8,098 posts
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Post by alece10 on May 14, 2022 10:54:36 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed this last night. Good old fashioned musical with wonderful songs. Apart from the film I have only seen this musical once before at the NT with Martine McCuteheon. The best bit for me was hearing it played by such a big orchestra and it sounded glorious. Alex Parker was conducting last night. Nice sets, really good use of the revolve and fabulous costumes. Amara as Eliza was excellent and really did justice to the part. Harry Hadden-Paton, for me, was the star. Brilliant performance. Im afraid I was not that impressed with Stephen K Amos as Mr Doolittle. OK he could sing but his acting was not the best and his 2 numbers fell a bit flat considering that they are two of the best numbers in the show and you can make so much of them. I am sure they could have easily found someone better. But it didnt spoil it for me. They seem to have tightened it up a bit from the first preview which someone commented earlier was 3 hours 10 mins and last nights performance finished at 10.05pm (so 5 minutes shorter). But its still a long old show. A few empty seats in the stalls and looking at the seating plan before I came there were still quite a bit of availability in the dress and upper circle. The balcony was closed so I presume they upgraded people. Lovely evening. That’s funny! As I sat in the balcony last night !?!… definitely wasn’t closed! I know as the seats whwre very uncomfortable. Thanks for that update. I had just presumed (wrongly) that it was closed as when I was looking at the seating plan and availability yesterday afternoon it would not let me click on the balcony so I just presumed it wasn't open. Ive only sat up there once before for Sweeney Todd and it was awful as I couldnt see anything at all as they had covered over the orchestra pit and so the stage was much further out. I just had to listen to the music and imagine what was happening. So I am a stalls man at the ENO now. |
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Post by lynette on May 14, 2022 17:56:42 GMT
It was not as bad as I feared. Alfred Doolittle the weakest link. He didn’t convey the confidence and indeed the rhythmic speech the part required. Poor direction? But all the rest were good. Even Vanessa Redgrave was fine tho I suspect cast as a name for our American cousins.
But what a score eh?
They messed up the ending I think. Why muck about with a classic? If you’re gonna do a show about how how the way you speak affects your life chances in our current climate you might as well do the same ending as the movie. It isn’t Shaw’s intention (?) but as a musical theatre piece let’s do what works.
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5,140 posts
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Post by Being Alive on May 14, 2022 17:58:28 GMT
Unless I'm very much mistake, what they've done with this is exactly what Shaw wanted to do originally, but basically wasn't allowed. I think it's actually in the liner notes at the end of Pygmalion that this versions ending happens.
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2,848 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on May 14, 2022 18:05:45 GMT
GBS strongly believed that Eliza and Higgings shouldn't end up together, he wrote a whole essay about it that it's generally published as a "coda" to Pygmalion. Even when he wrote the script for the 1938 movie adaptation he refused to give a romantic ending to Eliza and Higgings, but the producers rewrote and filmed the final scene behind his back. He was furious and during his lifetime refused to grant the rights of Pygmalion for a musical adaptation, because he knew they would have given it a "happy ending" (if we can consider Eliza going back to Higgins a happy ending, and I'd be surprised if anyone in 2022 would look at it as such)
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3,426 posts
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Post by ceebee on May 14, 2022 21:26:03 GMT
Enjoyed this tonight - solid 4 stars from me. Fab orchestra, poor sound quality on some vocals. Steven K Amos was good for comic timing but vocally out of his depth and is often outshone by the stunning ensemble around him. The set is really neat and the production is slick. I think this production would work much better in a smaller theatre.
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3,426 posts
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Post by ceebee on May 14, 2022 21:28:39 GMT
Mod team could we have a poll pretty please? Had some reviews from friends of the "good not great" variety but I'm known to love things they say are mediocre and hate things they rave about, so I'm open minded. The universal constant is how amazing the orchestra (yes, orchestra, not band!) are. Which is the main reason I booked for this long, long before it was cast. This is to anyone and everyone - whether you've chatted in this thread/forum or not - how does it to compare to the Drury Lane revival? You won't be disappointed by the orchestra. Highlight of the show for me. |
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Post by Jon on May 14, 2022 22:52:31 GMT
Saw it this afternoon and have to say, I'm not sure why it took me this long to see a live production of My Fair Lady because it is such a brilliant show and why it's one of the theatrical greats.
The cast were great, the stand outs are Harry Hadden-Patton as Higgins and Amara Okereke as Eliza. I do agree that Stephen K Amos is the weak link but I did enjoy his performance.
I did like the ending because I think that Higgins doesn't deserve to have Eliza's forgiveness given how badly he treated her.
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Post by sph on May 15, 2022 2:17:41 GMT
I saw this show this week and... it was good. Not great. Good.
Hadden-Paton gives the most comfortable and confident performance for sure, and to be honest, he is the most well-cast of the leads. The other principals seemed to be misfires on the whole, besides Pickering and Mrs Pearce.
Nothing really seemed to land too well. There was a wonderful moment where an ensemble member plays a butler introducing Alfred Doolittle into Higgins study and he got the biggest laugh of the night. Great for him, but not a wonderful thing to say for the production as a whole when an ensemble member has casually upstaged everyone.
Okereke was good. Solid. Better in act 2. Vanessa Redgrave was ok but for some absurd reason during the Ascot scenes was wearing a hat on the side of her head which totally obscured her face. Why not direct it so that she faces the other way?
Alfred Doolittle (Amos) was really not good. Not an actor at all. A shame as there are so many song and dance men who could have knocked it out of the park.
