Our Drama students, recently attended a performance of “My Fair Lady” at Leeds Playhouse. Drama student Caitlin Gillard shares her thoughts and reviews of the performance…

Three years ago, I had the absolute pleasure of stumbling upon the collaborative production of Sondheim’s ‘A Little Night Music’ between Leeds Playhouse and Opera North. Despite my initial doubts, I found myself enjoying it immensely, so much so I returned to see the very same production again the following year. Similar to its predecessor, the latest collaboration on Lerner and Lowe’s ‘My Fair Lady” does not disappoint.

Based on a 1913 play entitled “Pygmalion’ written by none other than George Bernard Shaw, ‘My Fair Lady’ is an incredibly well-known classic musical. It tells the story of arrogant phonetics professor Henry Higgins (played expertly in this production by John Hopkins) who makes a wager with his fellow linguist Colonel Pickering (Dean Robinson) that within six months, he will be able to pass off working class Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle (Katie Bird) as a well-spoken lady by providing her with elocution lessons. Made famous in part from its original Broadway production (starring Rex Harrison as Higgins and Julie Andrews as Doolittle) and part from the 1964 film adaptation (with Harrison returning as Higgins and Audrey Hepburn as Doolittle) which went on to win eight Oscars, this traditional story continues to delight audiences.

Based in the Playhouse’s large Quarry Theatre space, this production made excellent use of Madeline Boyd’s simplistic but effective set, consisting of a small building with space for actors to stand on top, whilst supporting pieces were brought on and off to represent different locales. As soon as the house lights went down, the fantastic Opera North chorus swarmed onto this set, representing the dwellers of Covent Garden, ranging from high-class ladies to respected academics to lowly market sellers and local hooligans. A special mention must be made to this fantastic chorus, whose vocal abilities really made the group numbers shine. Evidently, they are masters of their craft.

As previously mentioned, however, the true star of this show was John Hopkin’s Professor Higgins. Not only was his vocal performance spectacular but the truly expressive way he delivered every line made for an engaging and entertaining performance. This was most apparent however in his humorous back and forths with Katie Bird’s Eliza Doolittle. Her portrayal really highlighted Eliza as being a sympathetic heroine, one that had agency in her own fate, unlike similar heroines from this era of musical theatre. In my opinion, it was this dynamic between the two leads that really made the show a worthwhile watch.

However, no show is complete without its supporting players. Richard Mosely-Evans provided us with a spectacular performance of Eliza’s lively father Alfred, leading the chorus in his featured songs of “With a Little Bit of Luck” and the incredibly well known “Get Me to the Church on Time”. On the other hand, Miranda Bevin’s serene but occasionally scathing Mrs Higgins was truly lovely. In a similar vein, Dean Robinson’s Colonel Pickering and Helen Évora’s Mrs Pearce fleshed out the scenes which took place in Higgins’ study.

The score in this performance was mesmerising, with the instrumentals being provided by Opera North’s resident orchestra, conducted by Oliver Rundell. Although unseen by the audience, their expertise on their instruments provided ambience to each scene.

I think my initial thoughts on this production are an understatement. “My Fair Lady’ is truly a wonderful piece of theatre and I continue to look forward to whatever this continued collaboration produces in the future.

‘My Fair Lady’ is at Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre until Saturday 29th June.