My Fair Lady at the Mill at Sonning – review

It goes without saying that Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner’s 1956 musical My Fair Lady is one of the most beautifully constructed pieces of musical theatre ever written – and that Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle are two of the genre’s most scintillating protagonists. It’s so deeply embedded in popular culture that I find it hard to believe that I didn’t emerge from the womb knowing all the songs and with Rex Harrison’s line readings imprinted on my brain.

Joseph Pitcher’s version for the Mill at Sonning might not reinvent the (water) wheel but you wouldn’t want it to – the piece itself is almost flawless and this new production is a sparkling gem for the festive season.

Pitcher tells the story by the speed of summer lighting but without rushing and the Mill’s intimate space makes the piece, with all its words and ideas, immediate rather than stately. Diego Pitarch’s set design, dominated by wrought iron windows, is remarkable for the space, with furniture and props nimbly wheeled on and off to mark the changes of location. The costumes by Natalie Titchener are mostly worthy of Whitley’s (Colonel Pickering’s favourite department store). The musical values (musical direction by Nick Tudor and orchestrations and arrangements by Charlie Ingles) are extremely high, especially when the score is rendered by a band of four.

My Fair Lady isn’t usually thought of as an ensemble show, and that’s this production’s secret weapon. The choreography by Pitcher and Alex Christian is outstanding and the ensemble effortlessly switch between Higgins’s servants, Cockney pub drinkers, various lords and ladies, and even Ascot jockeys, as well as featuring touches of actor-musicianship. Many numbers, led by the excellent Mark Moraghan as the on-the-make Alfred P Doolitttle, provide a panorama of Edwardian London, with labour activists and suffragettes shaking up the upper classes’ elegant complacence.

As lovestruck suitor Freddy, the delightfully wet-behind-the-ears Alfie Blackwell extracts the full comic potential of “On the Street Where You Live” and Jo Servi is a genial Colonel Pickering. Francesca Ellis’s housekeeper Mrs Pearce aims plenty of side-eye at her employer and Sophie-Louise Dann dispenses no-nonsense wisdom as Mrs Higgins (it’s an acting-only role, so Dann gets to join in with the fun with a cameo as Edwardian male impersonator Vesta Tilley).

And Higgins and Eliza? Nadim Naaman is a young and handsome Higgins who is considerably more affable than usual (while still being damnably irascible) and demonstrates significant growth when he realises that he’s grown accustomed to Eliza’s face despite dehumanising her for so much of the show. Simbi Akande’s Eliza is clarion of voice (“Show Me” is a real statement of intent) and tremendously elegant and sharp-witted, proving herself as every inch a match for her teacher.

While George Bernard Shaw would turn in his grave at the idea of Pygmalion being turned into a romcom, a touch of romance is just right for this production (it’s its other secret weapon). Naaman and Akande really do make us root for Higgins and Eliza to act on their spark and make things work. There’s a real “moment” when Higgins leads Eliza in a tango when she finally masters “The Rain in Spain” and a palpable sense of jealousy when he has to surrender the embassy waltz to the weaselly Zoltan Karpathy (Christopher Parkinson). It’s clear that both have found something worth nurturing in this unusual relationship that goes beyond words.

This is a piece of theatre that serves as pure pleasure that would be ideal for audiences who know it intimately and those encountering the show fresh. Lerner and Loewe’s masterpiece is spruced up and looking in its prime, so get you to the Mill on time!