“Les Blancs” at the National Theatre: Am I Supposed to Feel This Horrible?by Randi / April 18, 2016
Describing a Broadway experience as religious tends to sound like the hyper frenzied talk of an exuberant drama student, all exaggeration for effect. Unless you mean an experience just literally on Broadway and you were at the Scientology center right across from the Richard Rodgers. No but still, as much as I love theatre I don’t usually confuse it with a message from jeebus. Yet the most repeated comment coming out of the Bernard Jacobs theatre is exactly that, that seeing ‘The Color Purple’ is an extremely religious experience and you will feel the presence of the divine and BELIEVE and TRUST and REPENT (isn’t that usually part of it). I don’t know if I can say all that or believe it but you know what what the hell I can, it’s true. JFC it’s true.
Even though it seemed too soon for a revival – I saw the original run twice as a legal adult, so like, that’s not that long ago right? right? also this isn’t Gypsy ffs – every doubter who has been given the gift of sight (of this show) has admitted they were wrong. This new production improves upon what was already a solid show with more workable, efficient direction that results in a more scaled-down amalgam to consider. It’s a transport from the London production at the Menier Chocolate Factory from a few years ago, so it’s really “The Colour Purple”. And even though the original won a Tony for the great LaChanze AND even had the incredible Fantasia as a fantastic replacement (and costarred Renee Elise Goldsberry and Brandon Victor Dixon before I knew who they were), this new cast brings everything to a new level, somehow, probably because of god or something but maybe it’s magic. Two of the best singers on the planet are starring in this, one you all know very well and one people should know but are only just learning about, except me because we’re buds because last year she ate my baked goods and liked them so that means we’re friends. Jennifer Hudson, Grammy & Oscar winning singer, is featured as Shug Avery, the famous singer and badass woman. And Cynthia Erivo, in a beyond incredible Broadway debut, plays Celie, is Celie really.
If you never saw the movie (Whoopi and Oprah? Go watch it! Also Gayle King is in it, uncredited. Opes never did anything without her), it’s about a tortured abused little girl who continues to have it pretty shitty as an adult until lesbianism saves her. I mean I joke but it is roughly that if you think about it. In more detail, it’s the entire epic story of a girl named Celie, her life from when we meet her at 14-years-old until decades later, from as bad as it gets to, well, better, and with cooler pants.
At the start, Celie is pregnant with her second child (at 14) by her rapist abusive father. When she gives birth, her father takes the baby away as he did the last one, Celie praying that they find good homes but the audience (and other characters) assuming that he kills them because he’s pretty much the worst person imaginable. Celie loves her younger sister Nettie (a great Joaquina Kalukango, which is a sick name with lots of k sounds) and they play together because they are children and they pray and they sing, which is the nice part for us because damn, their voices are beautiful. Somehow, Erivo really convinces you that she’s a young kid at the start, as does Joaquina. They’re adorable and you buy their sisterly bond. It’s pretty spectacular how Erivo grows over the course of 2 ½ hours, how her demeanor changes and most impressively her voice. Then, the evil man we know only as Mister comes by requesting to marry Nettie. Mister is played by Isaiah Johnson as incredibly hateful and evil for most of the show but then we really buy his remorse and atonement at the end somehow. He was very good. I ran into him a few blocks from the theatre after I saw it and was like “oh my god I just saw your show!” and he was like “Cool what did you think!” and I was like “You were a bastard!” I didn’t say that. I forget what I said because then Montego Glover came by and they are friends and I was just standing there like, should I sneak away quietly? Say goodbye and risk her being like who the f are you? Or just awkwardly wait? I did a mix of all three. So the father is like, Nettie is too young and too pretty to give away just yet, take Celie, she’s ugly so I’ll throw in a cow. They comment a lot about how ugly Celie is, which is ridiculous because Cynthia is a goddess but men are filth. So Celie is sent to be a wife and mother to Mister’s children, even though she’s a child, and it’s just a new man to run her life and abuse her horribly. It’s pretty depressing, but there’s some amazing comic relief in the form of the Church Ladies, the gossipy biddies who comment and cluck about all the goings on in the community, and they are ridiculously funny, singing their comments in rounds and just being hilarious.
Soon, Nettie runs away to Celie’s house after their father turns his attention to her, but then Mister, being an equally despicable person, tries to do the same, so Nettie fights him and is banished from the property. Celie writes letters to Nettie but never hears from her so she assumes she’s dead, not the truth that Mister would of course be hiding Nettie’s letters to keep Celie from ever feeling hope or joy again. Mister really was a bastard.
