My Fair Lady - ideas

[AngusN]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:02pm

I am currently researching past productions of My Fair Lady for inspiration and ideas, as I am about to begin directing the show. Does anyone have any tried and tested ideas? Or have seen any original ideas that worked well? If so, I would love to hear them.
Thanks.

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:15pm

I'll think more on this- not that I in anyway attempt to profess being a director!

I recently saw the UK Tour of the National's revival of it by Trevor Nunn and my one bit of advice would be don't fall into the movie's trap of having King Edward VII come on to sing the lines "Guards come and bring in this bloke". I hate that. As much as I love seeing my monarch and their predecessors on stage and screen it worked much better with Eliza singing them herself. A lot less tacky and more in tune with it all being her own little fantasy rather than ours as well!

Simon

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:23pm

Oh, lord. I hate that in the movie. They do that in the National revival? Yuck. Thankfully they didn't record it like that. For some ideas I do recommend picking up a copy of the Royal National revival CD though. There are some neat ideas in terms of costume and sets in the pictures, having Higgins actually sing his songs, and some updated dance music.
Updated On: 5/16/07 at 05:23 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:25pm

When I saw it at Papermill--I thought the choreo was absolutely great--they really made it much like "Broadway" style and had some real dancing--a very good touch

I also thought it was very OVER-designed...I'd like to see a minimalist design maybe and focus on staging and character rather than sets and hats.

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:29pm

No thankfully they avoided it! Was much relieved!

Yeah having a singing Higgins was nice- after being used to Rex's sprechgasung (or however you spell it lol!) Jonathan Pryce of the recording and Christopher Casanove who was Higgins on the tour was a nice change.

I'd ditto that re. National Theatre pictures. Check out this link: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=1223 for more info on Trev's production and maybe get the brochure if it's cheap on eBay. The Ascot Gavotte scene was nice. Everyone in black except Eliza in white if I remember rightly.

Hope it goes well!

When and where is the production??

Simon

[Danielm]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:37pm

How about an S&M version!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 7:38pm

My biggest recommendation is keep it light and keep it simple. We did it in Albany with a unit set of five arches and a few wagons for the various scenes. One thing that worked incredibly well was Higgins' library. Rather than the usual acres of bookshelves, we opted to put them in haphazard piles on the floor: Higgins would pick one up at random, read it as he crossed the stage, and then just put it down anywhere -- in effect losing it. It gave a great key to his character, especially in light of the "slippers" line.

But bottom line: do not fall into the trap of acres of scenery and rack upon rack of costumes. LADY can be done with elegant simplicity, and it will work gorgeously.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:08pm

Ditto for S&M version. Henry Higgins must make prudish Eliza into a dominatrix in time for the embassy ball.

Then if it ever gets to Broadway, we can have Alan Cumming star as Higgins in the "Alan Cumming Sexes Up Broadway" series. Next to follow will be Alan Cumming in Carousel, where he gads about in a corset and briefs, singing the revisal song "I am Bustin' Out All Over".

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:16pm

A multi-racial cast would be welcomed.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:16pm

A multi-racial cast would be welcomed.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:49pm

Don't fall into any of the film's tedious traps. Having seen the original London masterpiece, in 1959 (it remains the greatest thing I've ever seen), I can assure you that even though the film sticks very closely to the show, in tone, they are lightyears apart. The show is fun, light and lively! Keep it that way.

[stonewall2]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 10:41pm

Saw something very interesting in the last national tour with Marla Schaffel; during the "You Did It" number, she had her back completely toward the audience, which is usually a directorial "no-no". However ( and it wasn't her fault that they had selected a hideous,sleeveless, low-backed dress that did NOT suit a woman with a mature body), she was mesmerizing. You could just see the tensions building in her body like a coiled spring.This was one place where trading her dreams of the operatic stage for drama at Juilliard really paid off! Honestly, I couldn't tell you anything else that was going on on the stage as my eyes were riveted on this woman who was just waiting to explode.
Never seen it done like that, before or since,but the moment was magnificent (now, about that dress...)

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 11:26pm

That's exactly how the number was originally staged. Julie Andrews did the exact same thing.
Updated On: 5/16/07 at 11:26 PM

[jimnysf]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 11:29pm

Maybe a little more emphasis on the love between Higgins and Pickering? Or more focus on Pickering's cross dressing habits? It might put a new spin on things.

