It’s a cold wet Saturday afternoon. We head into the Alban Arena and take our seats looking forward to seeing the Lerner and Loewe musical production of My Fair Lady by the St Albans Musical Theatre Company. The auditorium is full and we’re ready to escape into an afternoon of theatre magic. Suddenly the lights dim and there is a hush. Through a mist, the curtain rises.

The play opens on a rainy night in Covent Garden where we are introduced to Colonel Pickering, Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. The theatre sets are colourful and realistic and we are immediately immersed into the story. The live orchestra begins to weave a melody and we enjoy the first song Why Can’t the English? sung by Professor Higgins. We gain an understanding of the sheer frustration and anger he feels as he despairs at “people whose English is painful to their ears”, “dropping h’s everywhere” and resulting in “the cold blooded murder of the English tongue...”

Although brilliant in his field, Professor Higgins is somewhat socially inept and judgemental, perhaps on purpose, because he is uninspired by middle and upper-class moralities. We discover that he’s a brilliant phonetician and although one of the less memorable songs, it summarises the central theme of the entire play on early 20th Century attitudes to language and social class in England.

The first three acts are taken up with Eliza’s education. A low-class flower girl enthusiastic about Higgins claim that he can transform her speech and manners until she’d be able to emulate a member of the aristocracy; she suddenly appears on his doorstep in Wimpole Street. Professor Henry Higgins decides to go ahead with the risky bet of changing a cockney flower seller’s accent to the extent of passing her off as a duchess.

Higgins shows a great deal of insensitivity and a dehumanising attitude in his speech tutoring, making Eliza go over her vowels until 3 am in the morning. “A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds…has no right to live.” “Condemned by every syllable she utters.” Eliza retaliates, “I’m a good girl I am!” Apart from Higgins misogyny, which I find challenging to bear throughout the play, the play still seems to work for modern-day audiences.

The musical, loosely based on Shaw’s play Pygmalion, was adapted to the theatre with lyrics by Lerner and music by Loewe. A film was made in 1938 and then in 1964. The 1956 Broadway production musical was immensely popular, setting the record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history at that time. It was once described by the New York Times as “one of the best musicals of the century.” It’s a timeless classic and it brings back happy childhood memories of watching it on TV with the family in the 1970s.

The ornate Edwardian costumes, props and detailed sets of Higgins’ study crammed with books and the colourful flower market in Covent Garden transports us back to the nostalgia of Edwardian London. I find it difficult to say which song is my favourite. I think it has to be the high energy songs, With a Little Bit of Luck and Get Me to the Church on Time that ooze London of the period, and show the warmth and camaraderie expressed within the poorer communities. I was mesmerised by the wonderfully entertaining choreography with all of the actors dancing together in synch. Alfred Doolittle, Eliza’s father, personifies the conditions of a lower-class life; his spontaneity and slapstick sense of humour is energising and entertaining; he simply accepts who he is, free and loving it.

Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and the melodious quality of Nicola Martinus-Smith’s strong voice instantly captivates us next and we share in Eliza’s narrative. The audience is charmed by her singing and acting skills. I sit there and absorb one timeless classic one after another. Such brilliant songs!

In the fourth act Eliza has successfully completed the experiment and has changed into a lady, her speech and manners transformed. They wallow in the success of their social experiment. The rain in Spain is perfectly delivered; a wonderful celebration of her successful elocution. Higgins and Pickering are shocked yet overjoyed by Eliza’s sudden newfound mastery of language and dialogue. Clearly, they underestimated her.

The garden party scene is charming and clever as Eliza and her new-found upper-class acquaintances speak at cross purposes. Eliza’s language relapses here and there and she talks about a family member, assuring them that “They done him in!” It’s brilliantly comical and everybody laughs as they take her words to be a new form of popular slang. The grace and charm of the day at Ascot is unparalleled, the monochrome costumes. the music, the refined glamour and, of course, Eliza’s effortlessly natural delivery of "Move your bloomin’ a*se!” is hilariously entertaining.

We then see the pinnacle of Eliza’s elegance and delicacy at the ambassador’s party when she feigns the language and etiquette of a duchess. It is indeed a night of triumph for Eliza, Pickering and Professor Higgins and culminates in the joyous “I could have danced all night,” the ultimate musical song. There is more to Eliza than they both thought and the next tune is sung by Pickering and Higgins “We did it.” “…and when the Prince of Transylvania asked to meet her and gave his arm to lead her to the floor…By George I think you did it!” Pickering gushes.

In act five Eliza is changed, more mature and when she runs away from Wimpole Street feeling degraded by the wager, they both discover that they miss her and want her back. In a sense Eliza has in fact surpassed her creator and, in the end, distraught by her departure, Higgins discovers that he cannot live without her. The audience picks up on the subtlety of their struggle of being apart. The professor delivers his last line when he realises that she has come back to him, his heart lifts and he sits back hiding his elation and asks sternly, “Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?”

The play was rich in humour with glamorous costume design packed with light-hearted song and dance. I’ve been especially amazed with how Matthew Gregory (Professor Higgins) delivers all of his lines with his numerous lengthy monologues! Despite the play’s simple plot, the performances from Higgins, Eliza, Pickering and the entire cast have been stunning. I totally lost myself in it and was never bored. Loud cheers and applause at the end of a dynamic performance fill the auditorium. It’s undoubtedly a classic and one of musical theatres greatest 20th Century scores.

  • Marisa Laycock moved from south west London to St Albans in 2000. She enjoys sharing her experiences of living in the city.