You haven’t lived until…

#20. You’ve seen the Chicago river died green for St. Patty’s Day.

A History of Fashion in Silhouettes

You haven’t lived until…

#19. You’ve dined in the dark

(This is the one in Montreal, but for those of you Toronto-dwellers, there is a location by Yonge and Bloor, 620 Church Street)

“I’ll come and make love to you at five o’clock. If I’m late, start without me.”

-Tallulah Bankhead, raunchy gravel-voiced wit

I saw this quite some time ago in May but haven’t had the chance to post my bit on it. Here it is:

This year the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake performed “My Fair Lady”, a musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. This story follows Henry Higgins a conceited and misogynistic phonetics teacher who meets the fiery flower girl Eliza Doolittle. Noticing her poor speech, he offhandedly comments that he could teach her to speak like a lady. Although insulted, Eliza wants to pay him for speech lessons since she feels that she could make a better life for herself if she had better English. Higgins takes up her offer making a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he could have her mistaken for a lady at the Embassy Ball. In Greek mythology Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with the woman he carved out of ivory. This reference applies well to the musical as Henry Higgins, as a misogynist, had fallen out of love with women as Pygmalion had when he saw the Propoetides prostituting themselves. The only woman Pygmalion does love is one he created. In a way, Henry Higgins created Eliza Doolittle by teaching her proper speech and proper mannerisms. The production was an overall success. The sets were fantastic. The bird cage was quite a symbolic figure amongst them as Henry Higgins house looked like a bird cage. Then there was one scene where Eliza was sitting in Higgins’ mother’s house where bird cages were hanging from ceiling, all of them open. The costumes were also very well done although a bit radical. During the scene with the horse races, the women were dressed in bright, overbearing costumes that were quite modern. A satire on the extravagance of women’s clothing it was nonetheless a hit or miss depending on ones taste. To contrast this extravagance, there were the costumes of the paupers which were stylized as well. Most of the men’s clothing, on the other hand, were simple and classic. Furthermore, the actor’s were fantastic. They embodied their characters fully and with ease. Eliza Doolittle’s fluctuating accent was well-executed and Henry Higgins exuded a pompous air that was crucial to his character. The musical numbers were highly entertaining, making good use of the sets and choreography. Overall, the production was a success. Personally, it was my first time ever viewing “My Fair Lady” and I really enjoyed it. The script was clever and the musical numbers were lively. I personally liked the costumes and the sets were by far my favourite aspect of the show.