Film & Theatre, Reviews | Posted on May 22nd, 2025 | return to news
My Fair Lady
P&P Productions, Lighthouse, Poole
Review by Marilyn Barber
I will give the first words of this review to my friend who saw the original production starring Julie Andrews in London back in the day.
“This is very, very good,” she said.
And so it is. Joyful, exuberant, polished, and clearly rehearsed to the nth degree.
With a stellar cast of lead actors and 40 hugely accomplished singers and dancers, this musical with the book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and with music by Frederick Loewe will surely go down as one of this company’s finest productions.
Based on the book ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw, it tells the story of a badly spoken flower girl who thanks to the tutelage of Professor Higgins becomes a society lady.
With such familiar foot-tapping songs as ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly’, ‘With a Little Bit of Luck’, ‘The Rain in Spain’, and ‘I Could have Danced all Night’, the play is on a winner to start with, but it does need talented singers – which this production has in spades.
Leonie Beck lights up the stage as Eliza Doolittle, both with her appearance and with her beautiful voice, teaming so well with her husband Alexander Beck who absolutely nails it as the bombastic professor.
Ian Metcalfe is perfect as the professor’s friend Colonel Pickering, with Catherine Attridge providing a good foil as the housekeeper Mrs Pearce, who wants to protect Eliza.
Not only does Adrian Lane have an excellent voice, but his portrayal of Alfred Doolittle is also epic.
And all putting in excellent performances in the other six main roles are Trae Walsh as Freddy, Amanda King as Mrs Higgins, Clare L’Anson as Mrs Eynsford-Hill, Lewis Baines as Jamie, Luke Earl as Harry and Dean Rawson as Professor Zoltan Karpathy.
In fact, every single person is this large cast deserves to be named, not to mention the musical director Chris McDouall and the director and choreographer Claire Camble-Hutchins.
If you haven’t already booked a ticket, I urge you to try to get one to see this superb production. It runs until Saturday. Tickets available from https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/my-fair-lady.
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