My Fair Lady - ideas

I am currently researching past productions of My Fair Lady for inspiration and ideas, as I am about to begin directing the show. Does anyone have any tried and tested ideas? Or have seen any original ideas that worked well? If so, I would love to hear them.
Thanks.

Oh, lord. I hate that in the movie. They do that in the National revival? Yuck. Thankfully they didn't record it like that. For some ideas I do recommend picking up a copy of the Royal National revival CD though. There are some neat ideas in terms of costume and sets in the pictures, having Higgins actually sing his songs, and some updated dance music.

Updated On: 5/16/07 at 05:23 PM

No thankfully they avoided it! Was much relieved!

Yeah having a singing Higgins was nice- after being used to Rex's sprechgasung (or however you spell it lol!) Jonathan Pryce of the recording and Christopher Casanove who was Higgins on the tour was a nice change.

I'd ditto that re. National Theatre pictures. Check out this link: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=1223 for more info on Trev's production and maybe get the brochure if it's cheap on eBay. The Ascot Gavotte scene was nice. Everyone in black except Eliza in white if I remember rightly.

Hope it goes well!

When and where is the production??

Simon

My biggest recommendation is keep it light and keep it simple. We did it in Albany with a unit set of five arches and a few wagons for the various scenes. One thing that worked incredibly well was Higgins' library. Rather than the usual acres of bookshelves, we opted to put them in haphazard piles on the floor: Higgins would pick one up at random, read it as he crossed the stage, and then just put it down anywhere -- in effect losing it. It gave a great key to his character, especially in light of the "slippers" line.

But bottom line: do not fall into the trap of acres of scenery and rack upon rack of costumes. LADY can be done with elegant simplicity, and it will work gorgeously.

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A multi-racial cast would be welcomed.

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Don't fall into any of the film's tedious traps. Having seen the original London masterpiece, in 1959 (it remains the greatest thing I've ever seen), I can assure you that even though the film sticks very closely to the show, in tone, they are lightyears apart. The show is fun, light and lively! Keep it that way.

That's exactly how the number was originally staged. Julie Andrews did the exact same thing.

Updated On: 5/16/07 at 11:26 PM

Yep, JonBoy2, you're right, but somwhere over the years it's been altered in many productions. The only bad part of this one was that the dress was hideous and too small and was not at all flattering, yet her body language transcended all of that and took the show back to where it originated.
As for other ideas for the new director- the scenes between Higgens and Alfie can never be TOO funny; Higging downplays and mugs while Alfie is just over the top. That part is my all time favorite featured role for a man and it is too often played with a dull edge. Freddy needs to be really shallow and Eliza's development blooms during the "Show Me" number, where it is clear that she has outgrown whatever he has to give her.
No matter how beautiful the show is to look at, I always detest the ending and have since I was a child.It's just that Eliza is walking back into a relationship that is "doomed before they even take the vow", as she will either have to put up with being ignored a good deal of the time, reminded of her humble beginnings whenever Henry gets angry or become a doormat during his storming rages, which I can't believe marriage will alter his personality that much! I don't see it being a relationship on any kind of equal footing( and they weren't anyway in Edwardian England so I'm backed into a corner again!) OK, so I'm totally off track now, but any thoughts on this?

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Thanks guys. Some excellent ideas. Keep them coming.
In particular, any ideas on specific scenes.
Thank you.

i idolize this show. its a treasure

i saw a lovely production with ten person cast, two pianos and hardly any set, and it really brought the actually heart of the story out and highlighted themes i never realized were there, this is one of those shows that you can make really different and it will still work. dont do the same production every one does.

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I too saw a regional theatre staging with a small cast and two pianos and hated it! It was totally lacking in opulence and I think that's what an audience expects when they come to see this show (I know I do). Some shows can be successfully scaled down, I just don't think this is one of them. When I directed it last summer for a local community theatre, we did as much opulence as our budget would allow. I hope you have as much fun directing the show as I did. A true classic in every sense of the word!

Any exciting ideas on Ascot or the Embassy Waltz?

So, were the actors on stage all of the time?