15 June 2024 I 19:00 I Leeds Playhouse - Quarry Theatre
⭐⭐
My Fair Lady is a musical I have adored since watching Bartlett Sher's 2022 touring adaptation. The narrative follows a cockney flower girl's phonetic journey in becoming a conventional 'lady', honouring the spirit beyond wealth and fortune. A partnership with Opera North, Leeds Playhouse presents a subdued adaptation of the Lerner & Loewe musical. A visually very dark aesthetic, with focus on gritty realism that loses its justification in later scenes, rejecting more theatrical notions. In turn, the production resolves in feeling dated and unforgiving.
Musically led by Oliver Rundell, the orchestrations soar in their familiarities, from Wouldn't It Be Loverly? to The Rain In Spain, maintaining a consistent pacing and an angelic underscore beneath the action. The vocal quality across the entire ensemble creates an immensely hearty impression where audibly, the bones of My Fair Lady are executed with marvellous intent. Additional emphasis could have been considered in dialogue, occasionally displaced and rushed, disregarding feeling that doesn't always lift from the script.
John Hopkins as Professor Higgins is somewhat diminished through these factors. While his presence feels confident, an ill-tempered, childlike series of tantrums remove any of Higgins' redeemable qualities. Explosive body language struggles in finding a likeability in the role, where indeed his manner is impudent, though being reduced to these traits is wasted, unable to find the caring attributes of his character.
Shining as Eliza Doolittle, Katie Bird delivers a magnificent performance, a wonderfully thought out progression of vocal clarity, but also of maturity and self-assurance. To credit dialect coach Eleanor Manners, accent work is very clearly juxtaposed, frustration very well contained by Bird, equally through sung and acted scenes. Ahmed Hamad as an understated Freddy exudes effortless charm. Where audiences don't see much of Freddy, a suave gentleman really encapsulates the Edwardian dream.
To enter Higgins' study, performers climb through a trapdoor, instantly misplaced on account of status. The issues with Brining's adaptation lie in the inconsistencies of detail, where this feature of Madeleine Boyd's set removes the illusion of grandeur to mimic a cramped, isolated attic. The infamous Ascot scene features a large board, with circular head cut-outs atop of sketched costume designs (akin to a tourist attraction). Repeating the above, ill consideration of wealth diminishes the importance to appear somewhat tacky.
To follow this, a rain feature and sewerage outputs are included, serving as cold, depressive distractions that do not benefit the bulk of the musical, where attention could have been focused elsewhere. It perhaps feels lost between a staging of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, where unforgiving imagery doesn't often work in harmony with the musicality.
There is no doubt that the talent all round is present, though James Brining's vision is emotionally devoid away from the spirit and humanity we can connect with as a modern audience. I really, really wanted to like this critically acclaimed adaptation, but a misunderstanding of crucial themes fails to engage my empathy across the story.
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