Review: LERNER & LOEWE'S MY FAIR LADY at Dolby Theatre

MY FAIR LADY is a Broadway classic, having been adapted several times for the stage and screen, including Broadway and West End runs (at one point being the highest-grossing show of all time on the Great White Way) and the classic film, which won eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

It's based on George Bernard Shaw's beloved play PYGMALION about Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl plucked off the streets of London to be turned into a lady by Henry Higgins, a phonetician. Some of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's songs, like "The Rain in Spain," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?," and "I Could Have Danced All Night," are American standards having permeated culture for generations now. The story is rom-com catnip and the roles, both supporting and lead, are plum for any actor, with drama, comedy, farce, pathos, song, and dance.

So why does the version at the Dolby Theatre fall mostly flat?

It is difficult to ascertain because of the behavior of the audience. After the first musical number, a flood of people (fifty or more, and that was just in front me-I have no idea how many more were upending the spectators behind me and in the balcony) rushed through the doors to find their seats, uprooting members who were already situated, calling out to their friends, flashing their phones' flashlights to attract their companions' attention. ALL WHILE THE SHOW WAS GOING ON.

And that doesn't even take into account the phone alarms going off or the people who were chattering with their friends or those arguing with someone who shushed them that they have the right to have conversations in the middle of the show.

I partly think that if the show had been compelling, none of this would have been so distracting. Distracting, yes, just not to the same degree. But the behavior was so egregious, that isn't fair to the production.

Directed by Tony and Drama Desk Award winner Bartlett Sher, this MY FAIR LADY has style and fantastic sets by Michael Yeargan (Higgins' bi-level rotating home in particular), stunning costumes by Catherine Zuber, tight choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and performers with much talent and verve-especially Sam Simahk as dreamy Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a sweet and crush-worthy gentleman who swoons for Eliza (Shereen Ahmed), and Adam Grupper as Eliza's grifter father, who brings the house down with the dazzling showstopper "Get Me to the Church On Time."

Originally launched in 1913 (and seemingly taking place around the same time), the show may not pass some of the #MeToo litmus tests, but taken within the time it was written, it makes sense-though Higgins (Laird Mackintosh), a self-proclaimed confirmed bachelor, does come across as more of a Boomer misogynist than anything else at this point. And while it's hard to see the world through any lens other than our own, it would still be nice for Eliza's journey from guttersnipe to Lady reflect the spine and self-respect she's always had in addition to the choices she makes.

Who knows how much nuance and texture were lost due to the uncultured audience, though I'm confidently hopeful the show will rise above any further disruptions. There's a lot of potential here some of which went unfulfilled on opening night.

How to Get Tickets

LERNER & LOEWE'S MY FAIR LADY is performed at the Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Boulevard through October 31. Tickets can be purchased at BroadwayInHollywood.com, by calling 800-982-2782, or by going to the Dolby Theatre box office. The show is open to people aged 12 and up.

Photo Credits: Joan Marcus

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