Years pass, and Mister’s son Harpo (Kyle Scatliffe, not Oprah’s production company) grows up and falls in love with Sofia, the best baddest-ass broad in town, played by Danielle Brooks from “Orange is the New Black” in all her hilarious and awesome glory. Not stunt casting; she went to Juilliard. Sofia is strong and doesn’t take any shit from Harpo or anyone, so Celie, poor, weak Celie who is so victimized that she can’t see that her oppression is wrong, is befuddled by her for a while. After Harpo tries to exert his male dominance over Sofia and instead Sofia beats him up, Sofia leaves town, and Shug Avery, the famous jazz singer, comes to town. Even though everything and everyone is at the highest performance grade here, you can’t help but feel the energy level rise when Hudson gets on stage. It’s pretty exciting to have someone of her celebrity on Broadway, and in a role so right for her. Her acting skills, or lack thereof, are pretty notorious, but she worked really hard here and is perfectly cast, doing a great job in all aspects of the role. A very impressive debut for an established celebrity. In fact, she will probably be nominated for a Tony, and if it weren’t for the aforementioned Renee Elise Goldsberry and the fact that Hudson is leaving the show next week, she could very well win, because people are so impressed with how well she did and, of course, so eager to bestow love on her in the form of awards to make her like them as all voters do.
So Shug is the long-time mistress of Mister, and she stays in their house and Celie is just like who is this magical person, totally intrigued and eventually in love. Shug does her part to help Mister stop beating Celie at least while she’s in the house, so that’s nice, but eventually they have their own thing and it’s quite lovely. Hudson and Erivo have wonderful, surprising chemistry, and I don’t know how Heather Headley will do in this aspect of the role when she takes over for Hudson. Shug’s love and support helps Celie recognize her own power and worth and it’s all very moving and I’m skipping a lot because I don’t want to continue going through all the details and I don’t want to spoil things for you if you haven’t seen this yet.
Aside from being a pretty darn flawless production of an emotionally moving show, the real conversation in the theatre community is about how it took this long for Erivo to get over here and why, given all the British crap Americans mindlessly and greedily gobble up, this British gem is so unknown to audiences. Well, previously unknown. She’s become the toast of the town, rightly so, and will be accepting a Tony in June if they are based on merit, which I mean awards usually aren’t but we can still hope for her. Her precise control of Celie’s growth keeps the audience by her side the whole time, so when she lets go towards the end with her big numbers, you’re both shocked at what she has been keeping inside and also you somehow just knew she had it in her. This is the kind of performance that people pray to the theatre gods to witness one day. There are videos on youtube of her singing her big 11 o’clock number “I’m Here”, so if you can’t see the show you should go watch those. But seeing this performance live, this entire flawless show, is indeed a religious experience, and not just because the majority of the audience is acting like they are at church, hooting and hollering and responding at times with “yes SING IT” and “mm hmm”s and “praise, praise” and oh my god, I’m sure you think I’m going to complain about this because I usually would, but here it is THE BEST. An effusive audience elevates this experience to a whole new level, like we are all a part of it and in it together. And it is quite special to bear witness to what is happening onstage, so the gospel church-like atmosphere reminds you that this is actually happening and that you are lucky to be a part of it.
AUDIENCE
Like I said, energetic, 100% into it, and effusive – well the good ones are. You’ll still get the annoying people on their phones (like Aretha!). But this is the rare show that makes it clear how important the audience is to live theatre so you better be present.
STAGE DOOR
It’s packed, too packed (and they’re too famous) to take pictures, but they all signed quickly at least for the people around the very small barricades. At least when I went, it was just one barricade leading out onto the street, perpendicular to the theatre/street, instead of several along the side of the theatre. Maybe this is to minimize celebrity interaction with plebs, but it definitely minimizes your ability to get autographs. They go very fast and it’s all very loud so there’s no real chance to say anything other than thank you. People are super pushy but that’s not show-specific, unfortunately!
If you never saw the movie (Whoopi and Oprah? Go watch it! Also Gayle King is in it, uncredited. Opes never did anything without her), it’s about a tortured abused little girl who continues to have it pretty shitty as an adult until lesbianism saves her. I mean I joke but it is roughly that if you think about it. In more detail, it’s the entire epic story of a girl named Celie, her life from when we meet her at 14-years-old until decades later, from as bad as it gets to, well, better, and with cooler pants.
