My Fair Lady 2009

Produced, Directed and Choreographed

by
Ian
Clark

Musical Director

Lou Bundy

Main Characters

Assorted
Buskers, Bystanders, Cockneys, Servants, Lords &
Ladies and other characters

Rebecca Applin,
Milena Bobeva, Liz Bradbury,
Megan Brand, Dawn Burnett, Patricia Cahill,
Kym Chalker, Stephanie Clark, Mandy Clowes,
Christine Cox, Nadine Darnley, Ann Dent-Smith,
Hilary Glanville, Claire Jarman, Kaye
Lee-Wright,
Bronwyn Mason, Meryl Moore, Linda Singleton,
Samantha Spivey, Valerie Sykes,
Pat White, Sarah Winship

Steve Bradbury, Paul
Catcheside, Ian Clark, John Dalby,
Peter Lindsay, Dennis Mason, Richard Smith,

Julian Sykes

About My Fair Lady

An unlikely
success story, the show is based on George
Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion (1913) in
which he explored the themes of social
inequality, hypocrisy and respectability. He was
a socialist whose beliefs were fundamental to
his work, which can sometimes make his plays
difficult for modern audiences, but the
adaptation by Lerner and Loewe expands the wit
and humour of Shaw and adds the element of
romance and tenderness lacking in the original.

When My Fair Lady opened on Broadway in 1956, it
was an instant hit and set a record for the
time, running for 2,717 performances. It was
just as successful when it moved to the West End
in 1958 and its popularity received another
boost with the release of the film of the show
in 1964, starring the delightful Audrey Hepburn.

In both show and
film, Rex Harrison played the difficult and
egocentric Professor Henry Higgins to
perfection. The tension between him and Eliza is
not only that of teacher and pupil, but also
shows Eliza’s struggle to make him see her as a
person, not just an interesting experiment.

The “knees up” Cockney sequences are in robust
contrast to the hothouse atmosphere of the
Higgins’ house, and the whole show is full of
singable numbers for both the chorus and main
characters. Higgins’ songs (such as “Why Can’t
The English”) rattle along, full of his own
importance, until he realises that he may have
lost Eliza, and then he sings with real feeling
the poignant “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her
Face”. Freddy has only one song, but oh, what a
song – “On The Street Where You Live” – ardent
and tuneful. The ebullient Doolittle’s
philosophy is summed up in “With a Little Bit of
Luck”, but Eliza quite rightly has a whole range
of numbers which chart her progress from street
seller to fair lady. These include “Wouldn’t it
be Loverly”, “Just You Wait” and the all-time
favourite, “I Could Have Danced All Night”.

The lasting
appeal of My Fair Lady is partly because
it is a Cinderella story, but there is no
Prince Charming. Real life constantly breaks in
and Eliza herself retains her integrity to the
end. Does she marry Higgins? Shaw said not, but
Alan Jay Lerner says in his notes to the show “I
am not sure he is right.”