When it closed in 1962, My Fair Lady set the record for the longest running Broadway production in history. Its soundtrack album was the best selling record of 1956—of any kind. Sure Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews helped, not to mention the show’s director, Moss Hart. But is it too bold to suggest that its success had a lot to do with the words that tumbled off the Mark Hellinger Theatre stage into the charmed and receptive ears of its audience? Could it resist the charm and erudition of Professor Henry Higgins:
“Let the others of my sex
Tie the knot around their necks.
I’d prefer a new edition
Of the Spanish Inquisition
Than to ever let a woman in my life.”
While Alan Jay Lerner’s book and lyrics hearkened back to a time when wit ruled The Great White Way, he had help from George Bernard Shaw, who set the bar high in Pygmalion, the popular play that supplied the story (and many of the best lines). You only have to hear a scene or two to know you’re in the presence of “one of the best musicals of the century,” as Brooks Atkinson put it.
The many delights of My Fair Lady are on prominent display in Skylight Theatre’s production, which opened this weekend at the Broadway Theater Center. While much has been made of the show’s costumes—designed by former Project Runway star Chris March—the charms of this production go far beyond the hats and hemlines.
Not that March’s designs aren’t dazzling. In his hands, the Ascot race scene, which won costumer Cecil Beaton an Oscar and a Tony for his work in the original film and play, becomes a giddy symphony of outrageous (and beautiful) hats and silhouettes. But the real spark in this show is its performances, guided by the sure hand of veteran director Dorothy Danner.
The key to this show is a proper blend of fizz and gravitas—there are plenty of dazzling verbal and musical fireworks (the sure music direction is by Shari Rhoads), but there’s something genuine and human beneath the surface. In the hands of Norman Moses and Natalie Ford, Lerner’s language is alive and kicking. Henry Higgins isn’t exactly the cuddly type to win a Ms. Magazine Man of the Year, but Moses somehow lets us see the affection behind all the confirmed-bachelor blather. So the show’s “anticlimactic” finale—“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”—lands with grace and tenderness. Higgins isn’t the only one who is sad to see Eliza go. Ford is a captivating presence onstage. Her voice is strong and supple, and she’s sensitive to Eliza’s emotional ups and downs, which is a key element of the story. Watch her standing quietly in the corner of Higgins study—wrapped in one of March’s most beautiful creations—while Higgins and Colonel Pickering (the engaging Rick Richter)—celebrate her success at the ball. You can see the complex emotions—resentment, confusion, heartache—roiling beneath the placid, elegant surface.
Supporting roles are strong, as well. As Eliza’s father, Alfred, Joel Kopischke gives a Santa-like exuberance to the two show-stopping dance-music numbers (the joyous choreography is by Pam Kriger). As Higgins’ mother, Diane Lane puts the class (and some dry humor) into the British upper class. And Tom Mulder is appropriately bedazzled and clueless as Freddy—a quality that perfectly matches his soaring Neldon Eddy tenor.
With Danner at the helm, it’s hard to think of a moment when the show flagged in either momentum or spirit. With several locations, it’s not an easy show to stage (the solid scene design is by Stephen Hudson-Mairet). But in Danner’s hands, the story spins from Covent Garden to Ascot to the tonier parts of London without a hitch. They don’t write Broadway musicals like they used to. But thanks to the Skylight, we can still enjoy one of the best of them in all its glory.
