Colourful, lively and fun

MY FAIR LADY. A classic musical. Music Frederick Loewe. Lyrics Alan Jay Lerner. Direction/Choreography Kyla Thorburn. Assistant Director Roche Haupt Buckle. Costumes/Sets Dicky Longhurst. Sound Liam Cookson. Lighting Fahiem Bardien. Alastair Cockburn Musical Director and Conductor of Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. Presented by G&S. Artscape Opera until August 7. SHEILA CHISHOLM reviews

IF YOU haven’t yet booked for this splendid My Fair Lady production, hurry you might be too late. As expected this popular tale about Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle schooled from guttersnipe into beautiful princess by domineering phonetics expert Professor HenryHiggins, is colourful, lively and fun. As well as superbly costumed in Dicky Longhurst’s designs - styled along, but not duplicating, Cecil Beaton’s originals. Apart from Longhurst’s beautiful black/white Ascot chapeau and gowns, grey morning suits and top hats for men, Longhurst’s Embassy Ball creations - in sparkling black/white/gold sprinkled with red - transported one into the lifestyle only led by wealthy aristocrats.

A sharp contrast from Covent Garden’s flower sellers drab petticoated ankle-length skirts, fingerless mitts, shawls,scraggly hair under mop caps. And barrow men’s shabby trousers, grubby shirts, sleeveless cardigans and soft caps.

Longhurst’s grandiose sets take us into the heart of London’s Covent Garden; a typical English gentleman’s library cum study; 27a Wimpole Street - the street where Eliza lives and Freddy Eynsford-Hill haunts hoping to catch a glimpse of her. A massive chandelier hanging between red velvet drapes dominations the multi-level ballroom. Lighting expert Fahiem Bardien’s intelligent lighting plan set the right environment to each scene.

A question. Why, when violets are synonymous with Eliza, was the front curtain rows of red roses and a three dimensional feathered woman worked into a dahlia? This incongruity detracted from immediately establishing Eliza’s violet theme - a colour Longhurst also wove into costumes.

Experienced in handling large numbers, director and choreographer Kyla Thorburn again proves her metal. Quirky choreography involves polkas, pas de basques, galops, stamps, kicked developpes and spins. At the ball, heads poised, backs straight, dancing couples gracefully waltz around. In crowd scenes Thorburn gives each person specific action at specific moments, which on Sunday afternoon led to a lack of spontaneity, but was not at all evident at Tuesday’s effervescent performance.

From Thorburn’s large cast (65), look out for ragamuffin children playing hopscotch, as well as newspaper lad Bradley Borcher 14. There’s a dancing team, and everyone plays multiple roles. These range from flower sellers, rough and ready barrow men, well trained servants, elegant Ascot punters - pity AscOt became pronounced AscAt - bejewelled ladies and gallant escorts at the Embassy Ball. Thorburn insists manners are of 1912. That’s the period when Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion. The play on which Alan Jay Lerner based his lyrics for which Frederick Loewe composed music. Taking on the role of acerbic Henry Higgins is Trevor Joubert opposite Linda Pledger Eedes’s Eliza. Nick Plummer is opposite Jennifer Human’s Eliza. As a character Higgins is more difficult to play than any other. This stems from Rex Harrison’s unforgettable performances in the 1956 Broadway show and 1964 film. He set the yardstick for future Higgins actors.

Congratulations to Joubert and Plummer for successfully stamping out their own interpretations which give Higgins a fresh look.

Joubert held onto his belief that too many people ‘cold bloodedly murdered the English tongue’. As one of them, he’s determined Eliza learns to speak the language of poets. When, after tortuous tuition, Eliza manages The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain he triumphantly declares ‘She’s Got It’. However Joubert’s constant use of his right arm, and overly loud delivery rather detracted from his “cool” Englishness. Eedes, gifted with triple threat techniques, used these to best advantage to gradually grow from scruffy uneducated 21 year-old Cockney flower girl into stunning young woman. Diction perfect Eedes’s lovely clear soprano came to the fore in Just You Wait and I Could Have Danced All Night. Her clangers at the races brought the house down.

Plummer married his tough exterior with unexpected depth, warmth, and boyish charm. With his faultless diction, good singing voice, intuitive gestures, a commanding stage presence, Plummer turned in a stellar performance.

Human brought to Eliza, youth, freshness, a charming soprano and excellent acting skills. The chemistry between these two protagonists lifted their performance into a class of its own, well deserving their standing ovation.

Acting as Eliza’s protector, Pickering should be seen as a foil to Higgins’s acridity, and whose politeness differs from the brashness of Eliza’s dustman father Alfred P Doolittle (Graham Boxall). By shouting, rather than employing modulated tones, Harris’s characterisation lost an important kindly quality.

Loewe and Lerner could have had Boxall in mind as Doolittle. So snugly did he fit into Doolittle’s rough diamond character. With drinking mates Harry (Marius Steyn) and Jamie (Bruce Clayton) they gave resounding renditions of With a Little Bit of Luck, Get Me to the Church on Time

Freddy is a small but essential part. To this role Barend van der Westhuizen’s vigour behind his beautiful tenor made it a shame he sang so little. As Mrs Higgins, Veronica Suckling’s superb punch line timing and refined carriage epitomised graciousness. In her part as housekeeper Mrs Pearce, Fiona Carling drew that fine line between subservience and concern for Eliza’s welfare.

My Fair Lady is musical director Alastair Cockburn’s 36th G&S production. As choir master and conductor of the top-form Cape Philharmonic, Cockburn has done a grand job. His insistence that diction is clear was rewarded by many top-rate performances from principals and chorus alike. Bravo.

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