Orchestra played wonderfully, a great way to appreciate an excellent score. The sets were some good, some "meh". Higgins' house was very clever, a three-dimensional revolving set with various rooms so actors could move between each as it rotated. The rest of the sets were a bit underwhelming, basically like cardboard cutouts being flown in and out.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Didn't love it, but enjoyed it.
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Post by sukhavati on May 15, 2022 6:07:53 GMT
I did like the ending because I think that Higgins doesn't deserve to have Eliza's forgiveness given how badly he treated her. I've seen this production twice, and the direction really struck me in illustrating what a bully Higgins is. The 1964 film with Rex Harrison has bluster, ego, and bullying to some extent, but not quite as hard edged as this. Since seeing Sher's version, I wonder WHY Mrs Higgens allowed Henry to grow up and behave like that? I do like that they've made Higgens and Eliza closer in age to each other - there is that frisson when they're dancing at the Embassy Ball. That's one of the moments when you could imagine the romantic possibilities. Other productions have played up the potential for coupling up, but here there are little bits of stage business in the blocking in the first act where it's clear Eliza doesn't want him physically closing in on her, and that she's 90pc there to improve herself. Full stop. I think that last moment is Eliza confirming to herself that Higgens is never going to change, and she's done. I always thought it was interesting that Shaw said Eliza goes on to marry Freddie - she's really too good for both Higgens and Freddie by the end of the evening. I really love this production; it's thrilling to hear the first notes of the overture vibrate through you as the show gets underway. The forced perspective with the sets was beautiful, and I loved the Ascot Gavotte and Embassy Ball costumes the most... |
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Post by Jon on May 15, 2022 9:55:39 GMT
Thank you! I've seen this production twice, and the direction really struck me in illustrating what a bully Higgins is. The 1964 film with Rex Harrison has bluster, ego, and bullying to some extent, but not quite as hard edged as this. Since seeing Sher's version, I wonder WHY Mrs Higgens allowed Henry to grow up and behave like that? I do like that they've made Higgens and Eliza closer in age to each other - there is that frisson when they're dancing at the Embassy Ball. That's one of the moments when you could imagine the romantic possibilities. Other productions have played up the potential for coupling up, but here there are little bits of stage business in the blocking in the first act where it's clear Eliza doesn't want him physically closing in on her, and that she's 90pc there to improve herself. Full stop. I think that last moment is Eliza confirming to herself that Higgens is never going to change, and she's done. I always thought it was interesting that Shaw said Eliza goes on to marry Freddie - she's really too good for both Higgens and Freddie by the end of the evening. I really love this production; it's thrilling to hear the first notes of the overture vibrate through you as the show gets underway. The forced perspective with the sets was beautiful, and I loved the Ascot Gavotte and Embassy Ball costumes the most... It's quite clear that Freddie loves Eliza for who she is and so it makes sense for her to marry him whereas Higgins will always treat her as the former flower girl. |
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Post by Seriously on May 15, 2022 13:44:30 GMT
Does Eliza love Freddie?
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Post by sph on May 15, 2022 14:52:42 GMT
I don't get the feeling she does, but in a realistic world I suppose she would marry him - although a musical isn't necessarily a realistic world. He's sort of just a lovestruck fop with no real substance. Regarding Higgins, I think both endings, whether Eliza leaves or stays, work. I can understand the desire for the romantic ending of traditional productions, but I did love Eliza holding her head up high and walking out into her own life in this new version. |
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Post by Seriously on May 15, 2022 17:25:23 GMT
I think I would have played up her falling for Higgins, but at the end have her say "Where the devil are my slippers?"
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Post by ptwest on May 15, 2022 18:32:08 GMT
I personally liked the way they handled it in the NT / Drury lane version, where at the end Higgins says his slippers line and then they both laughed together. It felt like it was the start of him treating her with more respect, and a lot less arrogance than the film version.
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Post by zahidf on May 18, 2022 18:20:15 GMT
Today's press show 20 minutes late and counting. Not the best start
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2,416 posts
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Post by robertb213 on May 18, 2022 20:38:34 GMT
That's often the way with press nights. I'm there for the second one tomorrow night, looking forward to it.
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Post by ladidah on May 18, 2022 20:47:21 GMT
I personally liked the way they handled it in the NT / Drury lane version, where at the end Higgins says his slippers line and then they both laughed together. It felt like it was the start of him treating her with more respect, and a lot less arrogance than the film version. That sounds good, more of a compromise. I am too much of a softie to want a sad ending. |
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Post by Being Alive on May 18, 2022 21:49:27 GMT
I don't look at it as a sad ending - for me it's a triumph for Eliza who knows what she wants and is going to get it.
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Post by sph on May 18, 2022 22:37:34 GMT
Today's press show 20 minutes late and counting. Not the best start Would you believe one of the biggest problems with press nights is actually the audience? All those critics and luvvies in one building at the same time chatting away after having not seen each other for months. Getting them to sit down to give clearance to start the show is a nightmare! |
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Post by zahidf on May 18, 2022 23:23:07 GMT
Aside from being late, I really enjoyed this. Was a lot of fun
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Post by couldileaveyou on May 18, 2022 23:38:08 GMT
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Post by ladidah on May 19, 2022 8:13:11 GMT
Not a great review there, ouch!
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Post by A.Ham on May 19, 2022 9:22:26 GMT
Just got a rush ticket for this afternoon, will report back what it’s like!
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5,140 posts
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Post by Being Alive on May 19, 2022 9:37:10 GMT
Disagree with so much of that! |
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Post by theatrenewbie on May 19, 2022 10:03:54 GMT
Disagree with so much of that! Me too what a mis judged review… |
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