2023-12-29 11:14:07
At the Théâtre du Passage in Neuchâtel from December 29, 2023 to January 2, 2024, Robert Bouvier is directing the famous musical comedy “My Fair Lady” with Davide Autieri and Leana Durney in the roles of Professor Henry Higgins and the florist Eliza Doolittle.
Is it enough to appear to be one? Yes, answers phonetics specialist Henry Higgins without hesitation. This somewhat original bachelor embarks on a strange bet with his friend Colonel Pickering. In a few weeks of lessons in posture and especially pronunciation, he will transform a simple florist from the suburbs into an authentic lady.
This is how the young Eliza Doolittle, encountered by chance one evening out at the theater, finds herself catapulted into the most chic circles of London where she turns heads.
One of the most famous musicals
Created in 1956, “My Fair Lady” is still one of the most famous musicals today. With Rex Harrison as the professor and two absolute stars as the modest florist: Julie Andrews in the stage version and Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film version.
>> To see and listen: “I Could Have Danced All Night” performed by Audrey Hepburn in the film “My Fair Lady” (1964)
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Higgins’ bet is won… except that this old misogynistic macho more or less considers Eliza as a sort of learned monkey or a poor creature who owes allegiance to him. But Eliza Doolittle needs to be seen as a human being. With his doubts and his aspirations.
At the origin of the witticisms of this comedy set in Victorian England, we find a play by George Bernard Shaw in 1912, the time when the bet takes place. It’s called “Pygmalion” and it’s more or less the same story, except for the ending where Higgins finds himself alone and lost in his contempt for women. Here too, it is a question of a transfer from one social class to another, an issue which fascinated Shaw, also a fervent communist and non-conformist figure in British society at the time.
A metaphor for the acting profession
In the age of social networks, it is easy to invent a life different from your own and pretend to be someone you are not. Is it less noble or enviable than the story of Eliza Doolittle who ultimately no longer knows what her true identity is? Here she is, in fact, too chic and cultured to remain a simple florist and not wealthy enough to really become a lady, unless she takes the path of social ascension through marriage.
Revisiting “My Fair Lady” today in the light of feminist struggles and the reflections of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu on social habitus brings a shift that one will find delicious or questionable depending on one’s convictions. Director of this 2023 version, Robert Bouvier also sees it as a metaphor for the profession of actor and actress: a costume, a voice, an attitude and we become other, a character as much as an individual. Both artificial (we play) and yet sincere (you have to be authentic and believe in it yourself).
“My Fair Lady” is sung in English and told in French on the Passage stage in Neuchâtel with the excellent duo Davide Autieri and Leana Durney in the two main roles, supported on stage by the soloists, choirs and orchestra from L’avant-scene opera.
Thierry Sartoretti/aq
“My Fair Lady”, Théâtre du Passage, Neuchâtel, from December 29, 2023 to January 2, 2024
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