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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
My Fair Lady is without question one of the greatest shows ever created for the musical theater. It's a charming, hilarious, and touching adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, pitting flower girl Eliza Doolittle against Prof. Henry Higgins, the self-absorbed and ill-tempered linguist who bets that he can turn her into a lady by improving her diction. Lerner and Loewe's score includes some of the best-loved songs in the canon: "Why Can't the English," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," among others. The 1959 London-cast stereo recording is generally held in lower regard than its Broadway counterpart, recorded three years earlier in mono. But why quibble? The principals are all the same--Rex Harrison as Higgins, Julie Andrews as Eliza, Stanley Holloway as her dad, and Robert Coote as Col. Pickering (Leonard Weir replaced Michael King as Freddy Einsford-Hill)--and it's still a classic recording in its own right that you'll treasure for years. --David Horiuchi
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE BEST, A MUST for any musical lover's collection,
By
This review is from: My Fair Lady (1959 Original London Cast) (Audio CD)
I have all 3 major My Fair Lady recordings; the 1956 Broadway Cast, the 1964 movie soundtrack, and this one. This is the best one BY FAR. Julie Andrews' voice has matured somewhat from the previous version, which is certainly for the better. Rex Harrison talks-sings about the same here as on B-way and is very believeable at the part. Between this album and the 1956 OBC, most of the cast is the same, but there are a few differences, noteably the man who plays Freddie Eynsford-Hill. Leonard Weir, a Briton, is much better than his Broadway counterpart, John Michael King (who is American, and certainly sounds like it too). Stanley Holloway is good in either case, but by the time the movie soundtrack rolls around, he sounds tired with the part (listen to the beginning of "Little Bit of Luck" on that album and you'll know what I mean). This album is a true pioneer in stereo recordings and that's one of the reasons Columbia Records producer Goddard Lieberson decided to do a remake of the cast album when the cast moved to London. After all, Columbia Records was a corporate sponsor of the show and had nothing to loose with a success like this. This stereo album sounds wonderful and the bonus track, "The Embassy Waltz," (which is in monoural) is magic. This is the My Fair Lady to get.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
JULIE ANDREWS IS THE DEFINITIVE ELIZA IN "FAIR LADY",
By Dewey Mee (ELLENSBURG, WA.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: My Fair Lady (1959 Original London Cast) (Audio CD)
"FAIR LADY" is my favorite show, and there's been a lot of carping about whether the Broadway or London Cast album (with identical principle stars) is best. The London stereo album (from 1959) is my favorite. Yes, Rex Harrison growls and bellows his way through Higgins' songs, (a serious drawback) but Stanley Holloway has a bawdy good time with Doolittle's "A Little Bit Of Luck" and "Get Me To The Church On Time." Leonard Weir is "serviceable" as Freddy Hill at best, but "The Street Where You Live" is the show's most forgettable song (a tiny flaw in this gem of a musical)! Most, and best, of all, there is the nearly perfect, transcedent performance of Julie Andrews, who is more "authentically Cockney" here than she is on the 1956 Broadway album; wistful for "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and full of fire and rage for "Just You Wait! " and "Show Me." And there has NEVER been a better performance of "I Could Have Danced All Night" than Andrews sings it here. With all due respect to my adored Audrey Hepburn, the role of Eliza belongs to Julie Andrews. The 1964 movie soundtrack, with Marni Nixon (an Andrews/Hepburn wannabe who has the qualties of neither Fair Lady, and with a Cockney accent straight out of California, to make matters worse) is horrendous! Warner Brothers' should have allowed darling Audrey Hepburn to sing for herself, as she did so expressively in the 1957 film "FUNNY FACE", and told Marni Nixon to stay home! Oh..well... In London, in Stereo, with Julie Andrews, "FAIR LADY" is, indeed, "Loverly!"
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
the "Fair Lady" in London...,
By Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER)
This review is from: My Fair Lady (1959 Original London Cast) (Audio CD)
In 1956, Lerner and Loewe's MY FAIR LADY swept into Broadway and quickly captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike, the perfect transformation of George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" into the world of the musical theatre. Both Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews played the show for two years on Broadway before yielding to replacements (Edward Mulhare and Sally Ann Howes), and in 1959 traveled across the pond to headline the London company. The show opened at the Drury Lane Theatre in April 1959, and ran for 2,281 performances.
While both Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison had laid down their definitive performances as Eliza Doolittle and Prof. Henry Higgins for the 1956 original Broadway cast album of MY FAIR LADY, the subsequent 1959 London production allowed them to record another album, in the brand-new stereophonic format. Despite this 1959 recording having a sweeter sound than the earlier 1956 mono album, this sadly remains the lesser of the two, because a lot of the energy and flash had disappeared from Julie Andrews' voice in the years she had performed the role. On the Broadway album, Andrews gives a rich performance that runs the gamut from cockney guttersnipe to regal high society, but comparing the two albums directly, she does not sound at her optimal best on the London set. Andrews has acknowledged that she found the role of Eliza both physically and vocally exhausting, even more so because of the lack of body-mikes, and the projection must have been gruelling at times. No wonder that so much of the bloom in Andrews' voice had vanished by the time she reprised her role in London. Despite Andrews, the album does have a few merits including breezy orchestrations under the direction of Cyril Ornadel (the Overture is given a much faster tempo than is heard on the Broadway set). The supporting cast includes Stanley Holloway (also reprising his Broadway role) as Eliza's dustman father Alfie. The role of Freddy is played by Leonard Weir (his "On the Street Where You Live" is very charming), and Robert Coote also repeats his Broadway role as Colonel Pickering. The 1959 London cast of MY FAIR LADY, just like the 1956 Broadway album, has never been out of the catalogue, though the confusion between the two albums still exists, despite the fact that the London album sports a gold-brown cover and the Broadway album is white. Sony Broadway Masterworks' edition features a bonus track of the "Embassy Waltz", a mono recording from 1956.
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