Review: MY FAIR LADY, Birmingham Hippodrome

Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady is blessed with the sort of songs that never grow old. Well-loved classics like "I Could Have Danced All Night", "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "On the Street Where You Live" are as charming today as ever. But while the music is timeless, the plot and characters are firmly stuck in 1913, and this revival doesn't do quite enough to endear them to modern audiences.

The current tour production, directed by Bartlett Sher, comes straight from a West End stint that followed a 2018 Broadway run. The story of a professor who takes on a bet that he can turn a Cockney flower girl into a lady through the power of speech lessons will be familiar to almost everyone, whether they know it from the original 1956 Broadway musical, the 1964 film version or even the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion, that the musical is based upon.

The "fair lady" of the title, Eliza Doolittle, is played on tour by Charlotte Kennedy, but on press night we saw understudy Rebekah Lowings, who gave a beautifully nuanced performance of Eliza's journey from frustrated Covent Garden flower seller with no prospects to a well-spoken and well-dressed lady who can be mistaken for a Hungarian princess. Her Cockney accent gives way to a crystal clear soprano and her second-act rendition of "Without You" strikes the perfect balance between hurt, vulnerability and defiance.

The role of Professor Henry Higgins is a less rewarding one, but Michael D. Xavier gives it everything he has, bringing comedic chops to songs like "A Hymn to Him" and showing off rich vocals on "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face". Sadly, Higgins' pompous, narcissistic character is one that is hard to like. He goes from bullying and demeaning Eliza to ignoring her and then to throwing a tantrum when she leaves. There's little to indicate a burgeoning romance, and no space for the pair to develop chemistry. The amount of insults Higgins levies at her is astounding and by his final song, something which is akin to a confession of love, he's still referring to her as "baggage" and hurling vitriol in her direction.

It's this sort of attitude towards Eliza that makes My Fair Lady a slightly uncomfortable watch in 2023. Sexism and contempt towards the lower classes infuses the entire story, while references to violence against Eliza from both Higgins and Eliza's father pop up repeatedly and are played for humour.

Sher could have taken the chance to use the material to interrogate issues of privilege, gatekeeping of opportunities, and gender and class power imbalances, but this never really happens. The final scene is tweaked somewhat to give us a more modern - though somewhat ambiguous - ending, but aside from the final minute, this is a by-the-numbers revival that misses the opportunity to do something daring.

Fortunately there remains a lot to enjoy in this production, with shining performances not just from the leads but also the supporting cast. Lesley Garrett gives us several laughs as Higgins' housekeeper Mrs Pearce, not least when she has to help Eliza bathe for the first time, and Tom Liggins is utterly charming as the starry-eyed Freddy Eynsford-Hill who becomes besotted with Eliza after meeting her at Ascot. Heather Jackson has only a few lines as Mrs Higgins but she makes the most of each one, and Adam Woodyatt is good fun as Alfred P. Doolittle.

The production looks impressive too, with sumptuous costumes from Catherine Zuber and gorgeous lighting from Donald Holder, though Michael Yeargen's sets veer from oddly sparse (the ball which consists of only a backdrop and a small staircase) to overly complex (Higgins' revolving, furniture-stuffed house).

Fans of the original movie or musical are likely to appreciate this faithful reproduction, delighting in Alan Jay Lerner's witty lyrics and Frederick Lowe's ageless music, but this revival could have taken more risks.

My Fair Lady at Birmingham Hippodrome until 19 March, then touring

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

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