Review: My Fair Lady at Curve Theatre Leicester is a lavish production of ‘loverly-ness’

This huge production, directed by Curve’s own Nikolai Foster, is based on the play ‘Pygmalion’ by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, and was first adapted for the stage by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe back in 1956.

In the opening scenes, the audience is transported to Covent Garden and introduced to flower seller Eliza Doolittle, played by Molly Lynch. Eliza has been brought up on the streets of London and has a strong Cockney accent.

When Professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, played by David Seadon-Young hears Eliza speak, he uses her as an example to brag to fellow phonetician Hugh Pickering, played by Minal Patel, that he can teach her to speak 'properly' so she can pass as a member of high society. With dreams of opening her own flower shop, Eliza decides to take the professor up on his idea and offers to pay him for the privilege, but Higgins takes her on free of charge to prove his skills to Pickering.

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Lynch is captivating in the role of Eliza. Her rendition of ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ is just beautiful. Seadon-Young and Patel are equally as well cast. Seadon-Young has the perfect voice for the role of Higgins. His frantic ways are matched completely by Patel’s calm and charming demeanour.

When Eliza’s dad, Alfred P. Doolittle, hears she is living at Higgins's house; he pays him a visit supposedly to protect Eliza, but ends up being bought off with £5 from Higgins. Later on in the production, in a plot twist, Doolittle finds himself ‘unhappily rich’ and ends up marrying Eliza’s stepmum.

Doolittle, played by Steve Furst, is a real tour de force in this production, his rendition of ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’ along with the ensemble, is absolutely flawless. Following many unsuccessful attempts, Eliza manages to turn her accent around and after taking her to Ascot Racecourse, where things do not exactly go to plan, Higgins takes her to the Embassy Ball which is a huge success.

Higgins is so wrapped up with patting himself on the back for Eliza’s success, he forgets to consider her feelings. When she leaves, he realises he has ‘Grown Accustomed To Her Face’.

Damian Buhagiar is excellent in the role of Zoltan Karpathy, he has an unseemingly endless amount of energy and his comedy timing is spot on. Freddy, too, played by Djavan Van De Fliert is also worthy of a mention - what a voice.

The set design by Michael Taylor in this production is just wonderful. From Covent Garden with its huge columns, to the masterpiece that is Henry Higgins's house, and every scene in between, including the races, the ball and the bar scene, each intricate detail has been thought about and brought to life.

Taylor’s costumes also work perfectly with the production. I particularly liked the costuming for the Ascot scenes. If I was to pick up on one thing, though, it would be the costume chosen for Mrs Pearce as it didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the company.

Jo Goodwin’s choreography for this production is energetic and a joy to watch, my favourites have to be the aforementioned Get Me To The Church on Time, this just had so much going on, and With A Little Bit Of Luck was so entertaining.The orchestra accompanying them were also an absolute delight.

My Fair Lady at Curve Theatre is a lavish production of ‘loverly-ness’. The standing ovation last night was well deserved for this incredible performance. The production runs at Curve until Saturday January 4, 2025. Tickets are priced from £10 to £52.50.

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