Review: My Fair Lady at Leeds Playhouse

Friday, 7th June 2024 at Leeds Playhouse

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leeds Playhouse, Opera North and director James Brining reunite as the creative forces behind this production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady, and the magic of that combination really shines through in this richly layered show.

With book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, the 1956 musical (based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion) tells a great story through a fantastic score. Dialogue and lyrics are often a blend of witty and wounding as they tell a tale of transformation full of peaks and troughs. Eliza Doolittle, a poor cockney flower seller is plucked from the streets by the arrogant phonetician (Henry Higgins) and his colleague (Colonel Pickering) with a promise to transform her speech and poise so radically that she will soon pass as a duchess.

The story contains elements of rags to riches, duckling to swan and beast to prince tropes but does well to deviate from purely following the damsel in distress element, allowing the “saved” woman to stand firmly on her own two feet. What’s so endearing about the story is the way Eliza transforms in many ways but ultimately finds herself empowered beyond the remit of how she sounds and is perceived by others (with Miranda Bevin’s Mrs Higgins providing a further wonderful example of a strong female standing apart as she fails to entertain notions of Eliza’s class difference).

Katie Bird gives a powerhouse performance in which Eliza’s vulnerabilities and self-awareness of her lot in life are felt as keenly as her triumphs and grit. She’s not naive enough to simply be swept along and is doggedly proactive about her future in a wonderfully fierce take on the “saved pauper”. Here we can applaud the innocent “good girl” who ditches doe eyes for clear vision and sharp wit. Bird also gives a superb vocal performance, not just impressively shifting between a cockney lilt and an RP register in both dialogue and songs, but owning beauties like “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”, “Just You Wait” and my favourite fiery highlight, “Show Me” with phenomenal power and sensitivity.

And John Hopkins navigates the tricky role of Professor Henry Higgins very skilfully, sparing no odiousness in his early imperious interactions with Eliza, whom he seems to consider beneath common courtesy thanks to her origins. Somewhat playful and flippant in his delivery (and undeniably carrying an aloof charm), his language leaves no doubt as to his condescending attitude towards the lower classes.

The titters at his classist take-downs commend the clever writing but also betray the casual, bare-faced prejudice of the time – I hear the character inspires affection but I don’t quite see that (I never forgave Rochester, Darcy or Heathcliff either), but he does cut a pleasingly comic figure later with his stubbornness and physicality. Hopkins’ delivery of “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” cements the performance, showing the more human side to the man; not quite beast to prince, but at least less of a beast…

Dean Robinson’s Colonel Pickering provides a kindlier influence as someone intrigued by the experiment but not so keen to demean the subject. Alfred Doolittle carries the trope of the useless father but the production gives him space to show softness too, and Richard Mosley-Evans and the Opera North chorus deliver a fantastically rousing performance of “Get Me to the Church on Time” (with choreography from Lucy Hind).

Other musical highlights beyond the lead and the Orchestra of Opera North (Conductor and musical director: Oliver Rundell) raising the rafters, include the various full-bodied numbers performed by the Opera North chorus (often reminiscent of the beautiful harmonies of a Barber Shop Quartet) and most notably Ahmed Hamad’s gorgeous, soaring rendition of “On the Street Where You Live” as Freddie Eynsford-Hill – a truly beautiful highlight.

Madeleine Boyd has also nailed the assignment here with designs which fill the stage with the beautiful tailoring of the 19th century against an unmoving backdrop which doubles as pub and offices – all else plays out in the bare foreground, functioning as interior and street (including clever details like gutters which fill as rain pours no less).

Once again Leeds Playhouse have given us the gift of experiencing a large-scale classic in all its glory, giving the opportunity to see iconic musical theatre songs that have stood the test of time within their original context. As with Oliver! and A Little Night Music, Brining demonstrates a real affinity with his musical source material, taking audiences back in time in productions which are altogether enveloping and charming, and smoothly developing stories of old for current audiences. As a “Golden Age” musical with a very modern sense of empowerment, I’d say My Fair Lady does not fail to deliver on its reputation – and this production provides a glowing display of its many merits.

My Fair Lady is at Leeds Playhouse until June 29th 2024 – more information and tickets can be found here.