MY FAIR LADY (2018) Reviews- Page 8

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 10:43am

Kad said: "What I wouldn't give for a tie between her and Katrina Lenk come Tony time."

If there's ever been a time for a Tony tie, this is truly it. Their performances are equally extraordinary and deserving. 

[TheatreRocks]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:03am

How is Jordan Donica's On The Street Where you Live ? It's my favorite song and I've yet to go.

[Eliza2]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:10am

TheatreRocks said: "How is Jordan Donica'sOn The Street Where you Live? It's my favorite song and I've yet to go."

I thought it was beautiful and the track I'm most looking forward to when the cast recording comes out.

Several people on here posted that they didn't like it though. 

 ¯\_(?)_/¯

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:24am

As I already mentioned in another thread,  my flight for today was cancelled by Jetblue and they would only reschedule a flight for late Thursday afternoon.  As a result I cancelled my trip for this week.  Telecharge/box office has refunded my show tickets for today.  Ticketmaster is hopeful that my Angels tickets for Thursday and Friday will be refunded.  I didn't want to get too greedy with Telecharge for a refund for my Iceman and My Fair Lady tickets  So, if I can figure a way, since they are at will call, I have a ticket for My Fair Lady, Saturday night, in the loge Row D, Seat 505 that I will sell for $100, less than face/fees.  Or if someone knows how I can contact their box office directly (without getting Telecharge involved) I would be very appreciative.  Same for Bernard Jacobs box office.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:32am

I liked Jordan Donica's singing. I disliked his characterization of Freddy however. Not funny or endearing at all. Very stiff and cold, and also the two times i saw him went up on lines multiple times. He doesn't make me confident that Eliza would be happy with Freddy at all.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:27pm

It’s not at all relevant to the enjoyment of this production and to appreciating Sher’s seemingly perfect ending, which really resonates with the audience, but it is a curiosity to read the prose epilogue to the play Pygmalion that Shaw added in response to the liberties that the theater companies were taking with the end of the play.

 He traces the fate of his characters for the next few years and beyond. You might be surprised to learn that even after her marriage to Freddy, Eliza is still a frequent visitor to Wimpole Street and Higgins remains an important person in her life. Actually you might be better off not reading it, at least before you see this production.

Given that Sher directed Light in the Piazza and Madison County, perhaps he is just our best director of musicals here in the opening decades of this century.

I was surprised and amused to learn that as a boy he grew up not listening to the original Broadway cast albums of these shows he now revived so well but, as a resident of the Bay Area in California, attending early Grateful Dead concerts at Winterland. He’s still a fan.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 1:01pm

I read the prose epilogue of Shaw's that says that Eliza marries Freddy but remains friends (although friends that frequently quarrel) with Higgins. However in Sher's ending one could assume that Eliza is leaving and will marry Freddy. And so I think it's important that the character of Freddy is someone the audience can get behind. A nice sweet boy who will adore Eliza for life. 

Therefore I had a real problem with Donica's portrayal which was so stiff and humorless. He made Freddy seem (unintentionally I think) like a bigger snob than Higgins. In Sher's otherwise wonderful revival I thought Donica was the biggest weak link. Nice voice, looks pretty, but I agree with Higgins when he laughs "Marry Freddy?"

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 1:25pm

I actually was convinced by Donica's portrayal of Freddy. He seemed less simpering and more just smittened. The scenes where he follows Eliza and eavesdrops of her conversation with Alfred when she returns to Covent Garden I felt was a subtle but nod to Freddy's realization of who Eliza actually is and I felt the wheels turning in his head with his mannerisms and facial expression. I think this is a production that wanted to show a Freddy who is capable of understanding and is on his way of maturing to be somebody who can actually talk to Eliza on a deeper level. That may have went away from Shaw's intent a bit, but I don't mind it.

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 01:25 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 5/17/18 at 2:23pm

Here's a video from the creative team. And to those who think Michael Yeargan's brilliantly huge/lavish and simple/clever set designs won't win the Tony, must have not seen this production yet. This is probably the best set designs that Michael Yeargan has ever made through his entire career.

 

 

[Kad]

Posted: 5/17/18 at 2:44pm

While Henry Higgins' home is a stunner of a setpiece, I found the decision to design Doolittle's tavern haunts as if they were music hall set pieces (with clearly painted-on elements, and obvious curtains to mask entrances and exits) to be a bit incongruous with everything.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/17/18 at 3:01pm

Not to nitpick what was obviously a luxurious parade of sets at MFL, but I too was bugged by the lack of consistent tone between the different sets. I loved the false perspective at work in the Covent Garden and Wimpole Street exteriors-- why oh why didn't Yeargan apply that principle when he designed Higgins Study as well? Or the Ballroom? Or Mrs Higgins' Conservatory? And I agree with Kad that the Music Hall flats unfolded for "Get Me To the Church On Time" were jarring for their change of aesthetic from the rest of the show. (That's a complaint I'd lob at ALL the design and choreo choices for that ghastly number-- but that's a different discussion.)

Yeargan is a meticulous designer known for relentlessly editing out from his designs anything that does not contribute to the story he wants to tell. In MFL, he seems to have wanted to play with all the fingerpaints in his paintbox, tone be damned, without giving these designs the same editorial eye that made his very best past designs so stellar.

