My Fair Lady review – the new revival is as cute as can be

James Brining directs the new staging of Lerner and Loewe’s classic at Leeds Playhouse

Returning from the break after a good first half marked by an outstanding Henry Higgins, a more than unusual Eliza Doolittle and great work from the chorus and orchestra (it must be a boon to have Opera North on your doorstep), we face sleep. housekeepers Then suddenly Higgins and Colonel Pickering burst drunkenly from the ambassador’s ball.

This is the scene that takes My dear lady at Leeds Playhouse on another level. Higgins, so delighted with joy, and even a normally Mr. Pickering (after all, he begins the song, “You did it”) caper and rejoice as Eliza sits sullenly in her chair; in a telling touch, the servants receive a glass of champagne, but no one thinks of Eliza. Her plaintive complaint: “But what will become of me?“, her resume of “Just wait” and, in the next scene, her heartfelt delivery of “show me” reveals that this production without repairs is a My dear lady for the 2020s. And what about the ending? This Eliza cannot return to Higgins, so the final scene shows Higgins at his tape recorder listening to Eliza, then appears in the distance in rags. The perfectly put implication is clear: closing moments are all in the Henry’s mind!

Leeds Playhouse and Opera North have merged their talents before, most recently in A little night music, and this is another resounding success. James Brining of Playhouse brings his stage and year intelligenthard-headed the director’s hand at paraThank you. Opera North features a 50-piece orchestra, dynamically directed by Oliver Rundell, and the choir members to function as the chorus and also take most of the lead parts. All that is required is to add in three guests viathe heads and economic and attractive models from Madeleine Boyd (also a veteran of A little night music).

One of the guests, John Hopkins, as Higgins, instantly attracts the audience with “Why can’t the English?”, his irritation and contempt for lesser mortals—including women except his mother— one step up from the norm. And it’s funny, never more so than when he hastily dresses after Eliza leaves. By the end, his (no doubt temporary) wallow in self-indulgence feels well-earned.

Katie Bird is furious at the beginningexploiting the pathos “It wouldn’t be In love?” and reacting with more real offense and less of those squeals at Higgins’ offensive behavior. After getting embarrassed at Ascot (a witty piece of design with the chorus members’ heads popping out of fancy designs while they remain dressed and hidden like commoners) Bird performance, always bnicely sung, added earnings weight and credibility.

Richard Mosley-Evans’ Doolittle could probably have done with a bit more Welsh guile, but his glorious manner and bReezy attack on his two songs cocatch me with the right joy. Dean Robinson, according to Brining’s take on the show, he refrains from the cartoon as Pickering (except for a telephone conversation with Boofy at the Home Office), he appeared instead as a confirmed bachelor, like Higgins, but an amiable gentleman.

Ahmed Hamad’s Freddy does nice of “On the street where you live” and it is in general silly enough to inspire Higgins mistrustful “Are you marrying Freddy?” and decent enough to make it a real possibility.

Of course, with Opera North on hand, you expect (and get) high standards musically, but there is no lack of acting skills on sight (Helen Evora as Mrs. Pearce and Miranda Bevin as Mrs. Higgins for example) and quite a clever move. You may not get cartwheels and the like, but Brining fills the chorus scenes with cheer and significant action.