|
Lerner and Loewe's musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's
Pygmalion is one of their finest works. Packed with bright tunes
and witty lyrics, My Fair Lady tells the tale of language
professor, Henry Higgins and his efforts to pass off a grubby,
cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a lady - with the aid of
a few elocution lessons, of course. Higgins succeeds but soon
discovers that his methods have also stimulated other parts of her
character and, while others around him are happy to accept the new
Eliza, he continues to regard her as a flower girl and this almost
leads to his downfall.
Joan Aitcheson gave a flawless performance as Eliza and was
convincing as both the ugly duckling cockney and the refined swan.
Peter Weston was superb as the bombastic Higgins - especially
during his rendition of 'An Ordinary Man'. The two leads had the
luxury of an excellent supporting cast led by John Chesters as a
brilliant Alfred Doolittle, Tony Berwick (Tony Berwick in a
musical??) as Colonel Pickering and Peter Taylor as Higgin's slimy
ex-pupil, Zoltan Karpathy.
Directed by Rosie Withers, this was an exceptional production
borne out by the fact that, even though the curtain didn't come
down until 10.50 p.m., the audience was captivated throughout. The
costumes were beautiful and the dances energetic but, judging by
the smiles on the faces of the chorus, enjoyable. However, I have
to say that much of the success of this show was down the stage
crew for the incredibly swift, but silent, changes of an elaborate
set - well done, indeed.
I was delighted to see the "House Full" sign at the Lowther
Pavilion. There is nothing more discouraging to a society than
playing to empty seats. However, if other societies match the
standard set here by St Anne's, I foresee the "House Full" sign
being a regular occurrence in the future. And as Mr Lerner so
aptly commented, "Wouldn't it be loverly?"
(Tommy Warburton)
+
|