Thursday 13 February 2014

My Fair Lady: The music still shines after all these years


It is a challenge presenting an old musical to younger audience, be it the music, the storyline, the dialogue, and in the case of My Fair Lady, the cockney accent.  Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady follows the relationship between Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, and the snobbish and misogynistic Professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, who wagers that he can turn Eliza into a “proper lady’ in a short period.

The pace of the show was initially slow and the actors seemed to be struggling with the cockney accent.  It got better once Eliza master the English accent ("The Rain in Spain", and the production went onto a higher gear.

The highlight of the musical must be the music, and those who are familiar with the movie would be assured that the hit songs were there: "With a little bit of luck", "I could have danced all night", "Get me to the church on time".     Daniel Cardenes as Freddy Eynsford-Hill delivered one of the best songs of the musical "On the street where you live".

The cast gave a good performance, including Aurora Florence as Eliza Doolittle, Chris Carsten as Henry Higgins, Ricard Springle as Colonel Pickering, Arthur Wise as Alfred P. Doolittle, and Daniel Cardenes as Freddy Eynsford-Hill. 

The set design was generally beautiful.  On the opening night at the Mastercard Theatres of the Marina Bay Sands, there were some minor technical glitches though.

Overall, this is an enjoyable performance from the cast and production team.  It would please the more mature audience.






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