At the start, Celie is pregnant with her second child (at 14) by her rapist abusive father. When she gives birth, her father takes the baby away as he did the last one, Celie praying that they find good homes but the audience (and other characters) assuming that he kills them because he’s pretty much the worst person imaginable. Celie loves her younger sister Nettie (a great Joaquina Kalukango, which is a sick name with lots of k sounds) and they play together because they are children and they pray and they sing, which is the nice part for us because damn, their voices are beautiful. Somehow, Erivo really convinces you that she’s a young kid at the start, as does Joaquina. They’re adorable and you buy their sisterly bond. It’s pretty spectacular how Erivo grows over the course of 2 ½ hours, how her demeanor changes and most impressively her voice. Then, the evil man we know only as Mister comes by requesting to marry Nettie. Mister is played by Isaiah Johnson as incredibly hateful and evil for most of the show but then we really buy his remorse and atonement at the end somehow. He was very good. I ran into him a few blocks from the theatre after I saw it and was like “oh my god I just saw your show!” and he was like “Cool what did you think!” and I was like “You were a bastard!” I didn’t say that. I forget what I said because then Montego Glover came by and they are friends and I was just standing there like, should I sneak away quietly? Say goodbye and risk her being like who the f are you? Or just awkwardly wait? I did a mix of all three. So the father is like, Nettie is too young and too pretty to give away just yet, take Celie, she’s ugly so I’ll throw in a cow. They comment a lot about how ugly Celie is, which is ridiculous because Cynthia is a goddess but men are filth. So Celie is sent to be a wife and mother to Mister’s children, even though she’s a child, and it’s just a new man to run her life and abuse her horribly. It’s pretty depressing, but there’s some amazing comic relief in the form of the Church Ladies, the gossipy biddies who comment and cluck about all the goings on in the community, and they are ridiculously funny, singing their comments in rounds and just being hilarious.
Soon, Nettie runs away to Celie’s house after their father turns his attention to her, but then Mister, being an equally despicable person, tries to do the same, so Nettie fights him and is banished from the property. Celie writes letters to Nettie but never hears from her so she assumes she’s dead, not the truth that Mister would of course be hiding Nettie’s letters to keep Celie from ever feeling hope or joy again. Mister really was a bastard.
Years pass, and Mister’s son Harpo (Kyle Scatliffe, not Oprah’s production company) grows up and falls in love with Sofia, the best baddest-ass broad in town, played by Danielle Brooks from “Orange is the New Black” in all her hilarious and awesome glory. Not stunt casting; she went to Juilliard. Sofia is strong and doesn’t take any shit from Harpo or anyone, so Celie, poor, weak Celie who is so victimized that she can’t see that her oppression is wrong, is befuddled by her for a while. After Harpo tries to exert his male dominance over Sofia and instead Sofia beats him up, Sofia leaves town, and Shug Avery, the famous jazz singer, comes to town. Even though everything and everyone is at the highest performance grade here, you can’t help but feel the energy level rise when Hudson gets on stage. It’s pretty exciting to have someone of her celebrity on Broadway, and in a role so right for her. Her acting skills, or lack thereof, are pretty notorious, but she worked really hard here and is perfectly cast, doing a great job in all aspects of the role. A very impressive debut for an established celebrity. In fact, she will probably be nominated for a Tony, and if it weren’t for the aforementioned Renee Elise Goldsberry and the fact that Hudson is leaving the show next week, she could very well win, because people are so impressed with how well she did and, of course, so eager to bestow love on her in the form of awards to make her like them as all voters do.
So Shug is the long-time mistress of Mister, and she stays in their house and Celie is just like who is this magical person, totally intrigued and eventually in love. Shug does her part to help Mister stop beating Celie at least while she’s in the house, so that’s nice, but eventually they have their own thing and it’s quite lovely. Hudson and Erivo have wonderful, surprising chemistry, and I don’t know how Heather Headley will do in this aspect of the role when she takes over for Hudson. Shug’s love and support helps Celie recognize her own power and worth and it’s all very moving and I’m skipping a lot because I don’t want to continue going through all the details and I don’t want to spoil things for you if you haven’t seen this yet.
