My Fair Lady

With so many modern ‘juke box’ musicals doing the rounds it was lovely to revisit one of the classics in ‘My Fair Lady’. With a wealth of characters, a strong lib and beautiful music the show is one of my personal favourites.

Once again Cupar made excellent use of the stage space with a video wall and side portals. This allowed for slick scene changes whilst really brining to life each scene with the additional of a few well-chosen pieces of set and props. Congratultations to the stage crew for keeping, what can be a long show, moving along at pace and to the props team for making sure everything on stage was of the correct period. A wonderful array of costumes, appropriate to both the character and era, added to the spectacle.

As Eliza Doolittle, Gilian Wallace shone in what is a most demanding role. She handled the transformation from a common flower seller to a lady with ease capturing all the emotions of the role whilst her beautiful rich voice was a joy to listen to with the iconic ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ a highlight.

Ian Brown as Henry Higgins captured the many facets of the role as he changed from domineering teacher to display a more tender side by the end of the show. Ian brought a warm to his songs. His scenes with Colonel Pickering and his mother provided many of the lighter moments in the show.

As an integral part to the show Neil Jarrett brought the voice of reason to some of Higgin’s more outlandish ideas displaying good stage presence.

Other principals were of an equally high standard – Nigel Orkney gave us a lively Afred P Doolittle with a rousing rendition of ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’, Jude Vandecasteele was very clearly in charge of the household and servants in the role of Mrs Pearce never missing a comedy moment without upstaging whilst Joan Wood as Henry’s mother Mrs Higgins never let her son forget who she was. As Freddy Eynsford-Hill Grant Duffus delivered a well-rounded performance with a beautiful voice shown to great effect in ‘On The Street Where You Live’. The rest of the principals played their parts well and added to the overall success of the show.

The ensemble, backed by a well-balanced orchestra, were in fine voice throughout the show with the ‘Ascot Gavotte, a particular highlight. Their movement was appropriate to each song and it was clear each member was invested in their own characters contributing to the overall success of the production.

Congratulations to the production team for delivering another wonderful show and to the full cast for a most enjoyable evening.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.