The reviews for My Fair Lady are in, and the critics approve of this My Fair Lady for a #MeToo America. Director Bartlett Sher is smart and precise in reimagining the classic, introducing thoughtful text tweaks and employing (what some might call) inventive casting to craft a musical that feels familiar and brand new at once. Lauren Ambrose is a star as the tempestuous Eliza Doolittle and Harry Hadden-Paton plays a strong Henry Higgins – and these aren’t your grandparents’ Eliza and Henry. Informed by the tiniest bit of 2018 social context, these characters feel more real and less stock… and the critics appreciate it. We think you will too, so head to the Lincoln Center for a revival with enough old and enough new to make just about anyone happy.
NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF MY FAIR LADY
Poor Eliza. It’s not enough that her own father sells her for five pounds to the bully phonetician Henry Higgins. Or that Higgins strips her of her ragged clothes and Cockney accent so she can become a refined if useless lady. No, the former flower girl is also a failure of feminism, if recent criticism is to be believed…
VARIETY REVIEW OF MY FAIR LADY
If you’ve got it, flaunt it. The splendid Beaumont stage at Lincoln Center was made for great classic musicals like Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” and helmer Bartlett Sher was born to stage them. This jubilant revival is meticulously mounted and entirely welcome – despite the eccentric casting choice of Lauren Ambrose as…
DEADLINE REVIEW OF MY FAIR LADY
While Carousel spins its gorgeous melodies and troublesome social politics in Midtown Manhattan, My Fair Lady, its lighter-hearted companion in the Big Book of treasured musicals toting outdated notions, has opened some 20 blocks north in a sumptuous Lincoln Center Theater production, its cast of 37 led by a tempestuous Lauren…
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY REVIEW OF MY FAIR LADY
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady had an arduous road to fruition. Shaw had no interest in seeing it turned into a musical (and it wasn’t, until after he died), and the play lacked certain elements considered crucial to a romantic musical— including a straight-up happy ending. The fact that Alan…
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW OF MY FAIR LADY
There’s a breathtaking visual in Lincoln Center Theater’s new My Fair Lady when Lauren Ambrose emerges as Eliza Doolittle, transformed from common-as-muck flower girl to regal stunner, done up to attend the posh Embassy Ball. Costumer Catherine Zuber has wrapped her in a pale golden sheath that seems to fuse with the actress’s a…
Broadway Musical Blog 