Aside from being a pretty darn flawless production of an emotionally moving show, the real conversation in the theatre community is about how it took this long for Erivo to get over here and why, given all the British crap Americans mindlessly and greedily gobble up, this British gem is so unknown to audiences. Well, previously unknown. She’s become the toast of the town, rightly so, and will be accepting a Tony in June if they are based on merit, which I mean awards usually aren’t but we can still hope for her. Her precise control of Celie’s growth keeps the audience by her side the whole time, so when she lets go towards the end with her big numbers, you’re both shocked at what she has been keeping inside and also you somehow just knew she had it in her. This is the kind of performance that people pray to the theatre gods to witness one day. There are videos on youtube of her singing her big 11 o’clock number “I’m Here”, so if you can’t see the show you should go watch those. But seeing this performance live, this entire flawless show, is indeed a religious experience, and not just because the majority of the audience is acting like they are at church, hooting and hollering and responding at times with “yes SING IT” and “mm hmm”s and “praise, praise” and oh my god, I’m sure you think I’m going to complain about this because I usually would, but here it is THE BEST. An effusive audience elevates this experience to a whole new level, like we are all a part of it and in it together. And it is quite special to bear witness to what is happening onstage, so the gospel church-like atmosphere reminds you that this is actually happening and that you are lucky to be a part of it.
AUDIENCE
Like I said, energetic, 100% into it, and effusive – well the good ones are. You’ll still get the annoying people on their phones (like Aretha!). But this is the rare show that makes it clear how important the audience is to live theatre so you better be present.
STAGE DOOR
It’s packed, too packed (and they’re too famous) to take pictures, but they all signed quickly at least for the people around the very small barricades. At least when I went, it was just one barricade leading out onto the street, perpendicular to the theatre/street, instead of several along the side of the theatre. Maybe this is to minimize celebrity interaction with plebs, but it definitely minimizes your ability to get autographs. They go very fast and it’s all very loud so there’s no real chance to say anything other than thank you. People are super pushy but that’s not show-specific, unfortunately!
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Tony Award Nominations are Out! Thoughts, Snubs, Surprises, Rudins
More surprises than usual – both good and not so – make the 2019 Tony Awards already more exciting than you’d expect, especially considering how disappointing most of the new musicals were this year. We do have one standout (Hadestown, obvs) but having mainly a slew of mediocrity fighting to fill out the ranks means no one could have guessed completely accurately. This season was much more impressive for plays, and then the surprises over in playtown are even more incredible, as in you really cannot believe it. Let’s get down to business.
Why not start off with the biggie! There’s really nothing controversial in here. We’re mostly happy that the sweet little musical that could, The Prom, squeaked its way in (although considering how many surprise noms it got, it’s not exactly ‘squeaking’ its way in here, is it) (by the way, discussion of award shows is the only situation where use of the word ‘noms’ is allowed). Beetlejuice got much more favorable reviews (I’m talking real ones and not the celebrity twitter rave reviews which have been oddly prevalent for this show…) than the average person actually seeing (well, hearing, as the visuals are wonderful but the score is naaaat) the show expected, which explains its inclusion here. And wow, Tony Voters really loved Ain’t Too Proud! Older white people do love them some Temptations. But the show to beat – the show with a whopping 14 noms today – is the unbelievable, fantastic Hadestown. It deserves to win most of the big ones, and as this year’s best musical it should absolutely be this year’s Best Musical. Fun fact: it was snubbed entirely from the Olivier Awards, because London just doesn’t get musical theatre like Broadway does. I have a whole TED Talk on the subject if you’re interested. Also the Oliviers are mostly garbage.
The nominations for Best New Play has everyone in theatre scratching their heads – except me. I get what you were doing Tony voters, at least what I hope you were doing, and I am HERE FOR IT. The conspicuous AF mess-up here is that the new Aaron Sorkin penned adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is missing. TKAM is the biggest new show, the hottest ticket, and to many the greatest achievement, of the year. Its nominations in sooo many other categories show that the nominators thought extremely highly of it. FFS it even got a Best Score nomination! The love in every other category, plus the love it gets across the theatre spectrum as inarguably one of the greatest plays ever, in my book is a clear statement to producer Scott Rudin: You Suck. All season, Rudin has been destroying other productions of TKAM – not the Sorkin version, literally just all other stage productions of this famous, classic work – from the was-ready-to-go UK tour to forking school productions, so that he could have the only production, because he is a bully. Who shuts down school productions?? Someone who doesn’t actually love theatre, but loves power. That’s him, and that’s what I am choosing to believe the voters were trying to say by nominating TKAM for everything it could except the one award that goes to the producer. (It’s a shame the Tonys still haven’t sorted out how to reward the actual playwright as they do with musicals (with Score and Book rewarding authors separately from producers), because Sorkin shouldn’t have to take the fall with Rudin (unless he is also part of this shut-down of other productions.)) Anyway, this clears the path for the absolutely exquisite The Ferryman, which I was rooting for anyway.
