Post by jackjackjack on Aug 4, 2005 1:20:20 GMT 11
Delightful! 
Why is it after seeing My Fair Lady you seem to over-pronounce everything? Or is that just me?
I was seriously worried that having seen the movie three or four hundred times and frequently resorting to the cast recording to get my fix of the Julie Andrews versions, that no production of My Fair Lady would ever be good enough for me. What a fool I was.
When the Ascot scene was revealed I absolutely stopped breathing, and I wasn't able to start again until Intermission. Then, the entire second act I was in rapture. Admitedly, it seemed to take a bit to get going. Alan Fletcher (Higgins) was not at home with the dialogue songs as he was with Grown Accustomed, And he even muddled a few lines in I'm an Ordinary Man. Marty Fields seemed a little bit lost in some of the choreography, but then, Stanley Holloway did in the film anyway. Aside from that, I'd say everyone did a marvelous job of finding their characters, and they had me laughing at jokes I've heard however many hundred times I said before. And of course, the differences in the scripts from stage to film, not huge, are enough to keep you awake.
My Dad and I share a liking for chauvanistic humour, and Henry Higgins, along with Andy Capp, is the pinacle of this. There were a few young women a few rows behind me who were clearly not familiar with his character. They were in fits. The comic delivery of the lines was spot on, and in no way were any of the main actors aping their familiar screen counterparts.
A couple of blues, but nothing distracting. Someone in the orchestra lost concentration at the end of the Entr'Acte, and a whole verse of Just You Wait was omitted, seemingly to no end.
A special mention for Laura Fitzpatrick (Eliza). It wasn't the most polished performance I've ever seen or anything, but I feel she had a very good grasp of a very complex character. And a lovely voice. It was great to see familiar costumes replicated, but it's horribly unfair to put such a beautiful figure in that Ascot dress that was designed for a bean pole.
And just to prove that there's always something new to notice about a work, it had never dawned on me until I heard Laura sing I Could Have Danced All Night, that I had never heard that sung before. Both Julie Andrews and Marni Nixon sang "Could've", which seems a bit strange after Higgins's lesson on Hs.
Anyway, I'm a happy audience member tonight.
James
Why is it after seeing My Fair Lady you seem to over-pronounce everything? Or is that just me?
I was seriously worried that having seen the movie three or four hundred times and frequently resorting to the cast recording to get my fix of the Julie Andrews versions, that no production of My Fair Lady would ever be good enough for me. What a fool I was.
When the Ascot scene was revealed I absolutely stopped breathing, and I wasn't able to start again until Intermission. Then, the entire second act I was in rapture. Admitedly, it seemed to take a bit to get going. Alan Fletcher (Higgins) was not at home with the dialogue songs as he was with Grown Accustomed, And he even muddled a few lines in I'm an Ordinary Man. Marty Fields seemed a little bit lost in some of the choreography, but then, Stanley Holloway did in the film anyway. Aside from that, I'd say everyone did a marvelous job of finding their characters, and they had me laughing at jokes I've heard however many hundred times I said before. And of course, the differences in the scripts from stage to film, not huge, are enough to keep you awake.
My Dad and I share a liking for chauvanistic humour, and Henry Higgins, along with Andy Capp, is the pinacle of this. There were a few young women a few rows behind me who were clearly not familiar with his character. They were in fits. The comic delivery of the lines was spot on, and in no way were any of the main actors aping their familiar screen counterparts.
A couple of blues, but nothing distracting. Someone in the orchestra lost concentration at the end of the Entr'Acte, and a whole verse of Just You Wait was omitted, seemingly to no end.
A special mention for Laura Fitzpatrick (Eliza). It wasn't the most polished performance I've ever seen or anything, but I feel she had a very good grasp of a very complex character. And a lovely voice. It was great to see familiar costumes replicated, but it's horribly unfair to put such a beautiful figure in that Ascot dress that was designed for a bean pole.
And just to prove that there's always something new to notice about a work, it had never dawned on me until I heard Laura sing I Could Have Danced All Night, that I had never heard that sung before. Both Julie Andrews and Marni Nixon sang "Could've", which seems a bit strange after Higgins's lesson on Hs.
Anyway, I'm a happy audience member tonight.
James