My Fair Lady is a classic, wistful musical set in Edwardian London. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play, Pygmalion, the original 1956 Broadway production - with words & lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe - won the Tony Award for best musical. The iconic film version, which followed in 1964 and starred Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, was also hugely successful and bagged the Academy Award for best picture.

Directed by Bartlett Sher, this new production of the show - the first major revival in 15 years - is currently touring from the West End. For those not in the know, the plot focuses on the character of a working-class flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Rebekah Lowings, stepping in for Charlotte Kennedy), who is taken in hand by a linguistics professor - Henry Higgins (award-winning West End & Broadway star Michael D Xavier) - and taught to speak like a lady. 

The professor’s motivation for ‘helping’ Eliza is to win a tasteless wager with fellow linguist Colonel Pickering (John Middleton). But in order to do so, he must teach his new student to ‘speak proper’ within just six months - and to reach a standard whereby she might be mistaken not just for a lady but a duchess...

Any concerns I may have had that a production of My Fair Lady might feel a little worn and uninspired in 2023 were quickly dispelled last night. Sure, this new rendition certainly retains a familiar, traditional feel, but the whole show is sparkling and fresh, an utterly outstanding theatrical experience from its very first moments to its splendid finale and subsequent standing ovation.

The Edwardian costumes are beautifully designed and the sets visually stunning, especially Professor Higgins’ house, which is three dimensional and revolves on stage, depicting different rooms and staircases that the actors then access via various doors. This is used to particularly excellent effect by Eliza when she stomps angrily around the house singing Just You Wait, expressing her frustration with the professor’s attitude and treatment of her.

Through their unusual arrangement - including gruelling enunciation lessons and outings into polite middle-class society - Eliza and Higgins become a little fonder of one another than either of them could have anticipated. There is a great on-stage chemistry between the two leading actors, both of whom display exceptional comic timing, leading to many a laugh-out-loud moment.

The show offers up plenty of memorable scenes. One of my favourites takes place at Ascot racecourse. Eliza and the rest of the elegantly dressed spectators stand in a line at the front of the stage, looking out over the audience. When the starting-bell rings, the sound of thundering hooves moves from one side of the auditorium to the other before fading into the distance, making you feel like you could actually be at the races with them. What makes this scene even better is what happens during the race, as the newly refined Eliza shocks the gathered gentry by urging the particular horse on which she has a bet to “Move yer bloomin’ arse!”

Another memorable moment sees Eliza’s dad, Alfred P Doolittle (brilliantly played by Adam Woodyatt), give a very spirited rendition of Get Me To The Church On Time. He’s supported in his musical endeavour by a troupe of audacious can-can dancers and a chorus of cross-dressing, corset-wearing men!

Lesley Garrett, meanwhile, gives a convincing and comic performance as Professor Higgins’ housekeeper, Mrs Pearce. Sadly, the role offers no real opportunity to hear her splendid soprano voice.

Professor Higgins wins the wager with Colonel Pickering when Eliza surpasses all expectations, so much so that when she attends an embassy ball, she’s mistaken not for a lady, nor for a duchess, but instead for a foreign princess. 

In turn, she challenges the professor to treat her with the basic humanity she deserves.

The show contains many gorgeous, well known and much-loved songs - including Wouldn’t It Be Loverly, I Could Have Danced All Night and With A Little Bit Of Luck, to name but a few - all of which were fabulously performed by the superbly talented cast. 

If you’re a fan of the film version of My Fair Lady, you will definitely enjoy this current touring production of the hit musical. You have until a week on Sunday to catch it at the Birmingham Hippodrome, and we can pretty much guarantee you’ll have a bloomin’ loverly time.

5 stars

Reviewed by Sue Hull at the Birmingham Hippodrome Wed 8 March. The show runs at the theatre until Sunday 19 March.