Fuck You, Bartlett Sher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                Forgive me, darlings, for starting the week with such an expletive, but I am afraid this morning's report on our seeing "My Fair Lady" over the weekend--at least some of its key components--will be rather grim.

                                 Let's start with Lauren Ambrose.  She can't cut it, vocally or dramatically.  Seated, as David and I were in the front row, looking out, stage right, when Lauren came and took her place, prior to going into "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," I never saw anyone less inhabiting a role than she.  She looked like a frightened deer in the headlights--"Am I doing this right?"--which you would think she would not be after more than 100 performances.  When she went into the song, I was shocked at her inability to project, but, as the show went on, I figured she was saving her voice for her bigger numbers.   And even though I held my breath, wondering if she was going to make it--like the climactic note in "I Could Have Danced All Night--she did, but barely.  During this classic song, she had a look of panic, rather than exhilaration, on her face, and her sound did not unite with the music, because it cut off because she could not sustain it.  My dears, it was a perfect horror!

                                  This is the first "My Fair Lady" I have seen, where the men, Mrs. Pearce, and Mrs. Higgins, are more interesting and engaging, not to mention on a higher acting plane, than Eliza. Without an Eliza, up to this level, what, then, is the point of doing "My Fair Lady?"

                                     Glad you asked.  I will get to that soon.

                                     Henry Hadden-Padon is the surprise of the show, as Professor Henry Higgins.  He actually walks off with the show, by being deeply moving and engaging in a way I have never seen the role performed before, even by Rex Harrison.  His singing shows some musical and vocal training, unlike his femme costar, and I actually teared up, during "I've Grown Accustomed To His Face."  Because of this man's brilliant performance, I actually felt more for Higgins than I did for Eliza.

                                       Allan Corduner does standard work as Colonel Pickering, which is not to damn him, but to praise him.  Warm, engaging, with just the right amount of ambiguity to make us wonder which side of the fence he strides--if not both--he is so delightful, during the few moments they are allowed to be alone on the stage, these two breathe some life into the show.  But then in comes Eliza, and all life goes out.

                                         Even Linda Mugleston comes off as the best Mrs. Pearce, a part that often goes quietly unnoticed, presence though she be.  She mopped the floor with Lauren Ambrose, and I would have been glad if she had stepped on her, like the squashed cabbage leaf Higgins first claims her to be.

                                         How difficult can playing Mrs. Higgins be?  Hit your mark, and say those lines.  But when there is someone as special as Dame Diana Rigg, all bets are off!  Her timing and comic mastery are put to good use here.  My favorite moment was after Ascot, when she tells her son, "Henry, she (Eliza) is ready for a canal barge!"  I cheered!  At that moment, I wanted them to put Lauren Ambrose on such a barge, and float her on the Hudson, and away from the Broadway musical theater, where she decidedly does NOT belong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Norbert Leo Butz seems almost the inevitable choice for Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle.  What he lacks in accent he makes up for in bluster, projection to make one proud, and show what a true actor he is, and an adeptness at dance I was not aware he had.  His two ensemble numbers, "With A Little Bit Of Luck," and "Get Me To The Church On Time," stopped the show, more than any of Eliza's solo numbers.

                                             The only other time I teared up was when the heaven sent Jordan Donica , as Freddy Eynsford-Hill delivers the romantic "On The Street Where You Love."  You can hear the difference between his voice and Ambrose's, as each goes into "Show Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                                The sets and costumes pass muster, though Eliza's ball dress looks too garish for the tastes of an Embassy Ball.  And since when did "My Fair Lady" have drag hookers?  And why??????????????

                                                  If I have not plainly and distinctly placed the blames on Bartlett Sher, for inexplicable reasons in championing an actress unsuitable for this lead role, and said actress, who clearly recognizes and shows her panic and knowing her lack of suitability, but still performing anyway, then I have not spoken fervently enough.  What Sher is doing with Ambrose is cruel, forcing her to do something she is not fit for, and let me tell you, it does not fool audiences at all,  The biggest applause during the show came when the orchestra began the Overture, and when Hadden-Paton took his bow, as Higgins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                But wait!  There is more!  As if all I have described is not enough of an insult to musical theater, and those who love this show, Sher saves the best for last.

                                                 He changes the ending, thus making all having gone before moot.

                                                 The final scene is performed word for word, as is.  Higgins is alone, listening to one of Eliza's cylinders.  She comes in, softly turns it off, then says "I wash me face and 'ands before I come, I did."  He then says, "Eliza, where the devil are my sleepers."  The orchestra strikes up the final cords, and Eliza walks slowly toward Higgins.  I thought the show would end in a clenched embrace, which would have been romantic and lovely.  But no, she approaches him, slowly caresses her hand down his cheek, then turns, and with a bitch look akin to Nora at the end of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," exits the stage, and Higgins' life, with Hadden-Paton looking as astonished as the audience.

                                                  What kind of shit is this?  You know, fuck Harvey Wieinstein, Rose McGowan, and the #MeToo movement, who are all responsible for this.  I did not see this coming, and there is a better way the show could have ended differently, without disregard for the feelings of Higgins, Eliza, or the audience.

                                                  After the "slippers" line, Eliza could have bent over, picked them up, and held them out to him, then have him walk to her, in order to get him.  This would empower her, but still preserve the romance of the piece.  Bartlett Sher has torn the romance from the piece's heart, and that of its audience.

                                                    Lauren Ambrose certainly cannot be blamed for this.  This was all on Bartlett.  He could end up on the Isle Of Lost Directors, with Diane Paulus and Julie Taymor.  I see them making a place for him now.

                                                     Save your pennies, girls!  Do not see THIS "My Fair Lady!"  Listen to the Original Cast Album, instead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                       A final word to Miss Ambrose.  Lauren, dear, I know that you know of your unsuitability, your lack of comfort in the role.  It shows from first moment to last.

                                                      So, why don't you have the grace, as Madeline Kahn did, with "On The Twentieth Century," forty years ago, to gracefully exit the production?????????????

                                                      But no, you are too busy trying to prove something to yourself that is only a lie, and which audiences pick up on, instantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                        Get with the program, Lauren, and get off the musical stage!!!!!!!!!!!!!