My Fair Lady. London Coliseum.

Bartlett Sher’s marvel-filled, crowd-pleasing revival adds deft modern touches without losing sight of what makes My Fair Lady a musical masterpiece.

18 May 2022 

I am not a huge fan of the stage musical. Something about the studied banality of so many of the lyrics, and the sickly syrupy sweetness of the typical narrative, stops me from really engaging with them.

So, it might seem strange that so far in 2022, the only two shows to which I have awarded five stars are both of this genre.

But what is it that Rebecca Frecknall’s Cabaret shares with Bartlett Sher’s near-flawless revival of My Fair Lady that makes both shows so recklessly enjoyable and so relevant to post-pandemic Britain?

Partly, it is that there is not a duff tune or a dodgy lyric or in either show, something Andrew Lloyd-Webber might want to reflect on as he reworks Cinderella for Broadway. In the performances I attended, pretty much the entire interval audience for both shows were humming the tunes in the bathroom queues, which is as much the gold standard for a durable piece of musical theatre as any more esoteric marker.

Just as importantly, it is because both shows eschew the saccharine for something much more bittersweet.

In neither work are the central romantic relationships remotely destined to work out. Both are set in nations riven by bitter divides, and in the throes of significant societal and historical change. In each production, directors who have found something to say about current social and sexual preoccupations in works written decades ago, without losing sight of what makes them work so supremely well as theatre.

It is not that Sher’s My Fair Lady remotely lacks lashings of old school Broadway pizzazz. The entire show oozes production values.

Michael Yeargan’s two-story set of Henry Higgins home, which rotates to allow action to move almost effortlessly between different rooms and floors, is a masterful display of the art of set design.

Catherine Zuber’s costumes, from the warm, soft lavender pallet of the Ascot races to the dark and lascivious purpled crimsons of the Alfred Dolittle’s debauched stag night, are jaw-dropping.

Christopher Gattelli’s richly detailed choreography, particularly in the gender fluid working of ‘I’m Getting Married in The Morning’ is so perfectly realised it is sometimes difficult to take it all in.

But although Sher has eschewed the temptation to take liberties with the visual richness of the book, or tinker with the storyline, his casting and direction reveals a distinctly modern vibe.

Amara Okereke’s, show-stopping Eliza is acutely aware of (and deeply conflicted by) the sacrifices required to fit into the overwhelmingly white upper-class with whom she is manipulated to engage.

Harry Haddon-Paton’s Higgins Henry Higgins is a selfish snob, barely matured beyond teenage self-righteousness, and blind to the privileges his sex and race endow him with. Haddon-Patton’s plays him deliciously as a slightly camp version of Prince Charles, channelling an (even) less pleasant version of Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Stephen K Amos cannot sing a note or act to save his life, but he has a comic’s perfect understanding of timing and brings a hard-edged, grit to the role of Eliza’s wayward father.

Vanessa Redgrave fluffs her lines outrageously as Mrs Higgin, but still gets a round of applause just for being her. It is that kind of show and it all works perfectly.

See it.

Amara Okereke Eliza Dolittle

Harry Haddon-Paton Professor Henry Higgin

Vanessa Redgrave Mrs Higgin

Stephen K Amos Alfred P Doolittle

Malcolm Sinclair Colonel Pickering.

Sharif Afifi Freddy Eynsford-Hill

Maureen Beattie Mrs Pearce

Creative

Alan Jay Lerner Book and lyrics

Frederick Loewe Music

Bartlett Sher Director

Ted Sperling Music Direction

Christopher Gattelli Choreography

Michael Yeargan Sets

Catherine Zuber Costumes

Donald Holder Lighting

Marc Salzberg Sound

Tom Watson Hair & Wigs

Duration: 3 hours. One interval.

Full Disclosure: I paid full box-office price for the ticket.