If you follow this site, you know that in (completely unrelated) previous posts, I’ve railed about how Broadway couldn’t conjure up a ‘third revival’ this season. This is what I was talking about! There are only two musical revivals this year. It’s kind of embarrassing to look at this, especially since so many other categories had six nominees (also embarrassing, make your choices, you have one job). Oklahoma! is going to win and this is literally the least exciting category.
This is a race between my girl Rachel Chavkin and Daniel Fish. Chavkin’s show should be winning like WHOA on Tony Night, and her creative, magical direction is a huge part of what makes the show great. She was also robbed (ROBBED)(okay the winner was worthy as always but still) of a Best Director Tony for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 a few years back. Her inventive, unique vision is one of the most exciting things happening in modern theatre. But Fish is her main competition, having created a shocking, super-dark, super-relevant version of the beloved classic people thought they knew. This is my most interesting race.
Six nominees? What is this, the Emmy Awards? I can’t be too mad about including a play in this bunch since I adore Adam Guettel’s music (but the other musical writers this season can be!). I could say a lot about the overrated Be More Chill music, the surprisingly pedestrian Tootsie score from one of the best working composers (?? what happened Dave), the average Beetlejuice score, the sweet but not ground-breaking Prom, but all I really have to say is, Hadestown, guys. Anais Mitchell (not to be confused with Anais Nin, as I did in the past) has written a SCORE, babies. A score that is beautiful, original, soul-shattering, chill-inducing, just marvelous. Give her and this show all the awards; they deserve them.
Despite how surprising the double whammy noms for The Prom are, I can’t be too mad, because it brings together O’Hara and Kinnunen as fellow nominees, years after playing mother and daughter in one of my all-time faves, The Bridges of Madison County (don’t knock it till you’ve seen in three times and cried the whole time and then seen the final performance sitting next to Keala Settle who is also sobbing but she’s also punching her fist in the air at every amazing moment, which is constant, because she’s hilarious and awesome anyway we’re besties). I’m so excited for both of them to be considered for #SteerOfTheYear (it’s a Bridges thing), but this is Block’s award, hundo p. She is the best thing about The Cher Show, along with the Bob Mackie costumes, which will also probably win. It’s a shame Eva (who is lovely but whose character is the least interesting in her show) is in while Rebecca Naomi Jones for Oklahoma! is out, but neither would win anyway. The real snub here is that of young Sophia Anne Caruso, the one Beetlejuice nom that should have been a lock.
SANTINO! This is Santino’s and I am HERE FOR IT! I’m going to pretend his Tony is also an Emmy for his work on Crazy Ex Girlfriend, in which he was impeccable, but yeah his work in Tootsie is deeeefinitely winning. Well unless all these surprise nominations for Beetlejuice result in an upset here but that would be bad, BAD. Santinoooooo!
So this is that shit I was referring to in the beginning, about what constitutes a bad surprise. Strangely missing from this category is forking GLENDA JACKSON as KING LEAR. GLENDA. JACKSON. KING. LEAR. This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime pairings of actor and role, and she isn’t nominated? What the FORK, guys? And there are SIX NOMINATIONS! Emmy-style again! This is like when the Emmys nominated seven supporting actresses in a comedy and none of them were the best ones! Don’t make me go back to those dark times. The only salve for this burn is that Elaine May was always going to win anyway – Glenda’s deserved nom would have been a ‘it’s a shame she can’t also win’ situation – but STILL! All the other five nominees are great of course but getting in over Glenda Jackson is FORKING WEIRD. I’d be embarrassed, as I hope the voters are. Shaaaame.
