Why Sheffield’s My Fair Lady Should transfer to the West End

As regular readers will know, I love the Sheffield Crucible. It produces the most amazing theatre for a third of the price of a West End ticket and keeps em coming, year after year.

Currently – My Fair Lady is wowing audiences. If you have seen the most recent production in London or on tour, you may be thinking – is it worth reviving? The answer is a loud and proud: YES. If you have read the reviews, you have read about the performances – Carly Bawden gives the kind of star-making performance that leaves you gasping. She is so good, that you will believe she has been a leading lady for years. I saw her in the awful revival of Pippin last year and she impressed. But here, she owns the stage. Dominic West is also fabulous.

Alistair David‘s choreography is incredibly impressive as the actors are worked until they drop and it reminded me of the wonderful revival of Crazy For You. Once “I’m Getting Married” has finished – you feel compelled to stand up and applaud and the show’s not over yet.

Daniel Evans‘ direction is spirited and perfectly paced. The laughs come thick and fast, the romance is perfectly played, it’s poignant in all the right places and the vocals from all of the cast put many ‘stars’ to shame. There’s no Russell Crowe style singing here!

With Viva Forever proving that a show’s name can sometimes prove to be a mistake (It’s not going to last) – it’s time to get rid of a jukebox musical and replace it with a classic musical which is performed with passion, playfulness and respect.

Fingers crossed that audiences down South can see what Yorkshire audiences are raving about right now.