Eliza? - My Fair Lady Revival 2018- Page 24

[BWWMatt]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:36pm

QueenAlice said: "Realistic expectations please. Who was the last movie star you saw headline a musical at LCT?"

Ken Watanabe

[Prisoner of 7th Ave]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:36pm

Ken Watanabe?

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:44pm

According to my sources one movie star was in the final 3/4 for South Pacific but LCT went with Bart's gut instinct of Kelli and didn't push the star on him. Supposedly, Jessica Biel was going to do Women on the Verge but dropped out in the final stages.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:52pm

If it's not going to be a movie star, then I vote for Michael Cerveris.
Hell, he gets my vote anyway.

[SeanD2]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:55pm

QueenAlice said: "Realistic expectations please. Who was the last movie star you saw headline a musical at LCT?"

Ken Watanabe 

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:58pm

Wasn't Maggie Gyllenhaal heavily considered for SOUTH PACIFIC?

And Salma Hayek headlined the workshop of WOMEN ON THE VERGE.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:02pm

BroadwayBaby6 said: "What I'm hearing from an unconfirmed source is that Lauren Ambrose is their choice for Eliza but that they have yet to find an actor for Higgins, their top 5 choices (including Firth and Kline) passed and now they're still desperately seeking a "name". At the rate this is going, we will end up getting an old TV name like Barry Bostwick or a Bristish stage actor like Douglas Hodge or Henry Goodman. I personally think Robert Sean Leonard would be ideal as Higgins, but his name recognition is fairly low.
"

Based on the Tony's I guess that means Kevin Spacey will be playing Higgins.

@nasty_khakis That's why I'm not enthusiastic about Mays. That makes sense for Pygmalion but it's never been how My Fair Lady has been played. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:08pm

I'm confused, did Rex Harrison not play Higgins as a homosexual bratty man-child?

Honestly, I would love to see a radically re-imagined Higgins, especially one that would eliminate any sort of romance between him and Eliza.  I've always thought that it was a huge mistake to try to portray MFL as almost a romantic comedy between the two leads.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:23pm

GeorgeandDot said: "I'm confused, did Rex Harrison not play Higgins as a homosexual bratty man-child?

Honestly, I would love to see a radically re-imagined Higgins, especially one that would eliminate any sort of romance between him and Eliza. I've always thought that it was a huge mistake to try to portray MFL as almost a romantic comedy between the two leads."

Having directed the show before (for high school, but still...), I agree that there is never any explicit romance between Higgins and Eliza, but that Eliza begins to realize her attraction to him with "I Could Have Danced All Night," and Higgins begins to realize his attraction to her when she comes out in the ball gown. It is by no means a romance, but by intermission, "I think there's something there that wasn't there before."

In terms of Higgins being portrayed as a "homosexual man-child"....man child, yes, homosexual, no. I'm sure plenty of actors and directors with their own agenda have interpreted the character as gay before, but there is nothing in the book or lyrics that suggest that Higgins is anything but straight.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:24pm

^I love Pygmalion without the romance.  But still I completely disagree with you.  The addition of the romantic ending with just the right tinge of ambiguity (will Eliza really stay with Higgins? is still an unanswered question) works like a charm for both the classic 1938 Leslie Howard Wendy Hiller movie, which change inspired a parallel revision for MY FAIR LADY, and certainly for the musical, where it also works brilliantly. 

I didn't see Mays as Higgins, and I greatly admire him, but I'm not loving the idea of making Higgins appear homosexual to somehow resonate with Eliza's decision to leave as it's originally written.  Shouldn't Eliza leave for all the reasons the script already provides rather than, even partially, because of sexual orientation incompatibility?   In no sense is he play even remotely about a straight woman not being able to find romance with a gay man.

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 02:24 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:52pm

First of all, "agenda?"  That's a poor choice of words.  As for there being nothing in the script that says that he's gay, Higgins does describe himself as "a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so," which at the time in which the show is set, I'm pretty sure was a euphemism for "celibate gay man."

As for the romance between the two, Eliza and Henry are two extremely lonely people. I don't think that "I could have danced all night" is supposed to be a romantic song, but rather a song of feeling like a human being for the first time and I'm pretty sure that Higgins isn't in love with Eliza, but is rather in love with his creation in the same sense that an artist is in love with his painting.  At the end he realizes that he has no purpose without her, but I've never had the impression that she leaves Freddy for Higgins at the end, but rather that they decide to be friends and include each other in their lives.  Also, she doesn't leave him initially because he's gay, but because he's abusive.  He's awful to her.

Anyways, we will see how Sher plays it, but there certainly doesn't NEED to be any sort romance between the two for the show to be interesting.  Also, I'm sure if Sher didn't want Mays to play Higgins gay, I'm sure he could play a straight bratty man-child.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:04pm

GeorgeandDot, it's true of course that Shaw famously was dead against there being any possibility in the audience's mind that Eliza and Higgins end up together as a couple.  In any production.   He was not happy with the 1938 ending of Pygmalion on screen (even though he has credit for the screenplay).

But isn't it fairly clear, in both Pygmalion and in My Fair Lady, that Higgins falls in love with Eliza?
Shaw named the play Pygmalion for a reason.
The myth of Pygmalion is about a sculptor who sculpts a statue of a beautiful woman and then falls in love with his creation.

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 03:04 PM

[JIMG3]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:10pm

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 03:10 PM

[JIMG3]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:17pm

Prisoner of 7th Ave said: "Ken Watanabe?"

