On the surface, the Time鈥檚 Up era hardly seems the time for a musical based on the Pygmalion myth, in which a male sculptor molds the perfect woman. But in fact, director Bartlett Sher urges, the hard talks sparked by #MeToo provide the moment audiences need to re-examine Lerner and Loewe鈥檚 classic My Fair Lady.
鈥淲hat role does theatre play in our lives? There are certain stories we grow up with and we return to them as a way of investigating who we are鈥攚ho we are as a person, who we are as a country,鈥� the Tony winner says.
Sher uses his revival to flip the typical perspective from Professor Henry Higgins transforming street urchin Eliza Doolittle to that of a woman hell-bent on improving her own circumstances. Sher鈥檚 mission is to tell her story. 鈥淢y version much more leans toward Eliza and what Eliza goes through,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he chooses to go and learn. She chooses to take her life in her hands and get out of her situation and challenge the conventions around her.鈥�
Sher鈥檚 interpretation draws more from George Bernard Shaw鈥檚 1938 movie Pygmalion than any previous iteration of the musical. 鈥淸Shaw] was a big advocate for exploring equality between the sexes. He took this myth as a way of challenging these larger questions,鈥� says Sher. 鈥淚 happen to think it鈥檚 about Shaw鈥檚 thing that class doesn鈥檛 matter. That gender doesn鈥檛 matter. That people are equal and that they do rise and change and can overcome these obstacles and opportunities to be different. That is entirely what the piece is saying.鈥�
To demonstrate the scale of Eliza鈥檚 challenge, Sher creates a world rich in disparity, juxtaposing the lives of the poor and the privileged. On the spectrum of Sher鈥檚 previous works, this production promises to skew lavish and large. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very epic piece,鈥� Sher says, calling it the most demanding work he鈥檚 ever staged at Lincoln Center Theater, where the show begins previews March 15.
Read: BARTLETT SHER AND J.T. ROGERS ON TURNING A HISTORY LESSON INTO A THRILL FOR BROADWAY鈥橲 OSLO
But Sher鈥檚 refocusing of the story hinges on the dynamic between Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, which is why casting two equals was crucial. Sher chose Harry Hadden-Paton, making his Broadway debut, for Henry and Lauren Ambrose, whom he directed in Broadway鈥檚 Awake and Sing!, for Eliza. And鈥攃ontrary to previous tellings鈥擲her insisted on actors of the same age, noting that the text never prescribes the age gap to which many audiences have become accustomed, and removing one complicated factor in the power dynamic.
Sher wants audiences focused: 鈥淎t the root of it is the role of class and gender and the lengths to which people have to go to overcome their circumstances and prevail through equality.鈥� With My Fair Lady Sher aims to instigate a conversation that moves the needle toward that parity. Now wouldn鈥檛 that be loverly?
Hear star Lauren Ambrose sing before making her Broadway musical debut as Eliza Doolittle:
Ruthie Fierberg is the Senior Features Editor of 半岛体育 covering all things theatre and co-hosting the Opening Night Red Carpet livestreams on 半岛体育's Facebook. Follow her on Twitter @RuthiesATrain, on Instagram @ruthiefierceberg, or via .
