My Fair Lady review β an abso-bloominβ-lutely loverly musical
Leeds Playhouse
Opera North brings shimmering music to this gorgeous and crisply choreographed co-production, which preserves Shawβs critique of the British class system
Some have called it βthe perfect musicalβ. An exaggeration? Not if success is the measure. My Fair Lady ran for a record-breaking 2,717 performances following its Broadway opening in March 1956; has been given an unprecedented number of stagings around the world; and, translated to the screen in 1964, became an Oscar- and Bafta-winning hit. Its seemingly universal appeal is partly explained by the beautifully balanced combination of Frederick Loeweβs melodies (including I Could Have Danced All Night and Get Me to the Church on Time) with Alan Jay Lernerβs vivid storyline, adapted from George Bernard Shawβs Pygmalion β the 1913 play and its 1938 Oscar-winning film version (adapted by Shaw and others).
In this new co-production between Leeds Playhouse and Opera North, the story of Eliza, the βlowlyβ flower-seller who is tutored in βcorrectβ English by celebrated linguist Henry Higgins until she is able to pass as a princess at an embassy ball, is as witty, magical and βloverlyβ as any audiences could wish and promises to be as popular as its predecessors.
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