I've read Pygmalion and I like George Bernard Shaw's work in general. I've never seen the stage show for My Fair Lady. I have seen countless takes on the Pygmalion story before in TV and movies. So, my big question going into this was "how good is the music?". I kind of had my answer before I even started though. I don't recognize any of the songs from this play. I'm by no means a musical aficionado, but I know enough that I should at least recognize a song or two. Especially from a 50 year old classic that won Best Picture. The music in this is fine. "With a Little Bit of Luck" is catchy. "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" were lovely songs. I'm in no hurry to get the soundtrack though. What actually disappointed me the most was that most of the song and dance numbers were pretty tame. I feel like director George Cukor left some inspiration on the table when he put this together. Or perhaps I'm too accustomed to seeing musicals that go big from beginning to end.
Audrey Hepburn is really good (even though it's disappointing that she had to have her singing dubbed). Her cockney accent is charmingly grating. I got more than a few chuckles from that early on. I also liked later on when her street vernacular would sneak out of her high society facade. I don't know that I bought Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins' (Rex Harrison) romantic chemistry, but they have fine comedic chemistry.
I've been itching to see more musicals soon. I was a little underwhelmed by this (although it was perfectly amiable). Perhaps I'll need to look further back, to Astaire and Rogers or more Gene Kelly. Still, the Shaw by way of Alan Jay Lener source material has enough wit and charm to sustain it.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment