Fair’s more than fair as musicals return to the chart…
Topped the charts:
4th May 1958 (for 19 weeks)
19 weeks total
Easy as it is to think of 1958 as the era in which youth culture took over the album charts, My Fair Lady’s dominance of that summer was a reminder that the grown-ups still held the purse strings.
Like the Rodgers & Hammerstein soundtracks before it, My Fair Lady is full-on Musical Theatre (capital M, capital T). As with all globe-swallowing shows, its success defies logic— maybe not on this chart, its Broadway soundtrack success coinciding with the show opening in the West End—but how did a musical set in early 20th Century London about linguistics based on a play by George Bernard Shaw become one of the biggest New York hits ever?
It could be what we’ll call the “Downton effect” several decades early: Americans bloody love the English class system. With modern eyes, it’s very easy to look at this as a musical about sexism, thanks to the deep-seating misogyny of its lead character (Rex Harrison’s indelible Henry Higgins, one of the biggest anti-heroes in musical history), and an older man taking advantage of a powerless young woman. But it actually goes a little deeper than that, and is really about the ways in which the upper-middle classes use the working class as their playthings, represented here by Julie Andrews’ Eliza Doolittle. It is based on a George Bernard Shaw source, after all. It’s all there on the cover.
More likely though, it’s the quality of the songs what done it, divided as they are almost exactly in half between big catchy crowd-pleasers (With a Little Bit of Luck, I Could Have Danced All Night, Get Me to the Church On Time- all bangers) and songs to suit Harrison’s trademark speak-singing (more of a mixed bag- Why Can’t the English is great; An Ordinary Man and A Hymn to Him are at least three verses too long apiece). Even with the more samey Harrison songs, songwriters Lerner and Lowe suffice each track with wit to match the delivery in both lyric and melody—is there a more joyous rhyme outside of Cole Porter than “Budapest” and “ruder pest” on You Did It? An Ordinary Man might be one of the weaker tracks here, but the way it stirs into orchestral life with Harrison’s temper is hugely effective.
Of course, the breakout star of My Fair Lady was 20-year-old Julie Andrews, despite sounding about as cockney as Jacob Rees-Moog in the opening songs. She does however capture the tempest of Eliza’s emotions through the show- the soft-focus longing (Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?), to sheer joy (I Could Have Danced All Night), through to righteous indignation (getting on “bloody well” in Without You), her songs capture Eliza’s emotional journey believably and powerfully. Practically perfect, indeed, and an ideal foil to Harrison.
Events climax with I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face, which eschews a typically bombastic finale for something melancholier and more regretful that ties the story and melody threads together. It’s improved further by the fact that the musical’s disappointing final lines are removed from the soundtrack, something the film’s version sadly doesn’t do.
Despite said 1964 film adaptation grossing well and winning Best Picture, My Fair Lady is not something we will revisit later. It’s simpler that way, avoiding the dubbing and casting controversies of that edition. Instead, we can marvel at just how successful a stage show soundtrack could be without the aid of a film adaptation, making My Fair Lady the Hamilton of its day, another show that had absolutely no right to be as successful as it was.
Loverly.
Score: 8/10
Where does My Fair Lady land for you in a list of great muscials? How do you think it has dated over the years? Let us know in the comments!
Tracklisting:
1. Overture
2. Why Can’t the English?
3. Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?
4. With a Little Bit of Luck
5. I’m an Ordinary Man
6. Just You Wait
7. The Rain in Spain
8. I Could Have Danced All Night
9. Ascot Gavotte
10. On the Street Where You Live
11. You Did It
12. Show Me
13. Get Me to the Church on Time
14. A Hymn to Him
15. Without You
16. I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
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