Review: MY FAIR LADY, Opera North - Leeds Playhouse
Photo credit: Pamela Raith
The iconic Lerner and Loewe’s adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion is a staple of musical theatre, a treasure trove of songs often hand-picked for variety concerts and cabaret shows, with numbers varying from the comical solo-led ensemble pieces – ‘With A Little Bit of Luck’ and ‘Get Me To the Church on Time’ – to the more subdued and reflective numbers, such as ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face’ and ‘On the Street Where You Live’. As such, we looked forward to seeing how Opera North would take on this classic and adapt it for Leeds Playhouse.
The Playhouse is always a delightful venue, with some of the friendliest staff and loveliest facilities, and on entry to the theatre space – the piece plays in the larger space, the Quarry Theatre – we are welcomed to a little slice of Victorian London, thanks to the simple yet innovative design by Madeleine Boyd. Looking like the hand of God has scooped it up, the stage floor is dressed with cobbles, jutting out in jagged edges into the audience, with pipes exposed and running water filling the gutters and pools left by this seeming excavation. Within the floor are delivery hatches and manholes which, in tur,n are used as entrances and to represent Mrs Higgins’ garden cleverly.
The large stage space is dominated by a raised platform, with two sets of filing cabinets side-by-side creating the skyline of London’s chimney stacks, against a gauze backdrop, used to represent the weather of the piece effectively through lighting and projection designed by Guy Hoare. Two flights of stairs, in various positions, on either side are then used to create the different locations, alongside flown pieces such as windows and pub signs. This simplicity works particularly effectively, creating the various spaces smoothly.
As the overture begins, we find ourselves on the grimy streets of Covent Garden, with the cast playing the various roles of urchins, street sweepers and flower sellers. With a flourish, however, half disappear into the stage right wings – following the sign marked ‘Stage Door’ – to then re-enter as members of the higher classes. This theme of duality seems particularly pivotal to the Opera North production, and the multi-roling reinforces it; once we see Eliza’s meteoric rise in society, she quickly finds herself out of place in both social spheres, unsure what to do with herself now once Higgins has won his bet. Her best comedic moment is following the ‘Ascot Gavotte’, when Higgins introduces Eliza to the friends of his mother a touch too early in her training.
We are quickly introduced to Eliza Doolittle, played with confidence and an aggressive attack on the ‘flower seller’ version of this character by Katie Bird. She is playful and verging on taunting in her first interactions, before accosting Higgins, accusing him of being an officer of the law. Later, once she has been ‘refined’ by Higgins and Pickering, she retains an aloofness but it ironically adds to her vulnerability; the self-assuredness has been crushed by her lessons in elocution, and it is in the opening of Act 2 when she simply sits, hurt and ignored with a stillness and poise, that we found her performance to be most affecting.
As Higgins, John Hopkins is clearly channelling Rex Harrison’s portrayal of the role of Professor of Phonetics – his use of comedy is very strong, and in numbers such as during ‘Why Can’t the English?’, he is captivating and engaging, shifting continuously. The movement direction is a touch unstructured, perhaps, and the freedom means that he strays almost into caricature at times. Similarly, the Harrison-like vocal seems somewhat to constrain his performance, tying him to the original. There are some great moments of physical comedy in his performance though, such as the scene in which he is dressing himself during ‘A Hymn to Him’ is incredibly well-executed.
His interactions with Eliza, too, are wonderful – the frustration and lack of empathy he feels towards her undermines the growing relationship wonderfully, and the wilfully ambiguous ending, when she returns to him, dressed as a flower seller, and simply stands in a spotlight down-centre as the lights fade to black, reinforces his performance – in this day and age, can we see this reunion as the beginning of a relationship, of Eliza coming to Higgins on her own terms after he has grown so “Accustomed” to her being around? Or, like in Shaw’s original, is there no romance whatsoever in this relationship, but merely two damaged individuals unable to cope without the other? James Brining’s direction retains this ambiguity effectively.
There are standout performances from Dean Robinson and Miranda Bevin, particularly, as Colonel Pickering and Mrs Higgins respectively, and their restrained and upright nature, a result of the class structure that all of the characters find themselves within, is allowed to slip through moments of genuine compassion and tenderness – thematically proving that their problem is not the class structure itself, but Higgins’ own rigidity in the face of this structure. Richard Mosley-Evans, as Eliza’s drunken layabout father, gave some moments of levity which further reinforce the theme of class effectively – when he comes to trade Eliza with Higgins, he refuses any more than five pounds, knowing it would alter his status. Higgins’ impact on the Doolittle family is then seen in Act Two when, upon his recommendation, Alfred has become a success, meaning he now needs to marry and do his duty, rather than continuing as a wastrel. The vocal harmonies in his numbers, with backing from Tim Ochala-Greenough and Nicholas Butterfield, are sumptuous, with a barbershop quality that stands out from the otherwise operatic tones of the cast; they provide a richness to the score.
The movement and choreography by Lucy Hind is fairly stripped back, only really utilised in larger numbers such as the ‘Embassy Waltz’ to great comedic effect and ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’. The vocal arrangements are incredibly sumptuous, with the ensemble comprising members of the Opera North chorus, and there are some very clever moments of movement using the ensemble as pieces of furniture and set, particularly during the staging of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’ and in the ‘Ascot Gavotte’. The orchestra, conducted by Oliver Rundell, sound spectacular – it is a slight shame though that we didn’t get to see them on show; we so hoped that the gauze would fly up in those final moments to reveal these masterful musicians at work.
This is a rich, beautiful-looking production, with some wonderful performances; a ‘Loverly’ way to spend 2 hours and 45 minutes.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Scott Edwards
My Fair Lady plays at Leeds Playhouse until 29 June, with further info here.