My Fair Lady
A well-rounded, nicely produced production, with a good German translation. There were few surprises, as the
staging and scenery were very much like the London ones, however I was still surprised by the high quality of
the performance.
The orchestra was excellent, I especially enjoyed the congas (or bongos) during "Could've danced all night". Rather
a big band, jazz sound, superb listening. While the music was brilliantly played, it was too loud and the singers were
hard to understand, especially since they didn't wear microphones.
The cast was great. Higgins (Michael Heltau) was a bit older than I think he should be, but very energetic, stubborn
and not quite as sexist as the London version ;D. Still don't like the character though. Mr Heltau played his role with
a great deal of feeling, singing was good too, though he was a tad hoarse. Colonel Pickering didn't impress me very
much -- he had the stateliness and the gentlemanly air down pat and I found him endearing, yet his voice was fairly
weak imo.
Eliza (Martina Dorak) was a wonderful surprise. Very clear voice, but not shrill, even on the high notes, a bit of a
deeper timbre in her talking. Executed the dialect (Viennese, even though the setting is still London, go figure)
superbly. Solid stage presence, enjoyed seeing her.
Freddy (Karl-Michael Ebner)... now I fell in love with the guy. Not only was he adorably "Mama's boy" in every movement
and gesture, he was also a fantastic singer. I'd have loved to hear more of his voice -- a bit deeper extraordinarily
pleasant, beautiful intonation.
Mrs Pearce (Guggi Loewinger) was fun, nicely played, a good stage presence. Mrs Higgins was, even though the lady
playing her is pretty old (I'd guess late 80s), a treat. Gusti Wolf has a certain inflection that makes her voice
unmistakable, and she's an excellent comic actress. Seeing her was cool, she's sort of a legend of stage and
screen in Austria ;D.
Alfred Doolittle (Josef Forstner) -- another fantastic singer, very strong voice, a bit rumbling and deep. Just the
kind of coachman you expect to see around Vienna (or London ;D). Perfect.
I have to say that all in all the cast was very energetic, they seemed to enjoy the performance. So did I ;D. There was
precious little in terms of choreography, only a few hops here and there. "Get me to the church on time" had the only
actual dance number, and it was very toned down imo. In this respect, I far prefer the London production, where there
seemed to be more movement. Ascot was more fun too, simply cause the winning jockey's entrance made you laugh. And the
ball was left out in its entirety. You saw Higgins, Pickering and Eliza leave, then come back.
The costumes were lovely, lighting nothing to boast about, but well executed. The scenery was effective, wonderfully
painted, and just enough to convey an image of London. However, there were three "breaks" in which the stage was
converted -- even though the orchestra played spiritedly, it was too long and got a tad boring. After "Get me to
the church" they 'redecorated' again, with a wedding invitation projected onto the white 'curtain' that had come down.
In English. Which I thought was a tad strange, considering that the whole musical has been translated into German
(apart from names for people and places). The 'projector' was used before Ascot (when they put a white steel staircase
on the stage) -- the image was one of a horse race. And at one time in the first act, you could see the picture of a
coach driving through town.
I still don't like the musical that much, I love the music though, especially as they played it in Vienna, it was so
spirited, lively and had a unique ring to it.
Questions, comments and suggestions can be directed to me at
ferngully_at@yahoo.com.