Hathaway/Firth for MY FAIR LADY? — Page 2

I seriously doubt that Hathaway would deign to come to Broadway with her burgeoning film career. Firth would be so very good, though, if he could be persuaded to take the role. As for Eliza, isn't there a fresh-faced ingenue that Davis could make a star?

Me too, The Josh! I can't imagine Anne Hathaway would choose to make her Broadway debut in such a vocally challenging role right after winning an Oscar. She is pretty good about picking roles she's capable for, she has been very picky about stage appearances up until this point (and clearly she's been at the top of the list for all the roles for a star her age) so I don't see how that will change.
Benanti needs to either do this or Anna in THE KING & I, hopefully both.

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I wouldn't be surprised if she stars in a Broadway show in the near future. I think she can handle it. She's a very disciplined performer.

Colin Firth is an inspired choice, and I love, love, love the idea of Geoffrey Rush as Alfred Doolittle.

Anne Hathaway would only last about 6 performances a week, tops. That score is brutal (read Julie Andrews' bio to find out how brutal it is). I don't feel she could sing that score eight times a week. They will have to get an alternate for the matinee performances, I guarantee it.

(I also think Hathaway is starting to read a little old for Eliza. She's supposed to be 21-25. I think Sierra Boggess could be brilliant-and more likely could handle the demands of the role.)

I like Sierra's voice and I happen to think she's a very good actress. She'd be perfect for the role.

Heck, I'd love it with Hugh Bonneville!!! Sign me up! Just keep Hathaway far away. She isn't quite right for the role. (The suggestion of The King and I is much better.)

i think Anne would def want to do it. shes very ambitious and seems to want to liked an awful lot.

DREAMIN, SB can do no wrong in my book either. she would be perfect.

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Eliza needs to be a true soprano. Julie Andrews, Martine McCutcheon and Melissa Errico all had vocal problems while playing the role.

I wonder if Anne could get away with doing a six show week, much like Evita, Phantom and Miss Saigon didn't require their stars to do eight shows.

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But the show would do excellent business for the other two-and, if they get Colin Firth as Higgins, you might not see too significant of a drop.

I'm against Hathaway in the role-she doesn't have strong enough pipes to withstand the rigor of the role.

I say get a young opera singer to play the role (or, as I suggested, a proven entity like Sierra Boggess). I don't know why Eliza NEEDS to be stunt cast if they have an A-lister as Higgins and perhaps one as Alfie.

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. That's what makes it taxing. Not hitting a G a couple of times.

Hathaway trained for months to be able to sing I DREAMED A DREAM in one take with a camera right up her tits. That may sound like nothing, but watch every other performer in the movie and you see them making facial contortions to hit certain notes. Hathaway's face is completely open and natural. She spent months sobbing through the song so that, when it came time to film, it would be as natural as possible. She spent time singing the song on a goddamn trampoline so that her face would relax completely. Do we really not think that, were it to come to pass, she wouldn't train like a marathoner to be able to perform this role?

I could live with that casting, but as others have said, I'm not sure Hathaway would want to take so much time out of her movie career for it.

LOVE the thought of Firth and Rush together again, though.

^ I don't disagree with the fact that Hathaway would be an ideal Anna. More ideal than she'd be Eliza (at this point, I have more of a problem with her age than her vocal abilities).

But we shouldn't minimize how just mind-numbingly awful it can be on a film set for many hours a day. The thing about doing eight shows a week is that you have 4-5 weeks of rehearsal time to get the show into your body, and once you open, you show up at 7-ish and leave by 11-ish. That's not to minimize performing eight shows a week, either. It's just to say both are taxing in their own ways.