In Japan, yes. I still recall the hoards of Japanes patrons flooding in every night for TKAI. The Americans were there to see Kelli. 

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 03:17 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:21pm

This, by the way, is from Brantley's review of the 2007 Mays Danes revival of Pygmalion:

"Though some people I’ve talked to have perceived a gay subtext in this “Pygmalion,” the Higgins created by Mr. Mays and Mr. Grindley, who worked together on last season’s excellent “Journey’s End,” is for me less homosexual than presexual. He’s Henry’s infantile id incarnate, given to preschooler fidgeting and impulsively hugging his mother with the ferocity of someone who has only recently been weaned. Poor Eliza isn’t even on his radar."

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:22pm

I'm just not quite sure that he's physically attracted to Eliza in a romantic way.  I think it's more interesting if he loves his beautiful research and creation, but not in the actual person.  It makes her feeling of neglection more interesting.  He ignores her and her treats her poorly, even though he loves the research.  He treats her like a lab rat, but in reality, she's his greatest friend and he realizes that he misses her when she's gone.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:54pm

I see your point.  My own take is that - in both body and soul - he loves Eliza as much as he can possibly love anyone.  Which, depending on the ending and, just as importantly, how it's played, may or may not be enough for Eliza.  And that's what makes their conflict so compelling. 

Updated On: 9/11/17 at 03:54 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 6:44pm

GeorgeandDot said: "First of all, "agenda?" That's a poor choice of words. As for there being nothing in the script that says that he's gay, Higgins does describe himself as "a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so," which at the time in which the showis set, I'm pretty sure was a euphemism for "celibate gay man."

As for the romance between the two, Eliza and Henry are two extremely lonely people. I don't think that "I could have danced all night" is supposed to be a romantic song, but rather a song of feeling like a human being for the first time and I'm pretty sure that Higgins isn't in love with Eliza, but is rather in love with his creation in the same sense that an artist is in love with his painting. At the end he realizes that he has no purpose without her, but I've never had the impression that she leaves Freddy for Higgins at the end, but rather that they decide to be friends and include each other in their lives. Also, she doesn't leave him initially because he's gay, but because he's abusive. He's awful to her.

Anyways, we will see how Sher plays it, but there certainly doesn't NEED to be any sort romance between the two for the show to be interesting. Also, I'm sure if Sher didn't want Mays to play Higgins gay, I'm sure he could play a straight bratty man-child."

 

I use the word "agenda" because actors and directors bring their own agenda to plays all the time. Often there is a specific point that the actor or director wants to make, or they have a "bold new interpretation" they want to pursue. That's all fine as long as it's supported by the text. There is nothing in My Fair Lady to support the idea that Higgins is gay. He's a "confirmed old bachelor" because he's a misanthrope. He doesn't have a wife, but he doesn't really have any friends either, except for his new friend Pickering.

When I played Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, I chose to make him gay and in love with Bassanio. I am certainly not the first person to do this, as there is a lot of stuff that both characters say to and about each other that implies at least one of them has romantic feelings for the other.

I am fine with "breaking the mold" on a character, but not if it goes against what is clearly intended by the playwright, which in this case is that Higgins develops complex romantic feelings for Eliza that he himself cannot quite make sense of. Both "A Hymn to Him" and "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" support this interpretation, I believe.

In any case, I'm not directing this production, Bartlett Sher is. Curious to see what he does with it.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:18pm

Hey y'all, so much talk of Eliza and Higgins...am I the only one championing Danny Burstein for Alfred if Eliza is youngish?

Maybe get his Tony out of Jan Maxwell's bag? (Bad Amanda, bad...)

[pupscotch]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:37pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Hey y'all, so much talk of Eliza and Higgins...am I the only one championing Danny Burstein for Alfred if Eliza is youngish?

Maybe get his Tony out of Jan Maxwell's bag? (Bad Amanda, bad...)"

Danny is my ONLY choice for Alfred. Honestly, I figured it was a sure thing. He's a Sher favorite, and absolutely perfect for this role. That's why I hoped that they'd cast a young Eliza (Ashley Park in my ideal world), but he'd still be perfect.

[The Josh]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:41pm

I can't help but think David Tennant would be a wonderful Higgins... does anyone know what he's up to? 

[hork]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:46pm

Peter Dinklage should play Higgins. Of course, Peter Dinklage should play everything.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:58pm

^ that actually sounds brilliant. I love peter Dinklage and I'd love to see him on Broadway

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 8:00pm

I think Eliza's "I Want" song is so clever in that it sets up that Eliza is a romantic at heart. She substitutes "lovely" with "loverly." It's of course to show her poor grammar and vocabulary, but it also foreshadows the meta "want" underneath the "warm hands, warm face, warm feet" want:

(Someone's head restin' on my knee
Warm and tender as she can be)
Who takes good care of me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly
Loverly, loverly, loverly?

I think one of the main weaknesses about the MFL film wasn't Audrey's voice being dubbed, it was the lack of chemistry between her and Rex Harrison. Think the show works better when there is that romantic energy there, albeit in a very repressed, upper-crust, British sort of way.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 10:06pm

JIMG3 said: "Prisoner of 7th Ave said: "Ken Watanabe?"

In Japan, yes. I still recall the hoards of Japanes patrons flooding in every night for TKAI.The Americans were there to see Kelli."

I bet you more average Americans know Ken Watanabe than Kelli O'Hara, but the LCT peeps aren't the average American. Anyway, Ken is still a movie star who has a following in the U.S.