempo on every song needs to be brightened, and more punchy. The voices of the actors were good, and Freddy was excellent. Eliza was okay. The heart of the play and the most disappointing character was Prof. Higgins. He simply was not sincerely British enough. When an American tries to portray a surly Brit, but cannot pull off the Brit, we are left with surly. He is supposed to be laughable and likable, with a bit of sympathy, because he says what we all think. However, here he was unlikable, and mean, and not at all British. His acerbic words must be accompanied by a softness and gentility, and not the gruffness that he had in this play. He is supposed to start out as an eager pushy parent and then turn into a suiter and lover. Instead, he starts out as a cad, an angry scientist, and ends up as a jilted and unsympathetic loser. The supporting cast is as follows: ensemble, excellent but in desperate need of better musical accompanyment; Eliza'a father, too young and fresh for the role of a weather-beaten old drunk of a father, but otherwise okay; Mrs. Pierce, excellent; Col. Pickering, excellent; Mrs. Higgins, excellent. The sets and costumes were unremarkable. The scene at the Ascot horse races could have been much better had there been something indicating that they were at the horse races. My children did not understand that this scene was at the races at all. A paddock, stable, a horse or jockey, or even the race rail would have helped. It would help to have horse shadows traversing the background as the horses run by. Otherwise, by the looks of the costumes and the actors, this scene could be in a park or an indoor ballroom-- it is just very hard to tell where they are if you missed the dialogue or if you do not know what Ascot is (which is all the playbill uses to describe the setting). Also, the opening scene depicts Eliza in ragged clothes and dirty. However, the flower girls later in the play are dressed modestly but neatly and cleanly. It is misleading to introduce Eliza as a tattered dirty street urchin. She has a job, and she supports herself. She is simply uneducated. And this is the point of the play -- what keeps her in her place is her speech. Otherwise, she is as worthy as anyone. Overall, I wish the play had a better energy, both from the musicians and from Higgins. Unfortunately, it dragged, it was mean spirited, and it was boring. My apologies to George Bernard Shaw. I sincerely hope this review inspires tweaking and reworking that will make the play better.