My Fair Lady's new cast; My new assignment

Benanti as Eliza in the Ascot scene, photo @ Sara Krulwich

The annual "momsical" came and went this past weekend -- My Fair Lady with an almost entire new cast. Henry Hadden-Patton is the only holdover from the original cast.  (Well and Allan Cordunner as Pickering and Linda Mugleston as Mrs. Pearce but ...) My mom is usually a very enthusiastic theatergoer (provided the musical is a wholesome, G-rated old-fashioned affair). Indeed she loved Henry Hadden-Patton and Danny Burstein (the new Doolitel), REALLY loved Christian Dante White (the new Freddy), and she  also liked Sher's ending. She said it "made more sense" because "Eliza could never be happy with Higgins." Keep in mind she's very old fashioned and was mildly bothered by the drag dancers in "Get Me to the Church."

The delightful Christian Dante White

Burstein and Dante-White were marked improvements from Norbert Leo-Butz and Jordan Donica. Burstein was a funnier, earthier Doolitle, with more of that charming drunk schtick that makes you believe Higgins could enthusiastically give him 5 pounds. And Dante-White's Freddy was so sweet and endearing that Sher's ending made more sense. With Donica, you got a sense that Freddy was essentially a priggish, shallow young man who would soon tire of Eliza if she didn't bring home the bacon. With Dante-White, you believed that Eliza and Freddy could be happy in their own little way. Dante-White also has a gorgeous tenor voice. "On The Street Where You Live" was undoubtedly the vocal highlight of the afternoon. Dante-White was a wonderful understudy for Gavin Creel's Cornelius Hackl in Hello Dolly! I'm so glad he's getting a leading role on Broadway. Rosemary Harris was a much warmer, kinder Mrs. Higgins than Diana Rigg. So basically this replacement cast is an improvement except for ONE crucial role ...

My mom (hardly the most exacting critic) was completely disappointed with Laura Benanti's Eliza. My mom disliked Benanti's voice and also said she was charmless.

Higgins, Eliza, and Pickering, photo @ Joan Marcus

I have to say I agree with her. For someone who has said Eliza is her dream role, I thought Benanti gave a cold, hard, brittle performance. There was no freshness or innocence to her Eliza -- from the moment she walked onstage with her flower basket she seemed calculating and so confident. Thus there was no growth -- the woman who marched out of Higgins' study at the end was the same woman who sold flowers in the beginning of the musical. There was never any doubt that she would be able to pass herself off as a lady -- her strong, steely body language and crisp vocal inflections as she spoke made her Eliza seem like a mature woman of the world rather than a "squashed cabbage leaf." Lauren Ambrose is chronologically the same age as Benanti but read as much younger, cuter, and innocent.

Vocally I thought Benanti was either having a bad day or the role lies too high for her because she struggled with high notes throughout the afternoon. They sounded shrill and disconnected from the rest of her voice."I Could Have Danced All Night" was particularly hard on the ears.  Her accent was all over the place -- an Irish brogue, Melania Trump, International Accent, Scottish accent, I think I heard them all. This was actually detrimental to her portrayal -- her accent was SO inconsistent both pre-and-post transformation that one was always aware of the artifice. There was also no chemistry between her and the other characters. When she says goodbye to her father before he gets married, she sounded like a human resources manager wishing someone who has just been let go "good luck." No sadness that money couldn't buy her dad any class or paternal feeling.

Benanti and Hadden-Patton, photo @ Joan Marcus

I also thought that for being a known comedienne she wasn't that funny. She was funny at times, but there were so many lines where a fresher, more wide-eyed approach would have been way funnier than the smirk she used to signal to the audience "laugh here." A sassier, more confident Eliza would have been just as funny if Laura had also made it clear that despite the sass and confidence Eliza was sorely lacking in education and social graces at the beginning of her journey. But that was not Laura Benanti.  Even Audrey Hepburn (a very princessy type of actress) did a better job conveying Eliza's funny/endearing "squashed cabbage leaf" quality. One example: Higgins tells Eliza to stop "boo hooing." In every production I've seen Eliza is actually loudly "boo-hooing." So the humor comes from Higgins being a jerk but sort of right in that moment -- Eliza is being annoying. Laura made some tiny little whiny sounds, nothing that would prompt Higgins to start bellowing at her.

Another moment where Lauren Ambrose (and every other Eliza I've seen's) "traditional" way of playing the role is simply funnier than Benanti's interpretation is the Ascot scene. Every Eliza I've ever seen plays Eliza as sort of air-headed in that scene. Lauren Ambrose emphasized the exaggerated "h's" and slow enunciation to great effect. Eliza can make proper vowels and looks pretty in a dress, but that's about it. She has a lot of work to do still. Laura glided onstage and spoke in a polished, smooth manner. Only her coarse story about her aunt gave her away. She didn't even scream "Come on Dover, move your bloomin' ass!" but rather sweetly recited that line.

The ending REALLY changed with Benanti compared to Ambrose. Same stage directions, but the difference in body language was enormous. With Ambrose there was a lot of sadness as she touched Higgins' cheek, held his hand, and left his study. It was the right decision, but you felt her pain and thus Higgins' pain as well. Benanti again had such a cold body language as she left his study that the bond between her and Higgins seemed completely transactional. He got what he wanted (sort of), she got what she wanted, and that was that.

So this momsical was a failure, because My Fair Lady without an Eliza is no musical at all.

Gallim's To Create a World, photo @ Andrea Mohin

In other news, I am now reviewing dance for the website bachtrack. My first assignment was Gallim's To Create A World. My review is here. This does not mean that I will stop reviewing dance on this blog; for one, bachtrack only allows for reviews of single performances and with companies like New York City Ballet I like to review multiple casts and need more print space than bachtrack can offer. But I've always dreamed of reviewing dance professionally and now it's (sort of) happening! So to track my dance pieces for bachtrack, follow me here or on my twitter handle @poisonivy326.