Okay, we always knew this would be difficult. Horrible, even. Best actor in a play was the most stacked category this season, which we should see as a gift, I guess. But it’s hard not to bemoan the lack of one of the greatest actors ever, Tracy Letts, in here. Or John Lithgow, who is always wonderful. Or Jonny Lee Miller, or freaking Nathan Lane – you can always BET on Nathan getting nominated! It’s just too stacked. The real one that hurts here is the snub of Michael Urie, whose performance in Torch Song was one of those special ones that aren’t just like Letts or Lane or Lithgow simply “always” being good. Darn. As is, this is super hard, because Paddy and Bryan both won Oliviers for these roles, but Daniels is considered the frontrunner, and he will probably thank Rudin in his speech, which I guess he has to do but it would be cool if he was like ‘Hey Scott thanks for making this production and letting me star but also you are a mean old bully and you don’t actually love theatre if you don’t support theatre, anyway thanks everyone.’ I should be a speech-writer.
I am SO excited for Ali Stroker and I am SO excited for Mary Testa and I am SO excited for Sarah Stiles and I am SO excited for Lilli Cooper (even though she shouldn’t have been nominated over Leslie Kritzer for Beetlejuice or, most of all, Stephanie Styles in Kiss Me, Kate, or really Michaela Diamond for The Cher Show, who should have been a frontrunner, so I guess I’m not actually SO excited for some of them…) but this better forking be Amber Gray’s. Her command of the stage, of the audience, of the atmosphere in Hadestown is pure magic, a masterclass in humanity and humor and that ineffable quality that makes a star shine brighter when in the perfect role for her.
I take it back, this is my hardest category. The two Hadestown guys, oh dear god, I wish they could tie. Page’s Hades should probably get the win, if only for his soul-shaking, earth-shattering performance during “Why We Build a Wall”, but I adore, ADORE, Andre De Shields’ wondrous performance that makes a narrator so much more. Congrats to the other nominees – and HELL YEAH Jeremy Pope getting two nominations this season! – but the absence of Corbin Bleu here (Kiss Me, Kate) is a damn shame that really taints the whole thing.
Thanks to the voters naming Nielson a featured role and not a lead (she’s the lead, right? come on) and thus likely having her split votes with her Gary costar Julie White, CKB will finally win a Tony, the Tony she was certain she was going to get a few years ago for The Glass Menagerie (okay she wasn’t certain but the rest of the world was). I love me some CKB and she is always perfection, so this is a happy occasion.
I LOVE ALL THESE MEN! I am most excited for Robin de Jesus (more fun if you don’t know to pronounce it in Spanish) to finally be a Tony nominee, but all these guys, man alive this is A WONDERFUL group. I have zero clue who will win and I am SO EXCITED to find out.
To quote Forrest, that’s all I have to say about that, at least at the moment. As for categories I didn’t picturize, Tootsie will likely win Best Book because it has a lot of funny jokes, and people think that’s what a book is (although, voters did prove that they know better last season when they awarded The Band’s Visit over Tina Fey’s jokes, so there could be a similar sitch of Hadestown also winning Book, which I wouldn’t be sad about nope wouldn’t be sad). The scenic elements and production design award are actually exciting this year, because you have the visually stunning Beetlejuice set against the beyond impressive King Kong puppetry, although with King Kong’s puppet team getting a special Tony, perhaps that changes things. I don’t know, all I know is this is a very interesting, strange year, and I am into it.
A Return Trip to My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center Before It Leaves Us for No Good Reason
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is My Fair Lady on Broadway, closing on July 7 because of reasons, I guess.
Remember when I reviewed this new Broadway production of My Fair Lady last season (sure you do!) and I said I couldn’t stop thinking about how superb it was? Well, my brain recovered a tiny bit after about a year so I went back for another dose of INCREDIBLE THEATRE PERFECTION. I’ve been (hashtag) blessed to see some exquisite theatre, and the current Lincoln Center Theatre production of My Fair Lady is at the top of that list. I saw the Tony-nominated original cast when it opened last year, which included Lauren Ambrose and my main man Norbert “Norbie” Leo Butz, as Eliza Doolittle and her (checks notes) 10-years-older-than-her father, as well as Jordan Donica as a winning Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Brits love hyphenating to show status). I had to go back to see Broadway’s beloved Laura Benanti as Eliza, her dream role, and I ended up being even more devastated by this show’s brilliance this go-round.
