My Fair Lady?

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/16/13 at 7:40pm

Has anyone heard anything lately about Clive Davis' planned revival of My Fair Lady? Last I heard was that both Anne Hathaway & Colin Firth are out of the running and that Ralph Fiennes could be in, so I'm just curious to hear if anyone has heard anything lately since the production is slated to hit sometime in 2014, unknown if it'll be this season or next season?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 11/16/13 at 8:14pm

And what about this King and I revival for Lincoln Center? Is that ever going to happen?

[PTOPhan]

Posted: 11/20/13 at 10:19pm

Based on your post, Jeff, sounds like the powers-that-be have FINALLY caught on that a sexy, youngish guy has to play Higgins (rather than a 65-year-old overweight man or a nebbishy professor who is also a senior citizen). Otherwise, the ending makes no sense, nor does the ring he buys Eliza in Brighton.

As for casting Eliza, "I Could Have Danced All Night" is pretty darned hard for anyone but a top-notch singer to pull off. A couple of the women that I think could do it are tied up in TV series. One of them, Kerry Washington, has the glamour that Eliza needs. However, because the story is so tied up in the question of whether behavior and speech were all that someone in that society needed to advance, I'm not sure that casting an actor of color would work -- unless, of course, the show somehow makes clear that ELIZA is white, even if the actor playing her isn't. One way might be to add a line in which Higgins guesses from Eliza's speech that one of her parents is Italian, or some such thing, and she answers, "Me mother was from Nye-pels."

As for casting Alfred P., I think Sacha Baron Cohen would be a hoot.

[LMcC95]

Posted: 11/20/13 at 11:08pm

While I love Kerry Washington, she can not sing. She did a couple weeks ago and struggled with a simple melody so she could not handle any of the songs. I would love someone who is not known get this part and become a star, not a star playing a star role. And your point about being color and how it would not work. In season 2 of Smash, they said Jennifer Hudson played the role.