www.theatrepeople.com.au/Reviews/temp-myfairlady.htmReviewer Chris Huges from
www.theatrepeople.com.ay.
Alan gets some good response to his appearances in My Fair Lady.
Before we begin..
For years, I’ve been promoting the need to have a company which bridges the gap between amateur and professional theatre, and I’ve always felt that this company should be based in the city. Judging by the almost full house at My Fair Lady… Dare I say? I was right.
It’s a difficult position for a reviewer to be in, having to review a show at both a professional level and an amateur level but here goes. Let’s start with the pros: Please keep in mind that these people are all paid at a professional rate. Anthony Warlow, Marina Prior and Caroline O’Connor are all under the same minimum award as these people.
All the principal cast received billing on the flier and their names are all in lights outside the theatre. In spite of the ticket price, which was half the cost of any professional production, this show is being sold as a professional production. Please keep that in mind when you read my comments.
What an unusual setting this night was. There I was, in an entirely legitimate theatre (The Comedy) in the city watching a relatively known Dr Karl from Neighbours on stage with a supporting cast of mostly unknowns (to the general public), like Laura Fitzpatrick and Chris Durling, and an ensemble of entirely unknowns (the amateur, or unpaid part of this pro/am production) in this bizarre mesh of talent.
The set and costumes were the same standard as any major amateur company. However, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that this show came off as “CLOC, Whitehorse or Geelong Lyric goes on tour”, after having booted out their own leads and replacing them with some relatively obscure celebs in an attempt to sell tickets, thinking that the GP know who Chris Durling or Alan Fletcher are and are convinced that they are willing to for out their hard earned cash to see them.
Alan Fletcher (A.K.A. Dr Karl) was absolutely charming as Henry Higgins. He offered an unexpected interpretation of the role, which was refreshingly unique and entirely appropriate. I’ve seen Henry many times as a staunch, rather stuffy character (a la Rex Harrison), but Alan offered a spirited, boyish take on him, which delivered another dimension to what is otherwise a reasonably flat character on paper. Alan's charisma, comic timing and chemistry with the characters around him was an excellent indication of his skills as an actor outside the confines of Ramsay St.
Laura Fitzpatrick, well known to those in theatre, but relatively anonymous to the general public, gave a commendable performance as Eliza. I use the word commendable because I believe she should be commended for taking on a role that was vocally well beyond her range. Eliza is a soprano. Laura is not. She was intriguing to watch, had an excellent understanding of the character and impeccable comic timing, however I felt she lacked the coarseness required for Eliza in the pre-transformation scenes. Laura has a very likeable persona, which shone through in her dialogue scenes. There’s no escaping Laura’s confidence and charisma. She has excellent attention to detail which was evidently demonstrated by her ****ney and aristocratic accents which were both spot on. If good casting is the role of the director, then this clear miscast falls on his head. Laura has a beautiful voice an is undoubtedly one of the most talented people in theatre so it was a shame to see her only achieve half of what she's capable of.
Chris Durling as Freddy was, in a word, sappy. He was so camp and over the top in the role that his characterisation became a caricature, a re-occurring punch line, which was an unwelcome imbalance to a comparatively genuine Henry and Eliza. His voice was not at a professional standard and while his good looks were endearing, they did not make up for a lack of singing or acting ability. Chris has plenty of potential, but he’s still a few years away from being a lead role in a professional production.
I tip my cap to Marty Fields who, in spite of being far too young for the role, jumped in with a week's notice to take over the role of Alfie Doolittle. With only a week or so to rehearse, it’s hard for me to be too critical. If he’d been rehearsing for a month, I’d say he underplayed the role too much, didn’t make enough of the gags and lacked the energy required for the part, however as he hadn't, I thought what he did was pretty darn good.
Babs McMillan as Mrs Higgins was refined, strong and a huge highlight for me. A relatively small part, perfectly cast.
The direction by Darien Sticklen was good and the choreography by Joanne Adderley was excellent. There were several talented dancers in the ensemble, who were utilized well. Costumes were very similar to the ones featured in the movie, but if it ain’t broke... Eliza’s dresses in particular were stunning. The musical direction by Adrian Kirk was fine for the most part but the tempo was rushed at times, particularly when Eliza was singing. Perhaps this was a conscious attempt to cover up the range issues I mentioned earlier.
The set was fairly standard in terms of it’s design, which is fine, but an obvious lack of budget saw items that should have been real (Chairs, Books, Curtains etc) pained onto flats, rather than be constructed in three dimensions which cheapened the overall look of it somewhat. I felt that Darien’s direction was sound from a technical standpoint i.e. moving people around a stage, getting a nice Tableau at the end of a song, etc.. But I did feel that he let himself down in terms of casting.
With this unusual blend of professional and amateur, one thing became increasingly apparent as the show progressed; The gap between professional and amateur is small in some points and wide in others. The dead give away that this show erred on the amateur rather than the professional was in the bit parts, one or two-liners who brought us crashing back to reality with a lazy accent or flat out bad acting. I have to stress that this did not cover everyone who had a line or two, but enough of them to stand out from the more seasoned performers in principal roles.
I still have a dream of creating a bridge between professional and amateur theatre but I think that producers need to cast purely on talent rather than resume in this scenario. The people who went to see this show went because it was a hugely popular show, in the city, had excellent PR (I even saw an article in the MX on Eliza’s hats for goodness sake!!) and was half the price of anything else. ACT Inc has the potential to achieve something truly great and I think that My Fair Lady was an excellent indication of good things to come.