If you don’t know the story of My Fair Lady – which, by the way, after an ENTIRE LIFE of knowing this musical, Z informed me for the first time ever that the title could be a joke on ‘Mayfair Lady’, like the area of London that the show generally takes place in, and it works even better because of Eliza’s original cockney accent because that’s how she’d say Mayfair and just like WHAT did everyone know this??? – it’s about a poor girl who sells flowers in Covent Garden (but not herself! She’s VERY ADAMANT about that, she’s a good girl she is!) and crosses paths with the arrogant and self-involved Professor Henry Higgins who makes a bet with his equally rich and equally linguistics-minded friend Colonel Pickering that he can transform this lowly flower girl into a lady just with elocution lessons (and a bath) and the men are like “yes do let’s” and Eliza’s like “eeeeayyyyy” but she wants to rise above her lot in life so she agrees and spends months and months living in Higgins’ GORGEOUS staffed-up house on Wimpole Street and their relationship gets complicated because feelings but also stubbornness and aforementioned arrogance and it’s all wonderful and heartbreaking and glorious. Meanwhile Eliza’s dad is a good-for-nothing who sings a 20-minute song about getting married.
I’m sure you love the movie and everything (and the original ending), but this production, I have shivers just thinking about it. Actual chill bumps. I wish it wasn’t closing; I would see it every year. Bartlett Sher’s impeccable direction and his grasp of Golden Age musicals have never been on more impressive display. Every inch of this show is perfectly orchestrated, including the lush orchestra playing these classic melodies. Every song is a highlight. I especially love the written-to-be-a-highlight “On the Street Where You Live”, now performed by Christian Dante White, the new Freddy, who has quickly proved himself to be Broadway’s new Kyle Dean Massey (i.e. a wonderful replacement). As Alfred Doolittle, Alexander Gemignani was out, but his understudy Joe Hart was wonderful (and actually looked older – Benanti and Gemignani are LITERALLY THE SAME AGE, smdh). And I love that if you choose one ensemble member to watch, you’ll get a whole other story from this person; they’re all doing nonstop character work that builds an entire world to house the story of Eliza and Higgins.
And Eliza and Higgins are so much more than I ever thought before seeing this production. Originally, with Lauren Ambrose, who brought so much acting precision to Eliza and made so much of the character, Eliza and Henry seemed to be on equal footing, in terms of whose story it was. I loved their interplay, and even though Eliza has some of the best and biggest songs in musical theatre, it was a treat to see deeply into this character with the help of an actress who is primarily an actress, not a singer. On the other hand, Benanti is an actress who is primarily an incredible singer (and was clearly sick and still went on and still sounded fabulous, though a little weaker than I know she can be, so deserves all the kudos). A Broadway staple for a remarkably long time considering how young she is, she was obviously great (though her English accent was…not), and looked amazing in the new costumes. But the subtle differences in portrayal showed a different relationship. With her Eliza, she was sassy and brave from the start, and you never doubted that she would always be able to take care of herself and put herself first when necessary. She was always going to be okay. With Ambrose, Eliza was much more delicate, much more in need of confidence and growth, making her decision at the end all the more emotional.
Although the ending is still beyond emotional (I cried like a BABY and might again right now thinking about it okay yep there we go), I felt it this time entirely from Henry’s perspective. Now, it’s clear that this is primarily a show about Henry Higgins, something I never realized before. Above all, this is a show about Henry’s personal failings, the ones that keep him from knowing true happiness. I never knew it, but My Fair Lady is honestly a tragedy, and it’s mainly a tragedy of toxic masculinity. I KNOW! WHO KNEW! All of this profound emotional impact is entirely due to the flawless and heartbreaking performance of Harry Hadden-Paton, a fully formed, fully feeling Higgins I cannot imagine ever being surpassed. Ever. I love me some Tony Shalhoub but it’s a crime that this performance didn’t win a Tony, I see this now. HP sauce shows Henry’s entire life and upbringing and habits and his discomfort in changing any of it, in each facial expression, each line delivery. It’s all incredible, and by the end it’s all heartbreaking. I honestly can’t believe how much he accomplished with this performance in creating what seemed like a real flawed person up on that stage. This production is one of the greatest of all time and I think it’s in large part because of his performance. I’m so glad I saw it again and so upset that HE COULDN’T JUST STOP BEING AN ASSHOLE AND BE HONEST AND BE HAPPY GODDAMMIT HERE WE GO AGAIN THE END.
INFORMATION
Since Lincoln Center is a nonprofit and they like stupid turnaround and crap like that I guess, the show is closing July 7, so if you are in NYC or like can feasibly get there in the next week, you REALLY G-D SHOULD.
