My Fair Lady

L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

My Fair Lady: After the Curtain Falls

When the performance is over, try discussing it with your companions and any other theater lovers you know! You can continue your pleasure in My Fair Lady for hours – even days – by exchanging ideas about it. Here are some topics we can suggest:

• At the end of the musical, Eliza Doolittle returns to Henry Higgins. What happens next? Does Eliza still marry Freddy? Or do the repressed feelings of both Higgins and Eliza blossom? • Both Pygmalion and My Fair Lady share the notion that different groups of people use different types of language – in this case, specifically English. What different types of vernacular do you use or notice other people using (whether family, friends, or strangers)? How does the emphasis on language influence the show? • When compared with other hit musicals of its time, My Fair Lady is very different in that it isn’t a love story. How does the absence of this signature element have an effect on the relationships the characters develop with each other? • What is it about the music of My Fair Lady that makes this musical so popular? Is it the lyrics? The melodies? What’s your favorite song from the show and why? • Compare the roles of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins. What is the general attitude of each and how is this highlighted in their songs and dialogue? • What elements of the set, costume, and lighting designs are the most memorable to you in this production? How do these elements help convey the musical’s shifting moods?

Audrey Hepburn (Eliza Doolittle) and Rex Harrison (Henry Higgins) in director George Cukor’s 1964 film version of My Fair Lady.

To continue to enhance your experience of My Fair Lady , Lyric dramaturg Roger Pines suggests the following performances:

• CD – Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Stanley Holloway, Robert Coote, John Michael King (Masterworks Broadway) • CD – Jonathan Pryce, Martine McCutcheon, Dennis Waterman, Nicholas Le Prevost, Mark Umbers (First Night – Red)

• DVD – Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfred Hyde-White, Jeremy Brett (Warner Home Video)

Shaw’s Pygmalion : • CD – Anton Lesser, Lucy Whybrow, David Burke, Geoffrey Palmer, Charlie Simpson (Naxos Audiobooks)

• CD – Jeremy Irons, Kiri Te Kanawa, Warren Mitchell, John Gielgud, Jerry Hadley (Polygram Records)

• DVD – Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller,Wilfrid Lawson, Scott Sunderland, David Tree (Criterion Collection)

• CD – Alec McCowen, Tinuke Olafimihan, Michael Bauer, Michael Denison, Henry Wickham (Jay Records)

• DVD – James Villiers, Lynn Redgrave, Emrys James, Ronald Fraser, Nicholas Jones (BBC Home Entertainment)

36 | April - May, 2017