[stonewall2]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 5:20pm

Yep, JonBoy2, you're right, but somwhere over the years it's been altered in many productions. The only bad part of this one was that the dress was hideous and too small and was not at all flattering, yet her body language transcended all of that and took the show back to where it originated.
As for other ideas for the new director- the scenes between Higgens and Alfie can never be TOO funny; Higging downplays and mugs while Alfie is just over the top. That part is my all time favorite featured role for a man and it is too often played with a dull edge. Freddy needs to be really shallow and Eliza's development blooms during the "Show Me" number, where it is clear that she has outgrown whatever he has to give her.
No matter how beautiful the show is to look at, I always detest the ending and have since I was a child.It's just that Eliza is walking back into a relationship that is "doomed before they even take the vow", as she will either have to put up with being ignored a good deal of the time, reminded of her humble beginnings whenever Henry gets angry or become a doormat during his storming rages, which I can't believe marriage will alter his personality that much! I don't see it being a relationship on any kind of equal footing( and they weren't anyway in Edwardian England so I'm backed into a corner again!) OK, so I'm totally off track now, but any thoughts on this?

Posted: 5/17/07 at 5:34pm

BigFatBlonde said: A multi-racial cast would be welcomed.


How about Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra MacDonald?

[AngusN]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:48pm

Thanks guys. Some excellent ideas. Keep them coming.
In particular, any ideas on specific scenes.
Thank you.

[elmore3003]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:38pm

Since I saw the rock bottom, nadir, all-time-low production at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, OH, I can only say the fact you are thinking about the production means it will be okay. The stupidest bit of direction was to have Mrs Pierce and the servants show up before the end of "The Rain In Spain," watch the end of it, and then Mrs Pierce commented that they were awakened by the dreadful punding they had just observed and asked Higgins if he knew what the pounding was. The production was so inept that we left at the end of Act One. I understand the production ended with Liza and Higgins in a big kiss. The director is an incompetent ass.

[dididda]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 3:32pm

i idolize this show. its a treasure

i saw a lovely production with ten person cast, two pianos and hardly any set, and it really brought the actually heart of the story out and highlighted themes i never realized were there, this is one of those shows that you can make really different and it will still work. dont do the same production every one does.

[AngusN]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 5:01pm

dididda - how did it work? Why was the minimalist version so successful? I understand the fact that the lack of glitz and glamour allows the audience to appreciate the characters and their relationships. But why was it particularly successful? What worked so well?

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 7:53pm

I too saw a regional theatre staging with a small cast and two pianos and hated it! It was totally lacking in opulence and I think that's what an audience expects when they come to see this show (I know I do). Some shows can be successfully scaled down, I just don't think this is one of them. When I directed it last summer for a local community theatre, we did as much opulence as our budget would allow. I hope you have as much fun directing the show as I did. A true classic in every sense of the word!

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 10:24pm

For anyone who's seen me refer to this on other postings - sorry . . .

Caution - DO NOT, under any circumstances, revert to the Pygmalian ending where Liza does not return to Higgens. I was in a stock production in the 70's and the director tried this, quite unsuccessfully. First, everybody knows she comes back (and it had been seen 3 times in that city in, like, 4 years) and is expecting it. Then she didn't. And to further distort the thing, director man (who I otherwise thought was great) decided to skip any curtain calls because of the seriousness of the piece. So, opening night, the lights went down on Higgens and up on the audience and they just sat there. And sat there . . . until the stage manager went out to tell them all to go home. The next night the ending was back as written and there was a curtain call.

[AngusN]

Posted: 5/20/07 at 3:21pm

Any exciting ideas on Ascot or the Embassy Waltz?

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 5/20/07 at 4:01pm

the BEST production of "My Fair Lady" that i ever saw was at Dallas Theatre Center - it was done only with 2 pianos, no orchestra, and an abridged cast - the set was simple, it was a bare stage and the backwall was constructed to look like an English music hall facing the audience so the actors not onstage were the "audience" - and Eliza Doolittle was black which was GREAT!

[AngusN]

Posted: 5/20/07 at 6:29pm

So, were the actors on stage all of the time?