Hathaway/Firth for MY FAIR LADY? — Page 3

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".

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

"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.

---

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

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?

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.