Correct! I thought the staging felt less of a spectacle without the thrust stage. The turning house was such a wow at LCT, but on tour, it didn't have the same effect. And, again, the ending felt very "eh" as compared to the Broadway version.
I think Okereke will be divine:
VANESSA REDGRAVE?!?! LUCK OUT!!!
Amara was wonderful in “Spring Awakening” and she sounds beautiful in that video posted above so I’m quite excited to see what she does with Eliza in May. But Redgrave is the main selling point here for me. I’m curious if it’s enough to fill that ENORMOUS theatre, though. I really thought they’d get at least one other big name, but I guess not.
Anyone seen this yet? How is the staging? Do they have the orchestra on stage during the ball?
I’m seeing this in a few days so I’ll let you know.
Can’t wait for the report back. We already know that it’s a stunning production. Harry is a phenomenal Higgins and Vanessa Redgrave will be fantastic. Will Eliza walk out if the theatre?!?!…thats the real question.
Can’t wait for the report back. We already know that it’s a stunning production. Harry is a phenomenal Higgins and Vanessa Redgrave will be fantastic. Will Eliza walk out if the theatre?!?!…thats the real question.
SPOILERS. The ending has Eliza walk up to Higgins, touch his face in a kind of endearing way like she knows he is ridiculous but still cares about him. Then she walks away but NOT out the front door, rather offstage so it kind of felt like she was still in the house? If anyone can help explain and also describe what happened in NYC would appreciate it.
binau said: "SPOILERS. The ending has Eliza walk up to Higgins, touch his face in a kind of endearing way like she knows he is ridiculous but still cares about him. Then she walks away but NOT out the front door, rather offstage so it kind of felt like she was still in the house? If anyone can help explain and also describe what happened in NYC would appreciate it."
I would be happy to! In NYC, Eliza did the same face touch and the proceeded to walk off stage and into the audiences and up one of the aisles. I recently caught the US tour (which is wonderful, btw), and she exited the house offstage into the wings. It still works, but the finality and power of the decision is not as strongly evoked as when she went up the aisles of the Beaumont.
Yeah it's the Lincoln Center ending
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/21
Bill Snibson said: "Can’t wait for the report back. We already know that it’s a stunning production. Harry is a phenomenal Higgins and Vanessa Redgrave will be fantastic. Will Eliza walk out if the theatre?!?!…thats the real question."
Some comments a theatreboard.co.uk suggest Ms. Redgrave is less than fantastic.
bwayphreak234 said: "binau said: "SPOILERS. The ending has Eliza walk up to Higgins, touch his face in a kind of endearing way like she knows he is ridiculous but still cares about him. Then she walks away but NOT out the front door, rather offstage so it kind of felt like she was still in the house? If anyone can help explain and also describe what happened in NYC would appreciate it."
I would be happy to! In NYC, Eliza did the same face touch and the proceeded to walk off stage and into the audiences and up one of the aisles. I recently caught the US tour (which is wonderful, btw), and she exited the house offstage into the wings. It still works, but the finality and power of the decision is not as strongly evoked as when she went up the aisles of the Beaumont."
I really wish on the tour (I saw it in LA) that she stepped off the house set and stood there while they house set faded into the background and then exited. It was all too quick and just didn't feel important.
Vanessa Redgrave seemed a little frail, and a bit soft-/non-confident in her line readings but I felt like the audience was so respectful of her that they didn’t care. The real disappointment of the evening was Eliza’s dad. ‘Get me to the church..’ was boring. Great work from the two leads though.
binau said: "Vanessa Redgrave seemed a little frail, and a bit soft-/non-confident in her line readings but I felt like the audience was so respectful of her that they didn’t care. The real disappointment of the evening was Eliza’s dad. ‘Get me to the church..’ was boring. Great work from the two leads though."
Oh, that's too bad about Vanessa Redgrave. Perhaps the schedule is just too much at this point. I saw both Dame Diana Rigg and Rosemary Harris who were both fantastic and each had their own take on the part. They really should have cast Julie Andrews as a Mrs. Higgins at some point.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
Oh, that's too bad about Vanessa Redgrave. Perhaps the schedule is just too much at this point. I saw both Dame Diana Rigg and Rosemary Harris who were both fantastic and each had their own take on the part. They really should have cast Julie Andrews as a Mrs. Higgins at some point.
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She would never have done it. She stayed away from the role that eventually went to Angela Lansbury in the Mary Poppins sequel because she knew that film was Emily Blunt's. And, like Streisand, I don't think she ever missed doing theatre. She only returned in Victor/Victoria because Blake Edwards wanted to do it on stage, and it didn't actually go as they'd hoped.
Featured Actor Joined: 2/13/22
Yeah I remember Robert Preston was originally supposed to join Andrews but pulled out saying “It's just this big ego trip for Blake”. I don’t know what was going on with the show otherwise that made it take about a decade to finally hit Broadway.
What do we think the chances of this being recorded for release are? We got that fabulous recording of THE KING AND I, and I would just love to see this production preserved and commercially released.
Please Charlotte Rampling as Mrs. Higgins.
I would love to see Billie Piper as Eliza but don't know her singing voice well enough to know if that's even a real possibility. As someone who called Lauren as Eliza long before it was announced and a great Piper fan (check the boards) I'm hopeful I'm right again.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MyFairLadyUK/status/1530217825742344204
They posted a trailer
Okereke is wonderful as Eliza, I thought. The set though, which was so impressive at LCT is swallowed up by the massive stage of the Coliseum and seems very small here. Of course my main reason for wanting to see this again now was Redgrave and, as mentioned above, she does seem very very frail. She walks with a supportive cane that she can have around her arm and is also escorted on and off stage for each of her scenes (not sure if that’s how it was on Broadway but this seems much more of a necessity for Redgrave, now). She is also seemingly timid with her line delivery and the way her hats are positioned and her posture onstage, I am curious if she has an earpiece to be fed lines. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see her onstage but seeing her now you know why she didn’t want to come over with “The Inheritance”.
Apparently Vanessa has been out for about a week now. Eek! Hope everything is ok.
imeldasturn said: "https://mobile.twitter.com/MyFairLadyUK/status/1530217825742344204
They posted a trailer"
Thanks for this, Okereke sounds lovely.
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