MY FAIR LADY (2018) Previews — Page 13

I don't remember thinking she was a lock for a Tony Award. Bart Sher's choice is asking us to suspend disbelief a little more than usual because of her age unfortunately. I felt I wanted the songs to be knocked out of the park too but the quieter voice was a fine trade-off for her very nice and thoughtful portrayal. I just remember thinking this was not a slam dunk as you do while watching Harry Hadden-Paton.

Updated On: 3/18/18 at 01:37 PM

Here's the tweet in question.

Honestly sick of seeing that Andy Mientus has tweeted something shady—this is far from the first time. He infantilizes the entire industry when he posts stuff like that. Just let people do their jobs.

What's their problem with Sher? Is it because he won't cast them in his productions?

I guess Andy auditioned for Sher a few times and Sher passed.

Jimmyb1969 said: "Epic production! Thoroughly enjoyed it and it was fun to see Bart working the audience and making the rounds. He’s obviously proud of the show and should be. I kept thinking how I never realized...duh...just how dark the show really is. And I think that’s because there’s no overglossy portrayals in this production except for Norbert. More on the acting in a bit. The set is fantastic...what a stunner! Here’s where I’m going to disagree with folks. I thought the costumes and wigs were just average and problematic. All of the Guys pants needed tailoring especially in the ball scene. Women were tripping over their dresses. I didn’t buy for a second that they felt comfortable in them. And I thought Lauren’s ball gown was just average. I wanted her to be transcendent and she did look beautiful and the red coat was lovely but her final looks were just so meh to me. I wanted more swan! And at one point I thought her wig might fall off. It really bobbled and she had to put her head down and try and fix it. One of the cast covered her so she could adjust. Something very sloppy is going on in the hair and costume department! Norbert was a sweaty mess and his hair looked like strands of dyed straw. Again I needed more transformation for him. Unfortunate. These things can and should be fixed. Also lighting and sound were both having issues throughout. Lauren needs special attention! Her singing is ok and she’s working with her voice but help her in the audio dept. Where the production needs work is it feels like a collection of scenes now...it needs some glue. Gotta tighten up the transitions and keep the show moving. I found myself thinking ugh move along already. Lots of long entrance and exits that need tightening. The other glaring need is some character work ...Freddy, Pickering and Norbert all have some work to do. Yes Norbert brings the house down with church and I was glad as was the audience to have a little energy and excitement cause this production is very dark and heavy...not in a necessarily bad way just an observation. But Norbert felt like the Norbert show not part of The larger whole. I needed a little more connection. Tightening the scenes and doing some character work should help. Same for Freddy and Pickering. Pickering is throwing this part away. Thankless for sure but the kindness he shows her needs to come across more. Build the relationship. And Freddy feels like a big why? Gotta mine the race scene more and build the why. Especially in street...there’s ways to do this. Higgins for the win this year. And Lauren’s heart breaking portrayal may just win her a Tony too.
"

Your points about this being a darker interpretation and Lauren's more introspective singing are spot on. Add to that the ending that was chosen and you get an understanding of the directors overall take on the material. I'd suggest all of the above works against - A Little Bit of Luck and I'm Getting Martied in the Morning.id also suggest the libretto wasn't tuned to this darker take. Higgins got the lower energy songs and Eliza and her father got the high energy stuff. Now we've got most of the score on the lower energy spectrum with two quasi comic relief numbers that don't feel right. Do we even need her father in this? I know I'm be facisous but there's an imbalance in all that beautiful work. Her walking away was not a breath taking moment it was almost redundant. For the record I'm not a fan of this show, I am a fan of the director. So for me this is a gorgeous miss but still worth seeing.

He was so throwing shade at the whole production and Sher in particular....basically saying that his husbands version was not only superior but also had a ground breaking concept --- as we can see here...he didn't.

I'm not dissing his production, I've not seen it....but to slam a production that is only 3-4 days into previews is pretty low....and very much full of bridge burning.

I have an idea for Sher - Eliza should come back with a gun and shoot Higgins. He tries to find his slippers to plug the bleeding hole but can't find them - "where the devil are my slippers?". Then, suddenly black out and curtain rises to Eliza singing "We Both Reached For the Gun". That was cut in early previews of the original production right?

Updated On: 3/18/18 at 06:16 PM