Updated On: 5/19/18 at 03:01 PM

[steven22]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 1:51pm

Just got to the theater. Lauren is out for the mat. I was able to get a refund for my linctix and then quickly went on my phone to buy a ticket for a Saturday night in August hoping she’ll be on then.

Updated On: 5/19/18 at 01:51 PM

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 2:35pm

Here's a 23 min segment that Lauren and Harry did on WNYC earlier this month:

https://www.wnyc.org/story/my-fair-lady-broadway/

In the beginning of the clip, you get to hear a good bit of Lauren singing "Loverly" and at the end you hear "Rain in Spain".

Stagecraft also has a 23 mins interview with them on their podcast:

http://stagecraft.libsyn.com/ep31-lauren-ambrose-harry-hadden-paton

Easier to view video of Richard Ridge's interview and Q&A session with Lauren Ambrose:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9vtAb99J4

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 2:49pm

steven22 said: "Just got to the theater. Lauren is out for the mat. I was able to get a refund for my linctix and then quickly went on my phone to buy a ticket for a Saturday night in August hoping she’ll be on then."

Who was on for her?

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 4:55pm

steven22 said: "Just got to the theater. Lauren is out for the mat. I was able to get a refund for my linctix and then quickly went on my phone to buy a ticket for a Saturday night in August hoping she’ll be on then."

Thursday night at the stage door, she didn't talk (she indicated that she had to save her voice, I guess she must be under the weather) but she was still so gracious in signing everyone's playbills. More importantly, I was astounded by the acting choices she made. I know the text like the back of my hand, yet she found so many new and inspiring layers in her character.

Updated On: 5/19/18 at 04:55 PM

[singer234]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 4:56pm

Kerstin Anderson is on.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 5:31pm

poisonivy2 said: "I read the prose epilogue of Shaw's that says that Eliza marries Freddy but remains friends (although friends that frequently quarrel) with Higgins. However in Sher's ending one could assume that Eliza is leaving and will marry Freddy. And so I think it's important that the character of Freddy is someone the audience can get behind. A nice sweet boy who will adore Eliza for life.”

Marry Freddy, ha!

Higgins mocks the idea.

Shaw acknowledged it.

But not for a moment did I assume it from Sher’s My Fair Lady.

My takeaway is this: no one, not even Eliza, knows what’s next  for her  

But she’a going to make good.

(i too thought Jordan’s Freddy was a decent chap   But that’s neither here nor there.)

 

Updated On: 5/19/18 at 05:31 PM

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 6:46pm

kerstin anderson was on (for the first time according to the usher) and she crushed it. far more heart passion and superior singing to the performance i saw by lauren a week ago. her performance and chemistry with the lead was also palpable and i feel like performance was at least 2x of last sundays show.
very happy to have been there and watch out for kerstin-i also saw her on tour in sound of music and she owned maria onstage too.

my only complaint is why is the sound so low at lincoln center. i was row j orch and felt the sound was just way to low most of the show except for theopening of the second act with the orchestra onstage. i also remember sound was too low at king and i....whats up with that?????

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 7:24pm

Don't forget tomorrow is Eliza Doolittle day!

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 7:30pm

Anybody know if Lauren is in for the evening performance?

[A Canadian in NYC]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 7:33pm

ArtMan said: "Anybody know if Lauren is in for the evening performance?"

Just got to the theatre. She’s out for tonight as well

 

offering refunds ir exchange.  

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 7:35pm

Thanks for the info,  A Canadian in NYC.  It looks like Jetblue did me a favor cancelling my flight.  I would have missed Lauren and Jim Parsons in my performances.  And those are the ones that I know about.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 9:05pm

Ravenclaw said: "steven22 said: "Just got to the theater. Lauren is out for the mat. I was able to get a refund for my linctix and then quickly went on my phone to buy a ticket for a Saturday night in August hoping she’ll be on then."

Thursday night at the stage door, she didn't talk (she indicated that she had to save her voice, I guess she must be under the weather) but she was still so gracious in signing everyone's playbills. More importantly, I was astounded by the acting choices she made. I know the text like the back of my hand, yet she found so many new and inspiring layers in her character."

I agree. I think Lauren plays Eliza so atypically but true to the text anyway that I would find almost everyone else to be so typical.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 5/19/18 at 11:21pm

I was so anxious to get back that I grabbed the only orchestra seat left for the Wednesday matinee. Center Orchestra Row K. But now I have to worry about no Lauren. 

Found this two day old article by LA Times theater critic.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-broadway-revivals-notebook-20180520-story.html

But the problem with "Mean Girls" isn't that the music is too niche. It's that it's hard to imagine anyone choosing to listen to this clamorous Broadway pop beyond the pool of adolescent theater rats dying to be cast in the show.

When "My Fair Lady" came to the Ahmanson Theatre in 2008, I found it hard to credit Eliza and Henry's amorous connection. That is no problem at Lincoln Center. Hadden-Paton's Henry really does seem more appropriate as a future husband for Eliza than Freddy....

We older people like it when our classic musicals are recognized as such.

But have a problem understanding why they have a problem with period pieces. Julie and Billy are behaving as those born into the lowest socio-economic class at that time would act with no access to suitable education or occupational opportunities.

 

 

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 5/20/18 at 5:27am