Even if Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady were not one of the most crowd-pleasing musicals, the revival at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater would be a must-see. Featuring Broadway royalty, not only the amazing Laura Benanti as Eliza Doolittle whose voice alone is worth the price of admission, but the exquisite Rosemary Harris, who, at the performance we attended did not get the customary applause upon entrance. Her subtleties as Professor Henry Higgins’ mother may have caused her to slip by the notice of the attentive crowd in ways that Danny Burstein’s Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza’s attention-grabbing drunk dad does not. But these great stars, joined by Harry Hadden-Paton as the stern, conceited Higgins, Christian Dante White as the besotted Freddy and Allan Corduner as the deliciously impish Colonel Pickering, under the consistently good direction of Bartlett Sher, make for a great night at the theater.
And that’s not even getting into the familiar music—“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “Just You Wait,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Get Me to the Church on Time”—I could go on. Dance numbers, gorgeous frocks, hats and dinner jackets, and a rotating stage emphasizing the spacious rooms of Higgins’ townhouse, are surely this production’s strong points overpowering politics in the source material—
George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalian. A protest for the rights of women gets a nod, but Eliza’s waking to the class struggle between a lowly flower girl and well-educated professor comes to the fore as she challenges elitist notions. Feminist ideas are aroused as Professor Higgins asks, “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?’ and rues his loss singing “I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face.” But let’s face it, My Fair Lady may enforce some antiquated ideas about the sexes, but it does not resolve the class struggle as we wish it would. A girl from the gutter may not marry into the upper class, however much she may learn the diction and manners of a duchess. And that’s that! Today, of course, the play may hold a wacky mirror to an eye-catching tv star who married a prince, becoming a duchess, and has some troubles with her estranged allegedly alcoholic American father.
Regina Weinreich
Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
Comments