"My Fair Lady" is one of those musicals that demands a natural British wit, and Lerner & Loewe's production at the Opera House brings a snappily English flavor. The two leads, Eliza Doolittle (played by Lisa O'Hare) and Professor Henry Higgins (Christopher Cazenove), hail directly from the West End, and the rest of the cast, Broadway regulars, can fake a mean Cockney on their own.
The show is a polished rendition of the musical that once starred Julie Andrews and immortalized the deeply poetic "the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain." Although this version has likely been rehearsed to oblivion and runs a bit on the longer side, the delivery is crisp, fresh and funny.
"My Fair Lady," the tale of the plain-speaking flower seller Eliza Doolittle and the haughty Professor Higgins who turns her into a "lady," first opened in New York in 1956. Before Richard Gere and Julia Roberts did their own take in "Pretty Woman," the story was borrowed from George Bernard Shaw's famous play "Pygmalion."
The show is a light-hearted jab at turn-of-the-century English society, from Eliza's "cold-blooded murder of the English tongue" to Higgins' snooty self-assuredness. It is filled with famous tunes like "Get Me to the Church on Time" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." While "My Fair Lady" isn't a particularly profound social analysis or a new interpretation, it's a terrific ensemble performance. The dancing is snappy, the lighting and sets are superb and the story is comfortably familiar.
As the fair lady herself, O'Hare has a bright, classic soprano voice with a solid vibrato and ironically clear diction in all accents, as so much of her role rests on speaking "badly." As the uncultured Eliza in the first act, O'Hare overdoes it a bit, though she ultimately finds her comfort zone. However, once she's been re-educated into a lady, she can still revert back to her old simplicity as needed. Her "I Could Have Danced All Night" is a classic rendition that doesn't exaggerate.
Professor Higgins (Cazenove) - the expert linguist and perpetual bachelor who, aided by his friend Colonel Hugh Pickering (Walter Charles), takes Eliza under his wing - is an interesting character. He is at once a bitter older man and a mama's boy. The role doesn't call for much singing ability, but rather a penchant for recitative and meticulousness in just about everything. Cazanove is a believable, humorous Higgins - his banter with Eliza, and his annoyance, seem authentic. But it would have been nice to see Cazenove reveal just a bit more humanity, a bit more emotion throughout the smaller details and not just in the final confrontation with his young protégé.
Among the supporting roles, Justin Bohon's Freddy was perhaps the freshest performance and the most enjoyable to watch. As Eliza's na've admirer, Bohon's rendition of the quaint "On The Street Where You Live" and his drunken antics in the name of love are among the best moments of the entire show. Tim Jerome, as Alfred P. Doolittle, the good-for-nothing father of Eliza, is a master at comic relief. His scenes are well-timed and as the center of most of the rhythmic ensemble numbers of the show he does a fine dancing job, too.
"My Fair Lady" has been recreated so many times because it is so undeniably charming, witty and good-natured. The period costumes are lovely and make the performance entirely believable. The show is easy to like, won't embarrass you in front of your date (or parents) and doesn't overextend. "My Fair Lady" does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, and this show, in the complimentary words of Professor Higgins himself, is "not bad. Not bad at all."
