So I just returned from my seeing MFL with my mom this afternoon. All the principals were on, and my mom is usually very enthusiastic. Indeed she loved Henry Hadden-Patton and Danny Burstein, REALLY loved Christian Dante White, and she really also liked the ending. She said it "made more sense" because "Eliza could never be happy with Higgins." Keep in mind she's very old fashioned and was mildly bothered by the drag dancers in "Get Me to the Church."
However, she was completely disappointed with Laura Benanti's Eliza, My mom disliked Benanti's voice and also said she was charmless.
I have to say I agree with her.For someone who has said Eliza was her dream role, I thought Benanti gave a cold, hard, brittle performance. There was no freshness or innocence to her Eliza -- from the moment she walked onstage with her flower basket she seemed calculating and so confident. Thus there was no growth -- the woman who marched out of Higgins' study at the end was the same woman who sold flowers in the beginning of the musical. There was never any doubt that she would be able to pass herself off as a lady -- her strong, steely body language and crisp vocal inflections as she spoke made her Eliza seem like a mature woman of the world rather than a "squashed cabbage leaf."
Vocally I thought she was either having a bad day or the role lies too high for her because she struggled with the high notes throughout the afternoon. They sounded shrill and disconnected from the rest of her voice. Her accent was all over the place -- an Irish brogue, Melania Trump, International Accent, Scottish accent, I think I heard them all. There was no chemistry between her and the other characters. When she says goodbye to her father before he gets married, she sounded like a human resources manager wishing someone who has just been let go "good luck." No sadness that money couldn't buy her dad any class or paternal feeling.
The ending REALLY changed with Benanti compared to Ambrose. With Ambrose there was a lot of sadness as she touched Higgins' cheek, held his hand, and left his study. It was the right decision, but you felt her pain and thus Higgins' pain as well. Benanti again had such a cold body language as she left that the bond between her and Higgins seemed completely transactional. He got what he wanted (sort of), she got what she wanted, and that was that.
I also thought that for being a known comedienne she wasn't that funny. She was funny, but there were lines where a fresher, more wide-eyed approach would have been way funnier than the smirk she used to signal to the audience "laugh here."
Overall I was very disappointed in her performance. I really expected way more.
traditional way of playing the role is simply funnier is the Ascot scene. Every Eliza I've ever seen plays Eliza as sort of airheaded in that scene. Lauren emphasized the exaggerated "h's" and slow enunciation. She can make proper vowels and looks pretty in a dress, but that's about it. She has a lot of work to do still. Laura glided onstage and spoke in a polished, smooth manner. Only her coarse story about her aunt gave her away. She didn't even scream "Come on Dover, move your bloomin' ass!" but rather sweetly recited that line. 
