[NEohioPAL] Berko review: MY FAIR LADY @ Beck

[Roy Berko]

Audience pleasing 'MY FAIR LADY' at Beck

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview 
Times

--COOLCLEVELAND.COM-

The musical MY FAIR LADY, which is now on stage at Beck, is based rather 
literally on George Bernard Shaw's PYGMALION.  Though it is considered by many 
critics to be the “perfect musical,” it almost never got to the stage.  At 
first, Shaw refused permission for his play to be made into a musical fearing 
that his messages relating to his disdain of the English class system, the poor 
educational opportunities afforded the lower classes, the treatment of women by 
men, and his strong belief in voting rights for women, would get lost in the 
tendencies of the musicals of his day to be purely entertainment.  

After Shaw's death, many attempts were made to transform the play into a 
musical, with little success.  Even Rogers and Hammerstein failed.  Finally, a 
script written by Alan Jay Lerner, with music by Frederick Loewe, was 
successful.  The duo's key centered on basically inserting songs into the 
original dialogue, even using the dialogue as song lyrics.

The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who is cajoled into 
taking speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so she can 
pass as a “proper lady.”  Complications, of course set in, including Higgins' 
falling in love/like with Eliza, her father's flirtation with being sober and 
becoming a “gentleman,” and her successful transformation.

The story follows the format of Lerner and Loewe's general theme of the perfect 
place, time, and love story.  Think BRIGADOON and CAMELOT.

The Broadway production, staged by Moss Hart, opened on March 15 1956 with Rex 
Harrison as Henry Higgins, Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Stanley Holloway 
as Alfred P. Doolittle. The show ran for 2,717 performances making it the 
longest running musical up to that time.  It has received several Big Apple 
revivals.   The show won every major theatrical award including The New York 
Drama Critics Circle Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award, and Tony Award for 
best musical.

The 1964 hit movie, which was directed by George Cukor, starred Rex Harrison and 
Audrey Hepburn (vocals dubbed by Marni Nixon), with Stanley Holloway reviving 
his role as Doolittle. 

The show's glorious score includes:  “Why Can't the English,” “With a Little Bit 
of Luck,” “Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Without You,” and 
“I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”

Beck's production, under the direction of Paul Gurgol, is pleasant, but not 
compelling.  The entire production needed a faster pace and some song and 
characterization adjustments.  The show, however,  has many fine features.  

George Roth is a total delight as Alfred P. Doolittle.  He is a charming rogue 
with a twinkle in his eye and a bit of larceny in his soul.  “Get Me to the 
Church on Time” is one of the show's visual highlights.  Dana Hart makes for a 
believable Colonel Pickering, Higgins' sidekick with a heart.  He nicely 
textured his performance. Valerie Reaper makes the difficult transition from 
being Liza, the uneducated flower girl, to Eliza, the lady, with believability.  
She has an excellent singing voice, which was well displayed in “Just You Wait” 
and “Wouldn't It Be Loverly.”  The chorus, though limited in numbers, sang well, 
but didn't have the people power to fill the theatre.  Hester Lewellen was an 
appealing Mrs. Pearce.  The Cockney Quartet had a nice sound.

Benjamin Czarnota (Freddy Eynsford-Hill) has a wonderful singing voice, but 
sings words rather than meanings, thus losing the impact of “Street Where You 
Live.”  Bob Russell's take on Henry Higgins is somewhat problematic.  Higgins 
must be egocentric, but must also have a vulnerable underbelly.  Russell 
displayed the former, but when it came to the latter, he fell to melodrama.  The 
back of a hand to the forehead, much like those used in silent films, was used 
to feign vulnerability.   He also missed some of the charm needed to make us 
have a love/hate relationship with him as he dealt with Eliza.  His 
talk-singing, ala Rex Harrison, was quite good.

As has become his custom, Larry Goodpaster, assembled an excellent group of 
musicians and backed up rather than drowning out the singers.  A faster musical 
rate might have helped the languid pace of the show.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  As evidenced by the Sunday afternoon assemblage, Beck's MY 
FAIR LADY is a potential audience pleaser.  Hopefully the languid pace and some 
characterization issues will be settled as the show goes through its run.

Beck's production runs through October 17.  For ticket information call 
216-521-2540.   
Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 
2010, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at 
http://royberko.info
His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to 
subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)