Whatever age you are, you're almost sure to have heard at least one of the songs from My Fair Lady.
Lerner and Loewe's world-famous musical touches down in Manchester this week. Featuring that iconic score by Frederick Loewe, the story debuted as a stage musical in the 1950s, before being made into a 1964 film starring Audrey Hepburn.
The narrative centres on young Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle and linguistics professor Henry Higgins, who sets himself the challenge of transforming Eliza into a 'proper young lady'. Directed by Bartlett Sher of the King and I and To Kill a Mockingbird fame, the action is seamless and acting superb.
The ingenious revolving set, switching from Professor Higgins' beautiful wood- panelled study to the bawdy tavern and streets, then the ballroom, is wonderfully atmospheric, transporting you instantly to Edwardian London.
Charlotte Kennedy as Eliza is just the right mix of tough and vulnerable and is both comical and endearing. Her singing voice is excellent too, not to mention her vocal stamina, which sees her segue effortlessly from breathless chatter to those super high notes.
There is a palpable chemistry between her and Henry Higgins, played with a delightful Basil Fawlty-esque playfulness and sarcasm by Michael D. Xavier. The camaraderie between the Professor and his bachelor pal Colonel Pickering, played with a quintessentially English eccentricity by John Middleton, is fun to watch too.
Then there is the suitably no-nonsense housekeeper with a rather superior ability to carry a tune, played by the famous soprano Lesley Garrett. The role of Eliza's father, dustman Alfred P. Doolittle, fits Adam Woodyatt, unsurprisingly, like a glove, as the Cockney geezer cannily uses his daughter's new relationship as as a vehicle to get rich.
With such a well-known and well-loved score performed with such aplomb by both cast and orchestra, it's hard to pick favourites. But Kennedy's joyous performance of 'I Could Have Danced All Night' and Alfred and his boys' raucous Get Me To The Church On Time, accompanied by thigh flashing dancing girls - and boys, were especially good.
Top hats and tails, tiaras, luxe ballgowns and cloaks and some deliciously OTT ladies outfits in the Ascot scene made for a visual spectacle and a half. The production was perhaps just that bit too long but, judging from the standing ovation at the end, no-one seemed to mind.
Rags to riches stories are as old as time but rarely fail to entertain and with costumes as lavish as this one, great acting and singing and a magical set, this one enthrals and uplifts.
Read more:
