Last June, Amber and I went back to New York and one of the things we saw there was the new production of one of my favorite musicals, My Fair Lady. I loved everything about it except the new ending. If you go to this post and scroll way down, you'll find a long explanation of why I didn't like the new ending.
The production has changed since then. Three of the stars I saw — Lauren Ambrose, Norbert Leo Butz and Diana Rigg — have departed. They've been replaced by (respectively) Laura Benanti, Danny Burstein and Rosemary Harris. Also, there appears to be a change to that ending I so disliked. Let me put up the spoiler alert —
— and then I'll quote a message I received from Dan Kravetz…
I saw the current production of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center for the first time the other night, after having read the detailed review in your blog last May. The ending seems to have been changed. Benanti's Eliza does not run away or storm off stage into the audience.
I had read that in some early performances, Lauren Ambrose had actually slapped Higgins in the face before turning and running from him. Now, after Higgins asks
where his slippers are, Benanti comes up close to him and gives him a smile and friendly pat on the cheek, then turns and walks slowly in the other direction. The lights black out before she has stepped off the stage.I think it much more in keeping with Shaw's proposal that although Eliza intends to marry Freddy, she and Higgins have not seen the last of each other. Her brief return visit can be interpreted as a way for her to pay one more tribute to the man who changed her life and changed her father's life, while also being changed himself, as she had observed during their scene at Mrs. Higgins' home.
People in the audience were still a bit surprised that the two are not reunited as lovers (Shaw was apparently asexual, and may have wanted Higgins to be the same), but it was really touching and effective, unlike what you described several months ago.
That's nice to hear…but did someone really think Higgins deserved a slap in the face? For what? Taking in a "prisoner of the gutters" and giving her exactly what she asked him for? Making sure she was properly chaperoned? Offering to fund her in a business of her own? Did anyone there understand that Professor Higgins was not Harvey Weinstein?
I wrote this entire post yesterday and it's just a coincidence that today, I see my buddy Ken Levine is highly recommending it on his blog. He saw the softened ending that Dan saw and still thought it was wrong…and he adored Laura Benanti. If she's still in the show next time I make it to Manhattan, I'm going again. Thanks, Dan. I hope you and my other readers enjoy these clips from the current version of the show in New York…