{"id":7167,"date":"2018-04-03T08:06:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T12:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7167"},"modified":"2018-06-16T20:14:10","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T00:14:10","slug":"on-stage-a-new-my-fair-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7167","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: A Loverly New “My Fair Lady”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"my-fair-lady-poster2\"This spring Lincoln Center\u2019s Vivian Beaumont Theatre<\/a> is presenting the first new production of Lerner and Loewe\u2019s irresistible musical My Fair Lady<\/em> in a quarter-century. Opening night for this production, directed by Bartlett Sher, is April 19. We were lucky to get good seats for a preview performance and enjoyed it tremendously.<\/p>\n

Lauren Ambrose (Claire in Six Feet Under<\/em>) plays the redoubtable Eliza Doolittle, with spirit and a knock-your-socks-off singing voice. It turns out she had classical voice training, but this is the first time since high school she\u2019s had a role that let her use it.<\/p>\n

Ambrose\u2019s Eliza is more than Higgins\u2019s life-sized doll, as she’s transformed from cockney flower girl to elegant lady. In a New York Times<\/a><\/em> interview, she said, \u201cI\u2019m fighting for the dignity of the character.\u201d This helps counter some of the show\u2019s ideas that are uncomfortably dated, though Henry Higgins remains a deliciously irredeemable throwback. His “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?” is right out of a time capsule. Yet the play as a whole overcomes that successfully<\/a> in this #MeToo moment.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll recognize Harry Hadden-Paton, who plays Professor Higgins, from numerous roles on British television, most recently in The Crown<\/em>. Unlike Rex Harrison, he can actually sing. The cast-member who is our sentimental favorite is Allan Corduner as Colonel Pickering. We met him when he played Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express <\/em>at McCarter Theatre, and seeing Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins was a delicious treat!<\/p>\n

Any actor playing Alfred P. Doolittle has the gift of two rousing numbers\u2014\u201cA Little Bit of Luck\u201d and \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time,\u201d and Norbert Leo Butz plays them for all they\u2019re worth, supported by his two semi-sober pals. He has everything he needs to bring the house down, and, boy, does he. Great support from the huge (29 members!) and hugely talented ensemble.<\/p>\n

Michael Yeargan\u2019s main set is on a revolving turntable, and the rest is designed for quick scene changes and continuous movement. Catherine Zuber\u2019s costumes are loverly, especially for the scenes at the Ascot races\u2014a golden opportunity for the costume designer to pull all the stops. The red taffeta coat Eliza wears to the Embassy Ball is a brave and dramatic choice for the red-haired Ambrose. That\u2019s a scene where her dress has to be up to the drama of the moment: \u201cShe is a princess,\u201d after all. But I\u2019m still trying to figure out what color that dress was.<\/p>\n

I especially appreciated that the orchestra\u2014part of which appears on stage for the ballroom scene\u2014did not drown out the singing.<\/p>\n

MFL<\/em> is often considered \u201cthe perfect musical.\u201d If you\u2019ve never seen the show, or if you haven\u2019t seen it in years, it will leave a big smile on your face. \u201cWhat in all of heaven can have prompted you to go?\u201d The promise of a terrific evening at the theater!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This spring Lincoln Center\u2019s Vivian Beaumont Theatre is presenting the first new production of Lerner and Loewe\u2019s irresistible musical My Fair Lady in a quarter-century. Opening night for this production, directed by Bartlett Sher, is April 19. We were lucky … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"On Stage: A New \"My Fair Lady\" - the \"perfect musical\" returns to Broadway!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,104,147],"tags":[1218,1286,1285],"class_list":["post-7167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-broadway","tag-lauren-ambrose","tag-my-fair-lady"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1RB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7167"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7219,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions\/7219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}