'I wantta be a loy-dee in a flower shop, and speak all genteel." Thus Eliza Doolittle announces her ambition to Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. And Higgins is just the man to help her, with his house full of phonographs, and machines that indicate correct vowel pronunciation by throwing great jets of gaslight into the air.
To create My Fair Lady, Lerner and Loewe bolted a first-class libretto and a quality score on to Shaw's Pygmalion. Neither show nor subsequent film has ever sunk far from view, with Trevor Nunn being the latest British director to stage a revival. His production opened at the National Theatre in 2001, then transferred to Drury Lane. Now it's touring, and is currently to be seen at Milton Keynes Theatre.
My Fair Lady has always been a visual spectacle, too. If you saw this production in London, you'll notice some slight modifications, but there are no significant changes. Very much present are Anthony Ward's superb set and costume designs, with the sets featuring soaring arches reminiscent of Covent Garden's Floral Hall. And the show still includes Matthew Bourne's inventive choreography his setting of With a Little Bit of Luck, with its accompaniment of Covent Garden market workers banging dustbin lids and saucepans, is highly entertaining, as, in telling contrast, is the grandly impressive Ascot Gavotte. Both are immaculately performed as are all the other company routines.
"I'll make a duchess out of this zizzie-tailed guttersnipe," announces Higgins. Christopher Cazenove doesn't dwell too much on the real emotions, and sexual tensions, that beat beneath Higgins's immaculately tailored waistcoat, but instead portrays him as an amiable sort of fellow, who only loses his temper when sorely tried. Always there to see fair play is his friend Colonel Hugh Pickering, who comes over as a friendly pillar of moral rectitude, in a delightfully understated performance from the excellent Stephen Moore. In support, Honor Blackman supplies a suitably regal Mrs Higgins, and Gareth Hale (of comedy duo Hale and Pace fame) is a robust and boozy Alfred P.Doolittle.
As Eliza herself, Amy Nuttall enjoys mixed fortunes. She is vibrant as the untrained guttersnipe, leaping about like a young, wild, cat, her words almost unintelligible. But once Higgins gives Eliza a posh accent, her singing voice seems strained for instance, I Could Have Danced All Night lacks its proper, flowing sound. A disappointment this, but overall Trevor Nunn directs with a light, respectful touch, to provide a properly lavish and tuneful account of this classic musical.
My Fair Lady continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday, July 1. Tickets: 0870 060 6652.
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