My Fair Lady - ideas- Page 2
My Fair Lady - ideas
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#25re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/20/07 at 8:01pm
I saw the Trinity Rep production with the two pianos.
They had a wooden stage, the two baby grand pianos were facing each other. The back wall was made of brick. There was a spiral staircase on stage left, which led to a catwalk above. The front of the stage had stairs and ramps that went into the aisles. And there was a doorway to a bar.
The library was implied with two chairs, a recorder, and some books. Eliza's bed was the two pianos with a sheet over the tops.
I sat in the third row, dead center, in stadium seating. It was one of the most affecting evenings of theatre I'd ever seen.
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
istillbelieve24601
Featured Actor Joined: 4/3/07
#26re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/20/07 at 8:43pm
You seem to see a lot of versions with two pianos and small casts. If you can pull that off, it's great. If you have doubts about pulling it off, don't even attempt it.
In our version, Mrs. Peirce/Mrs. Higgins was played by the same actress because the director wantedto show the mothering tendencies between two characters and also make a point about their interactions with Higgins. It was interesting... I'm not nessecarily saying I agree with how it was done, but it's just an idea.
Cosette: Roses are red.
Marius: Violets are blue.
Eponine: You're so in love!
Marius: And so not with you.
#27re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/20/07 at 9:01pm
ALWAYS PLAY THE SUBTEXT ON THE TOP!
You know....like the British did with Carrousel!
HAHA!
"To love another person is to see the face of God!"
AngusN
Broadway Star Joined: 3/23/05
#28re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/22/07 at 10:32am
That's an interesting casting idea IStillBelieve, one that I may have to consider, as I may be stuck casting the ladies.
What about Ascot and the Embassy Waltz? Come on guys, there must be something original and imaginative that you have watched and thought WOW.
#29re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/22/07 at 10:35am
The best version of the Ascot scene I can remember was the london revival, where Matthew Bourne had them all moving like statues being rolled across the stage. Very weird and very effective.
The Embassy Waltz? Well, you know what it's supposed to accomplish. Work with your choreographer on that one.
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Practically Perfect
Leading Actor Joined: 3/10/05
#30re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/22/07 at 10:49am
I'd just like to clear up a couple of things about the 2001 National Theatre revival, which toured England recently, and is going on tour in America this summer.
1. In "Just You Wait", the King did not come on stage and sing. It was all Eliza.
2. "The Ascot Gavotte" - everyone was wearing black except for Higgins and the Jockey who won the race. Eliza wore black too. It was extremely striking against the green turf that was placed on the stage for that scene.
3."The Ascot Gavotte" did not utilise statues - that was Matthew Bourne's choreography for "Jolly Holiday" in "Mary Poppins". In this scene in the revival, the male dancers behaved like horses, with their walking canes acting as tails. They would leap, prance and trot around the stage. It was beautifully done.
Mary P x
#31re: My Fair Lady - ideas
Posted: 5/22/07 at 12:00pmIn the previews (which I got to see while in London for the Jubilee) Bourne was indeed using the statue idea. It's a shame he changed it, because it was very, very wonderful.
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