We were fortunate to see the touring version of My Fair Lady last night. It was one of the finest touring productions I can recall, and we see a reasonable number of them. Highly recommended if it comes near. (Starts tomorrow in Nashville, then East Lansing, Minneapolis, Columbus, OH, Des Moines, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Cleveland, Durham, Orlando, Tampa, LA, San Diego, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco coming.)
A young actress named Shereen Ahmed played Eliza, Laird Mackintosh played Higgins. Leslie Alexander was wonderful as Mrs. Higgins.
Of course, I have seen the movie quite a few times. I always enjoyed the music, most of the story. Ms. Ahmed was a worthy successor to Julie Andrews, while bearing a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn, from the movie version (hat tip to belinda ridgewood for quite correctly pointing out that Julie Andrews was actually her on stage predecessor) with a fine voice and spirit.
The surprising thing about the production was the visceral reaction it inspired because of Professor Higgins’s misogyny. Of course, Rex Harrison’s Higgins was similarly chauvinistic in his portrayal. But something has changed.
More below.
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Obviously, My Fair Lady is from a different time, a different culture. That notwithstanding, the behavior that seemed palatable before no longer does. It was just far harder to stomach seeing how she was treated. In a late argument in the show, Eliza sings the praises of Colonel Pickering, who treated her more like a lady than Higgins did. But even Pickering had no appreciation for the role Eliza played in the successful experiment. She got no credit from either man, despite her hard work, suffering and sacrifice. When it came down to it, she got no credit from either one, and her evolution went far beyond the linguistic.
Mrs. Higgins understood. It’s a puzzle how an intelligent, strong woman like that raised so insensitive and callous a son. (Yes, I do know it is fiction!)
I’m going to go out on a limb here. I think, as our society evolves, the viability of even a great classic like My Fair Lady will subside. And productions of it will dwindle and diminish, until eventually it may have such a stigma that it won’t be performed any more, any more than blackface productions are now. Eliza is magical, and the music wonderful. But the mistreatment of a such a wonderful human being will become too hard to watch.
As the setting for MFL was a different time, a different place, a different culture, just so will the culture we have now (where prominent individuals may boast of grabbing women by the pu$$y) be superseded. May that time come very soon, indeed. Bravo, Eliza. And bravo to every female as unique.
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From Denise Oliver Velez:
This comment from TulsaGal detailing her family's Afro-Indigenous heritage, was posted to my Black History Month Afro-Indigenous post today, early AM, and not on Sunday. I wanted more people to see it.
From Maudlin:
Hi, I'd like to submit this comment by Peter Martinez, from nancyjones’ Morning Joe goes to Iowa to diss Warren and Sanders - The crowd frowns.
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