My Fair Lady

When I was asked to stand in for the district rep who unfortunately contracted COVID, I was more than a little excited. Having been in My Fair Lady three times over my 26 years on stage I have never sat in an audience and watched it. I was certainly not disappointed.

My Fair Lady is adapted from the play Pygmalion written by George Bernard Shaw. 
The main premise is that Professor Henry Higgins and his colleague Colonel Pickering wage a bet that Higgins can turn the ‘gutter snipe’ with terrible diction and manners, Eliza Doolittle, into an elegant, well spoken lady - enough to fool high society and even royalty. Along the way Eliza and Higgins fall in love, but do not realise their feelings for each other. Eliza, upon becoming a lady, becomes aware that she has no place in high society or back on the streets and she leaves Higgins. He is then forced to reconsider his feeling for her and the play ends with Eliza returning to him.  

Olivia Kershaw played the role of Eliza Doolittle with energy and gusto. It was a pleasure to see her transformation from gutter rat to lady. Her use of numerous facial expressions and plenty of well timed one liners had the audience rooting for her from the beginning. With a perfect rendition of ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ whilst whizzing around the stage with effervescence and energy, it was a very well thought out performance. Well done, Olivia. 

Ewan Arthur played the confirmed bachelor professor, Henry Higgins. Ewan had researched and played his character to perfection. At times it felt like you were watching Rex Harrison, his accent, poise and half sung half spoken solos were bob on. An excellent performance and a pleasure to watch. 

Tony Rostron played Colonel Pickering. For me this was another perfect casting. Tony had the slightly bumbling professor to a tea. His comic timing had the audience laughing in exactly the right places. A kindly figure, the calm between the two storms that were Eliza and Higgins, he had long periods of silence whilst the two mainprotagonists fought and bickered, Tony never broke his character once and his facial expressions added humour and gravitas to his role. Well done, sir!

The role of the jobsworth, drunken father to Eliza - Alfred P. Doolittle was played by Andrew Davis. An electric, enthusiastic performance, I particularly enjoyed Andrews songs, they were bursting with energy and it was obvious that Andrew was enjoying his role immensely. His teaming up with Stuart Butt and Chris Terry for the song ‘With A Little Bit Of Luck’ was hilarious. The three men singing and drunk dancing had the audience laughing for all the right reasons. 

Freddie Eynsford-Hill, the rival for Eliza’s affections was played by Anthony Appleton. He had some wonderfully comic moments and his rendition of ‘On the Street Where You Live’ was sung with clarity and feeling, you really believed he was in love with Eliza. The reprise was a stroke of genius. Freddie came down through the audience singing and stopped just above our row, I think my daughter fell a little bit in love with Freddie herself at that moment. Bravo Anthony. 

Samantha Tarrier played Higgins’ long suffering housekeeper Mrs Pearce. Samantha also had long periods of unspoken time on stage but remained in character throughout. She played a kindly yet forceful housekeeper, not an easy balance but Samantha played it with grace and integrity. 

Helen Shaw played Mrs Eynsford-Hill and Samantha Wadsworth played Mrs Higgins the mothers to Freddie and Henry. Both ladies made these roles their own with strong stage presences-and some truly spectacular outfits. 

It is unfortunate that I am unable to name everyone, but I cannot leave out two other people who caught my eye. Sofia Shaw had some fabulous gymnastics in chorus numbers, for one so young she really gave it her all. Matty Jankowski played numerous cameo roles bringing individuality and personality to each character, he had obviously worked hard on his characterisations to give us a different person each time. His a cappella solo singing was wonderful. 

Director/producer/choreographer Andy Milthorpe created a beautiful show casting each role to perfection. The use of the whole stage constantly was a boon. Andy really brought out the best in his cast and ensemble. His choreography looked great and full of energy yet was sympathetic to all types of dancer which resulted in polished uniform dance routines. 

Nicola Mills, the vocal coach, brought out some truly beautiful harmonies in her performers. Each song had clear diction and the timings were spot on. A joy to the ears. 

Costumes were provided by The Boys and costume mistress Jean Abbot, with Carol Whatmough assisting. Placing everyone in purple for the Ascot Gavotte was inspired. The whole scene looked spectacular and Eliza’s oversized hat was a thing of beauty and I suspect many hat pins! It was a pleasure to see the chorus in their costumes, not one person looked out of place and the enjoyment and pride radiated out to the audience.

The use of an entire sweeping staircase in Higgins’ parlour allowed actors to cross the stage on an completely different level. Utilising the space under the staircase for Higgins’ paraphernalia and extra seating opened up the main stage for the actors to move freely around. Stage manager Jonathan Moss and his crew seamlessly changed from one scene to another, no easy task when props and backdrop curtains needed repositioning. A well run team who knew exactly where they had to be and just got on with it ensuring blackouts were kept to a minimal time wise. 

The lighting  provided by Michael Wray was  beautifully understated, each scene lit to compliment  the action on stage. I particularly liked the parlour scenes where lighting was used to pick out cast as they ascended the staircase, gently dimming the main stage so that the eye was drawn to the relevant action.

Sound was provided by Stephen Davies. Could I say a big thank you? This was probably the first show I have seen for a long time where the music did not overpower the singing. Instead it complimented the scenes creating a beautiful harmonious mix, raising and falling exactly where it was needed, just wonderful. 

Can I extend my thanks to Angela Rostron for the hospitality shown to both myself and my daughter? Thank you for inviting us, we enjoyed every moment.

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