Review: Bartlett Sher's Contemporary Spin On MY FAIR LADY Allows Lerner and Loewe's Musical To Speak For Itself

From SOUTH PACIFIC to THE KING AND I to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and now My Fair Lady, director Bartlett Sher has been spending the better part of this young century perfecting his method of mounting ravishing, emotionally stimulating productions of classic 20th Century musicals.

His style is surprisingly simple and easily recognizable: keep edits to a minimum, tone down the comedy in favor of realism, interpret the text with a contemporary eye without changing it and don't be stingy with the orchestra.

The source of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1956 gem goes back to an ancient Greek myth of a sculptor named Pygmalion who creates the image a woman so exacting to his ideals that he falls helplessly in love with it.

In 1913, George Bernard Shaw's high comedy social commentary, PYGMALION presented a different kind of artist; Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetics expert who bets his colleague Colonel Pickering that, by teaching working class Eliza Doolittle proper manners and exquisite English pronunciation, he can pass her off as royalty to his peers at the Embassy Ball.

The thickly-accented Eliza, who makes a meager living selling blossoms on the streets, wishes to learn to be presentable enough to get a better job in a flower shop. For weeks she, along with the colonel, lives in Higgins' home as a guest; provided with meals, clothing and a proper bed as she receives expert instruction from a man who, though he first sees her as little more than a slab to chisel, grows more fascinated as she blossoms into his idea of the perfect woman.

Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein were among the musical theatre artists who first took cracks at making PYGMALION sing, but it was the combination of the sweeping romance and gracefulness of Austrian-born composer Loewe and the acerbic wit of Harvard-educated New York native bookwriter/lyricist Lerner that proved perfect for the piece.

A major key to their success was that they paid more attention to Shaw's screenplay for the 1938 screen adaptation, most notably when it comes to the ending. Shaw was shocked to visit the play during its initial West End run and find that his conclusion was changed to something audiences found more romantic and crowd-pleasing. Though his published version of the play includes a lengthy essay that serves as an epilogue that builds on his original ending, he reluctantly scripted the film's final scene to give the public what they wanted, which is the finish Lerner and Loewe gave to their musical.

But in more recent decades, there's been a growing sentiment to regard the musical's ending as a sexist fantasy, especially after the audience watches the rude and seemingly insensitive Higgins verbally demean his student throughout the process.

Both Shaw and Lerner allow Higgins to defend his behavior by stating that he's no more rude and overbearing to Eliza than he is to anyone else, but what the privileged linguist doesn't take into consideration, which may contribute to a negative view through a contemporary eye, is that women like Eliza are mistreated by men throughout their lives, with society offering little opportunity for recourse.

Sher tackles that situation head-on, using almost the exact same text that played to Broadway audiences over 60 years ago, by highlighting Eliza's mature, goal-oriented nature and Higgins' naïve inexperience with forming human relations.

There is marvelous thoughtfulness to Lauren Ambrose's superbly-acted Eliza. You can see it in the way she works the crowd of well-to-dos as she hawks her flowers in Covent Garden at the musical's opening. Don't expect her to sing with a gorgeous soprano like the role's originator, Julie Andrews. Although she certainly handles Loewe's melodies well, with every song you can hear her focus on the words. Thus, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" is less of a bouncy charmer imagining a lush life than it is a serious envisioning of what she's willing to work for. "I Could Have Danced All Night" soars with self-discovery about her reaction to having a man appreciate her for what she can accomplish. And acting showcases like "Just You Wait" and "Without You" firmly spotlight the character's ability to navigate through new environments and situations.

She's matched with Harry Hadden-Paton's emotionally cloistered Higgins, who appears to be about her age. Lacking the smugness that often accompanies the role, this is a softer version of the fellow, so enraptured with the manner in which people communicate that he's clueless about how they feel.

Though songs like "Why Can't The English," "I'm an Ordinary Man" (which has been clipped slightly to remove a couple of sexist stereotypes) and "A Hymn To Him" were written to allow Rex Harrison to speak his way through them, Hadden-Paton frequently latches onto the melodies that softly come out in Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang's top shelf original orchestrations. His perfectly pleasant singing voice helps make the character seem a bit more sincere in his feelings that he really is a good fellow.

Perhaps the most telling moments of this particular Eliza/Higgins dynamic come when she expresses her expectation that he's about to hit her. Ambrose shows a fearless matter-of-factness in her attitude that makes it clear how accustomed Eliza is to such treatment. Hadden-Paton's Higgins, on the other hand, seems truly shocked, with his feelings genuinely wounded at the thought that someone would consider him capable of hitting a woman, once again proving he really knows nothing about the world Eliza is working to free herself from.

Ambrose's Eliza, on the other hand, while not accepting Higgins' verbal abuse lightly, is mature enough to recognize the value of what he is teaching her and truly works hard at her education. Though Higgins later proclaims to the transformed pupil that there isn't a thought in her head that he didn't put there, this production makes it clear that Eliza always was an intelligent person with her own intriguing thoughts. What Higgins taught her was how to make other people willing to listen to what she had to say.

A daring, but very appropriate choice in this production is to not make an applause moment out of Eliza's first appearance in her ball gown. It's not about her looking beautiful in a gown. It's about her working hard to learn a skill.

Sher's take on the musical's ending, which doesn't change a word of dialogue, is a bit vague and open to interpretation, but nevertheless effective.

And then there's the wondrous supporting company. As Eliza's father, the frequently inebriated "common dustman" Alfred P. Doolittle, Norbert Leo Butz brings barrelhouse enthusiasm to "With a Little Bit of Luck." For his second act showstopper, "Get Me to the Church on Time," Sher and choreographer Christopher Gattelli throw the fellow an all-night bachelor party at a local music hall, where he carouses with high-kicking showgirls and cross-dressing revelers before smoothly engaging in a fine tabletop tap dance. In between, the actor nails the social satire when Doolittle demands a bit of cash from Higgins, claiming it's his right as one of the "undeserving poor."

The splendid Diana Rigg, last seen on Broadway playing Medea in 1994, is an inspired choice to play Henry Higgins' mother, rolling her eyes at her son's insufferable behavior and sympathetic to Eliza's quest for self-improvement.

Allan Corduner makes a suitably genial Pickering, Linda Mugleston is a sturdy Irish presence as Higgins' head housekeeper Mrs. Pierce and Manu Narayan is very funny as Professor Zoltan Karpathy, a former student of Higgins whose expertise is the main obstacle in having Eliza accepted as a distinguished royal.

Those desiring a taste of traditionally rich musical theatre vocals should be delighted with Jordan Donica's romantic baritone when, as Eliza's lovesick suitor Freddy Eynsford-Hill, he joyfully emotes "On the Street Where You Live."

The luscious visuals by designers Michael Yeargan (set), Catherine Zuber (costumes) and Donald Holder (lights) are highlight by an enormous centerpiece depicting Higgins' home, which rotates on a turntable to present different rooms. (Allowing for a scene added from the film version of the musical that has Mrs. Pierce and other servants using scalding hot water to clean Eliza up.) However, the unit is overused a bit when actors move from room to room in the middle of songs, stealing focus from the scripted material.

By looking at the text from interesting new angles, this grand production of My Fair Lady offers a 21st Century spin while allowing the magnificent musical to speak for itself.