#ElizaToo! My Fair Lady’s gone all PC
A PC VERSION of My Fair Lady – Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?
In a break with theatrical tradition a new production of the classic musical will cast male and female leads who are almost the same age.
US actress Lauren Ambrose, 40, will play Eliza Doolittle opposite Downton Abbey’s Harry HaddenPaton, 37, as Professor Henry Higgins. Their casting contrasts sharply with previous productions when the actor playing Higgins has traditionally been ten to 15 years older than the female lead.
The decision to close the age gap in the new Broadway production is designed to ensure the show – written by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe – will appeal to modern audiences. In another departure, Eliza will be portrayed as a strong woman who takes her destiny in her own hands rather than allow herself to be the plaything of two men.
My Fair Lady tells the story of cockney flower girl Eliza, whose life is transformed when Higgins, a chauvinistic professor of linguistics, bets a friend he can turn her into a ‘lady’. The original 1956 production starred a 20-year-old Julie Andrews opposite Rex Harrison, who was 48. The changes have led some to dub the production a My Fair Lady for the ‘MeToo Generation’, which is less likely to view the story of an older man dominating a younger woman as a piece of innocent entertainment.
Director Bartlett Sher said: ‘As a father of two daughters, I am obviously interested in the role women play in society. Hopefully people can make up their own minds.’