| What: My Fair Lady by Lerner & Loewe When and where: Cape Town: December 12, 2024 – January 12, 2025, Artscape Opera House Johannesburg: January 25 – March 2, 2025, The Teatro Montecasino Durban: March 8 – 16, 2025, The Playhouse Bookings: Webtickets Cast includes: Brittany Smith and Leah Mari (alternating as Eliza Doolittle), Craig Urbani as Henry Higgins, Graham Hopkins as Colonel Pickering, Mark Richardson as Doolittle, Sandi Dlangalala as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Adrienne Pearce as Mrs Higgins, Namhla Tshuka as Mrs Eynsford-Hill, Megan Spencer as Mrs Pearce, Ryan Flynn as Harry, Gareth Meijsen as Jamie and ensemble Presented by: Pieter Toerien with Cape Town Opera Direction: Steven Stead Design: Greg King Lighting design: Denis Hutchinson. Choreography: Duane Alexander Musical direction: Kevin Kraak Costumes coordination: Maritha Visage |
Stunning, brilliant, masterful, spectacular: My Fair Lady South Africa 2024/2025 is receiving raves from all quarters. Let me add: Wow. The South African 2024/2025 production of My Fair Lady is on until January 12, 2025 in Cape Town, at Artscape and then tours to Joburg and Durban. The show is a collab between Pieter Toerien Productions and Cape Town Opera. Spectacular sets by Greg King, costumes coordination by Maritha Visage, beautiful lighting by Denis Hutchinson and inspired choreography by Duane Alexander, all backed by the energized musical direction of Krevin Kraak, conducting the 12-piece orchestra.
The performers are a knockout – principals and ensemble. It is a big cast – 34 on stage. Brittany Smith and Leah Mari are alternating as Eliza Doolittle. We saw Smith and she was a revelation as the Eliza and her transformative journey.
I think what Stead nails in his direction is the emotional transformation of Eliza Doolittle – from flower girl to high society. Stead’s direction heightens the musical with an intense theatricality. Greg King’s lavish set contains the action as it shifts seamlessly between scenes. The physical transitions between places – Covent Garden, Prof Higgins’ home, his mother’s home (Mrs Higgins), and Ascot, charges the production with a visceral physicality. We can feel the displacement and dislocation that Eliza feels when she is transported out of her world as a flower seller to the home of Professor Higgins and his world. Terrific set in the home of Mrs Higgins (deliciously played by Adrienne Pearce)
Smith is superlative – with a dazzling cockney accent – singing and spoken word. There is a great deal of dialogue, which is not sung. In some other productions, I have found that accents slipped in the speaking parts. A shout out to Claire Berlein dialect coach for getting the actors to finesse dialect and vernacular. Language is a key leitmotif in My Fair Lady. It is the vehicle through which Eliza re-invents herself and accents in this production do justice to that narrative. The opera trained Smith has already won Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards for her work and My Fair Lady is a milestone in showcasing her acting and vocal smarts. She is a sensation in this role.
Craig Urbani as Henry Higgins tempers the role with nuance which I have not seen before in the pompous, bombastic Higgins. The chemistry between Smith and Urbani is palpable. They create theatre magic. As a couple (yes, the ending is supposed to be ambiguous), they are utterly convincing, particularly in the 2nd act when we see Eliza coming in to her own as she gives Higgins a piece of her mind and embraces her identity. The production is set in period (1910) but the story does reverberate uncomfortably now in terms of #MeToo concerns with the white privileged, sexist Higgins and Eliza who is under his thrall and power. But, under Stead’s direction, the steely fierceness of Eliza, in the 2nd act, undercuts the sweet upwardly mobile trajectory of the first act and Higgins’ entitlement.
The humour in this production is terrific with a kicker of a performance by Mark Richardson as Doolittle – father of Eliza. Graham Hopkins is charming as Colonel Pickering. Sandi Dlangalala (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Namhla Tshuka (Mrs Eynsford-Hill) and Megan Spencer (Mrs Pearce) all bring vigour to their characters – each holding his or her own as the narrative unfurls.
The ensemble is terrific with impressive dancing all round – even the performers who are not dancers. My Fair Lady is not a musical that I would associate with innovative dance and Duane Alexander bowled me over with his choreography. The scene – I am getting Married in the Morning- is a show stopping sequence with acrobatic and athletic moves and sheer enjoyment by the cast.
I am hearing rave reviews about Leah Mari’s performance as Eliza and hope to go again to see in her the role. Congrats to the producers, creatives and cast for My Fair Lady SA, 2024/2025 – invigorating a much loved musical with a contemporary spin.
✳ Featured image: Craig Urbani and Brittany Smith in My Fair Lady, presented by Pieter Toerien with Cape Town Opera, South Africa, 2024/2025. Pic: Nardus Engelbrecht. Supplied.
