My Fair Lady: He's Listening

If the American musical stage has ever come up with a more perfect creation than My Fair Lady I know I've yet to see it.  Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (with special attention paid to Gabriel Pascal's film adaptation) Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe's (music) 1956 masterpiece uniquely blends the sensibilities of operetta, musical comedy and music hall into an evening where high comedy, low comedy and social satire lie comfortably together on a pillow of lush romanticism.  Its fifteen songs are all of the highest theatrical order.  What other score can boast such exuberant ballads ("I Could Have Danced All Night", "On The Street Where You Live"), crackling character songs ("Just You Wait", "A Hymn To Him") and rousing showstoppers ("The Rain In Spain", "Get Me To The Church On Time")?

Opening Wednesday night at Avery Fisher Hall and playing through Saturday, The New York Philharmonic's beautifully sung and expertly acted concert production of My Fair Lady, under the baton of Rob Fisher with stage direction by James Brennan, captures all the warmth, intimacy and wit of this classic.  David Ives took on the task of trimming Lerner's book, and though some well-loved lines are omitted, his work serves the evening well.  With the Philharmonic musicians upstage, the performers are all off book and hooked up to body mics.  Peggy Hickey fits limited, but lively choreography onto the relatively small playing space and set designer Ray Klausen provides minimal, but effective set pieces.  Gail Baldoni's costumes are wonderfully eye-catching.  For a concert, it is quite a large production.

As the cockney flower girl who longs to improve her life by learning to speak English like a lady, Kelli O'Hara is thoroughly enchanting.  Her Eliza has a strong sense of determination to make good right from the start, making her remarkable transformation into an elegant lady all the more believable.  Playing straight for comic effect, she is uproariously funny saying all the wrong things in the famous Ascot scene.  And, of course she sings the role like a dream, particularly in her captivatingly joyous "I Could Have Danced All Night."  The opening night audience could have cheered and applauded all night.

When you think about it, Kelsey Grammer has been playing Henry Higgins on television for 20 years, so if some of his inflections or his physicality remind you a bit of Dr. Frasier Crane, it's only because the two culturally elite arrested adolescents are so similar.  But there isn't a moment where Grammar is not legitimately the professor of phonetics who bets he can pass off Eliza as a princess.  His verbal dexterity with Shaw and Lerner's comedy is graceful and melodious, whether he's speaking, singing or somewhere in between.  His small offers of tenderness to Eliza are done simply and with empathy, hinting at the emotions he'll eventually (almost) admit in a lovely "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face."

The biggest surprise of the evening is the song and dance prowess of Brian Dennehy as Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle.  He sings very well, delivering his numbers with a robust energy, and though his dance steps are not especially difficult, they're executed with fine showmanship and finesse.

Charles Kimbrough is all befuddled fun as Colonel Pickering and Marni Nixon makes for a regal Mrs. Higgins.  Tenor Philippe Castagner, as Freddy, lends a sweet operetta quality to "On The Street Where You Live."  Meg Bussert as Mrs. Pearce, Tim Jerome as Zoltan Karpathy and Michael J. Farina and Joe Grifasi as Doolittle's drinking buddies all make enjoyable contributions.

And as far as that controversial final moment of the show goes…  Well, you'll have to find out for yourself how it's handled.  But by that time you should be happily afloat in musical theatre heaven.  This is a classic done with style.

Photos by Chris Lee for the New York Philharmonic:  Top:  Kelsey Grammer and Kelli O'Hara

Center:  Brian Dennehy and Company

Bottom:  (front row l-r)  Michael J. Farina, Tim Jerome, Marni Nixon, Charles Kimbrough, Kelsey Grammer, Rob Fisher, Kelli O'Hara, Brian Dennehy, Philippe Castagner, Meg Bussert and Joe Grifasi