Oh BOO, HISS! Nobody with a heart or soul could even think such a thing!
I practically grew up on the original cast recording of My Fair Lady. This was in 1956, and it was the first stereo lp that my father bought. And he virtually wore it out, so I had all the songs memorized, and On the Street Where You Live was one of my favorites from the beginning. It’s a joyous and exuberant declaration of love, period. I don’t think the movie is too long, considering how many great songs are involved. But you may have to go back to the original cast album with Julie Andrews, who should have reprised her role in the movie.
It’s a hysterical spoof of the oh-so-correct British upper crust, their speech, mannerisms and dress (by today’s standards, those hats are way too conventional). If you want to see an entire musical with that type of “dance,” watch Hello, Dolly. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Shaw’s intention was to satirize the British class system, which he did extremely well. Pygmalion was set in Edwardian (not Victorian) England, though in the 1938 film Higgins uses oscilloscopes and other more advanced equipment.
I don’t care in what country or period you’re living: if you put a private into a general’s uniform, he’ll still walk around scratching his ass. Even if he doesn’t, people will still have him pegged the moment he opens his mouth.
*“Remember that you are a human being
with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech,
that your native language is the language of
Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible.
Don’t sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon!” *
My Fair Lady might be my favorite musical, period. Sure, the pacing has some issues, and there are a few plot holes - the biggest being what happens to Freddy - but the music. “Why Can’t the English,” “Just You Wait,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “A Hymn to Him,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” the list goes on and on and on. I have to say, the movie version isn’t the best to start out with, as it looks a bit staged and the acting isn’t top notch, but as a musical? It’s fantastic. The only thing that beats the clever, complex lyrics are the intricate, beautiful melodies.
As a 10-year-old kid in a hick town, I knew the song On the Street Where You Live without ever seeing the Broadway show or the movie. It must have been sung over and over on music/variety TV shows like Hit Parade and Ed Sullivan. It was many years before I knew the song was from Broadway. Heck, it was years before I realized that most of the songs I grew up with were from Broadway.
I miss variety TV. If not for the Tonys, I wouldn’t hear any of the music.
My Fair Lady has been one of my favorite movies since I was 12. Of course, I always fast forward “Get Me To the Church” after the first run through the lyrics. It just repeats the same four lines for 10 minutes while they all dance around the neighborhood, so fast forwarding at this point doesn’t lose you anything.
“Loverly” and “I could have danced all night” are my favorites. I don’t mind the lyric repeat of the latter, strangely enough, since the same lyric composition drives me crazy in Mr. Doolittle’s big number.
*And oh the towering feeling
Just to know somehow you are near
The overpowering feeling
That any second you may suddenly appear
People stop and stare, they don’t bother me
For there’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be
Let the time go by, I won’t care
If I can be here on the street where you live*
Stalker! I mean, it’s a good tune and all, but dude has issues.
I fell in love with my parents extremely worn out original cast recording (one of the best selling albums ever up to that time- it was backordered) and saw two stage productions all before I saw the movie. I preferred the original recording and both stage productions, one of which was a college production, to the movie.
The pacing is glacial, so it is too over choreographed, too over stylized, and generally too elaborately staged to be enjoyable. I know that Audrey Hepburn is an icon and was wonderful in many movies, but she is not Eliza and not just because she’s not Julie Andrews, though that’s reason enough.
More later when I’m not on mobile.
