My Fair Lady is one of my all time top 5 films. Audrey Hepburn is one of my all time top five actresses.
English language is one of the top five passions of my life.
The current production of My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum was always going to be second best at the very best.
It is a perfectly ‘loverly’ and heart-warming, if not ground-breaking show.
Amara Okereke soars in her rendition of I Could Have Danced All Night, and delivers beautiful dulcet tones in all her other songs. For a devoted Downton Abbey fan, Lady Edith’s husband as Professor Higgins is a special treat.
The racing day costumes are divine.
Colonel Pickering is a darling old dear.
The orchestra is powerful and exhilarating.
But.
The demands of the largest London theatre auditorium might be a tad too much for Eliza’s dad’s vocal abilities. He also mumbles his lines, never a good thing to do on stage, but especially ironic in a play about language and the art of enunciation.
The Higgins house decor could have been made to look a little bit fresher.
The 2022 production could have made a bit more of an effort to update the content for present day audiences, to wink at them a little, but instead it is a faithful replica of the 1964 film, bar the very slight, not entirely convincing, deviation from the final scene.
Three stars from me.
Ania Heasley 