Hathaway/Firth for MY FAIR LADY?- Page 3

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:19pm

"But it's not the high notes that kill people's voices in the show. I mean...the role isn't all that high. It's the first half of the show that kills actresses. Producing those harsh tones as the 'guttersnipe' Eliza is the problem. You have to be able to be rough on your voice for the first half of the show, then magically produce rounded tones and beautiful high notes in the back half."

How does switching from a Cockney accent to a proper British accent hurt the voice?

I still maintain that it needs a true soprano who can hit the end notes on "I Could Have Danced..." eight times a week. They need to find a young Barbara Cook, someone who is a true soprano.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:24pm

Oh please...every girl I went to college with can hit those notes eight shows a week. It's on a great vowel and it isn't punishingly high.

It's the shouting, guttural sounds...and the shrieks that happen all throughout the first act that's the problem. "Just You Wait" is a much more brutal sing than "I Could Have Danced All Night".

[Wynbish]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:37pm

What about Lauren Molina? I mean, the girl played Cunegonde

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:47pm

To add to what Robbie J says, there is also something apparently very difficult in the way the way the material is structured. Its the cockney vocal demands in the front end of the show coupled with very different vocal demands in the second act. Every actress who played the role on Broadway - from Julie Andrews to Christine Andreas to Melissa Errico has struggled mightily with the material. Melissa Errico and Cheryl Kennedy both burst blood vessels in their vocal cords doing the role (Kennedy had to be replaced by Nancy Ringham who ALSO had vocal issues).

Its a nightmare vocally. Anyone taking on the role for Broadway needs to really think about it wisely. And yes, in the last London revival, they wisely added an alternate Eliza for matinees.





Updated On: 2/20/13 at 12:47 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:50pm

Maybe they can have two Elizas like in "Love, Janis." Something to think about.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 12:54pm

"Just You Wait" is a much more brutal sing than "I Could Have Danced All Night".

Julie Andrews began her lazy habit of speak-singing during MFL which she carried through the rest of her singing career.

Just You Wait is easily passed off using speak-sing. The actress has to deliver full singing on I Could Have Danced. It's Eliza's strongest song.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 1:03pm

But 'I Could Have Danced All Night' is a relatively easy sing. As a song, by itself. The problem comes from doing scene after scene of producing a throaty, ugly cockney sound (including the switch between a shouty belt for the first and last party of Just You Wait to the lyrical middle section) and then having to place everything in that higher range. It's not the song. It's the role.

There are times when I do completely talk out of my ass. This is not one of those times. Believe me.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 1:17pm

If not Geoffrey Rush, I'd like Tim Curry as Doolittle.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 1:36pm

I've also heard at least one actress who's played the role mention "Show Me" as being taxing -- again, perhaps not as a song in itself, but as a late show number on a tired voice, apparently it sits in a rather perilous place. Perhaps because it actually rides somewhere between the cockney and the soprano.

Updated On: 2/20/13 at 01:36 PM

[drewmangroup]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 4:45pm

Isn't it fair to say it is highly unlikely this pairing will occur on Broadway? I'm sure no actual Broadway producer would publicize picks like this before actually approaching the talent involved. Plus, doesn't it sour the casting a bit if the producer proclaims his "dream" choices so adamantly so that more viable candidates might be turned off?

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 8:50pm

People keep referring to her film career being so busy and that she'd never have the time. Check your facts. Anne herself has said numerous times she has nothing lined up and even joked that she's unemployed.

Updated On: 2/20/13 at 08:50 PM

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 2/20/13 at 9:40pm

I have a STRONG STRONG feeling that says Annie is going to do this, without a doubt. She has the Julie Andrew's connection (and knows she'd get great publicity with photo-ops and blessings) and she might even be able to talk Julie into playing Mrs Higgins, but that's a LONG shot since Julie's salary and demands would likely off-set the perks.

Anne also knows it would be a great, classic, fool-proof show to make her Broadway debut. She is no fool and may hold off until they get an equal-level Higgins (Jackman, Firth, etc) just so having an alternate would stiffle the production. I see her trying to sing all 8, but after a few months (aka after the Tonys) switching to an alternate.

This just seems "right place, right time" for her and her career. She can follow her Oscar win with something prestigious and classy, not her All About Steve or Catwoman style wannabe blockbuster.