Eliza? - My Fair Lady Revival 2018- Page 2

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 3:04pm

I don't think Soo, Worsham, or Benanti are just talented soprano ingenues—I think they each deliver much more. Moreover, I think we're discussing a very tiny list of actresses on this thread because we do realize how much the role of Eliza Doolittle requires beyond singing pretty.

(Also, for what it's worth, look at the immense range of acting required by roles such as Natasha, Eliza Hamilton, and Amélie. Just saying.)

[Skylark3]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 3:11pm

Audra.

 

Audra.

 

Audra.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 3:15pm

If you cast someone in their late fifties or early sixties as Higgins, Laura Benanti would look just fine alongside them. And yes, Kelli O'Hara played the part when she was around forty and was just fine.  And she looked forty in the part too, a beautiful and youthful forty, but still forty. Eliza is an extremely difficult part that requires a crystal clear classical voice and lots of personality.  I have said this before and I stand by it, that while Pippa is an amazing actress and an amazing singer, her voice is not quite right for Eliza.  She has a bit of a pop-y tone to her voice that causes her upper register to have a nasally quality  (again not a bad thing when singing scores like The Great Comet, Hamilton, or even A Little Night Music, which she did at Juilliard) that won't sound extremely pleasant on Eliza.  If you want to hear what casting someone with a pop-y voice in that role sounds like, check out the London revival cast album and you will hear why it doesn't work.  The role of Eliza will take quite a strain on Soo's voice.  Also, I have seen her in basically everything that she's done in NY and she's always very poised.  I think she'd be great as Eliza post-transformation, but I don't think she'd be very good as the flower girl.  Who knows, maybe she will be cast and surprise me, but I would just like to see a stronger, funnier presence with a more classical voice on stage.  Laura Benanti may seem too old on paper, but she really is the funniest and most beautiful woman on Broadway.  It would be a shame to see MFL pass by without casting Benanti before she is just completely aged out of the part.

[pupscotch]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 3:15pm

I think Ashley Park would be stunning in this role. She has the voice and the comedic chops, plus she's about the right age.

Updated On: 4/15/18 at 03:15 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 3:17pm

Demitri2 said: "Benanti is five years younger than Kelli O'Hara who has been mentioned for the role quite often."

Actually, there's only three years between them.   But many here have suggested that O'Hara is also too old for the role.

Some people clearly want a younger Eliza, whereas others are dead against it with Higgins being played by an older man, while still others of us see talent, vocal range, alchemistry and chemistry as being much more important than age.

 

[hork]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 4:13pm

My dream Eliza is someone in their 20s who is a great actress and great singer and can do a great Cockney accent. I have no idea who this is, as I haven't auditioned anyone for the part.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 4:16pm

GeorgeandDot said: "If you cast someone in their late fifties or early sixties as Higgins, Laura Benanti would look just fine alongside them. And yes, Kelli O'Hara played the part when she was around forty and was just fine. And she looked forty in the part too, a beautiful and youthful forty, but still forty."

Kelli O'Hara was around 31 years old when she played Eliza at the New York Philharmonic in 2007.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 4:22pm

^Well then she was 31, but certainly came off as 40.  I think my point still stands that the age of Eliza doesn't matter, so long as she can properly sing and act the part and isn't over the age of 40.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:00pm

Only other New Yorkers would think that a 37 year old fast-talking, in your face, bawdy New Yorker could play a prim, uneducated Cockney flower girl. She is the anti-Julie Andrews. (I'm smiling as I type this. I saw She Loves Me. I also saw Linda and Mom at 54 Below.) 

If Sher were going to cast an older woman he might as well pick a best friend and muse who thinks that she is too old for the role but could be convinced if you twisted her arm:

I think that ship has sailed. I'm sad about that. I feel like, well you know, Mary Martin was playing these things well into her 40s.... I love that role, that show, that score. But if that ship has sailed that's all right, I got to do it once with the Philharmonic. And, uh, I think I'll know it when I see it.

Or he could choose the irrepressible Laura Osnes, whom he plugged into the Nellie role twice in place of Kelli during the South Pacific run.

No. A new face please. A young new face.

I'm looking at a photo of the bench scene from the London production of Carousel starring Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins.

Jenkins looks like Princess Grace sitting on the bench.

 

 

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 07:00 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:12pm

hork said: "My dream Eliza is someone in their 20s who is a great actress and great singer and can do a great Cockney accent. I have no idea who this is, as I haven't auditioned anyone for the part.

Thank you, hork. I'm with you.

My vote is for Lauren Worsham or Laura Michelle Kelly because I've heard them sing it and with a little more time to develop the characters and work out the vocal demands, they could both be incredible. I can't picture Ashley Park or Phillipa Soo because I don't know their voices well enough. Not opposed to it. I just can't see it right now. Love them, but not Kelli O'Hara or Laura Benanti. Maybe in a concert. And please not Laura Osnes. If she couldn't sing Nellie, she can't sing Eliza.

Did anyone see Kelli Barrett in that recent production? I'm surprised her name hasn't been floated out.

[tyleramullen]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:13pm

Holding out for a heroine named Carmen Cusack.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:18pm

My industry friends say it's not happening for Laura Benanti as Eliza

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:29pm

I expect that it will probably be an unknown, but I'm still holding out hope that Benanti may get to play this part.

Also, I love Carmen Cusack but I really don't think she's right at all for Eliza.

Robbie, any word on who they're looking at or what they're looking for?

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 07:29 PM

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 7:56pm

And please not Laura Osnes. If she couldn't sing Nellie, she can't sing Eliza.

Was she really bad? Someone else here swears that she was awful as Nellie. I guess I thought that she could sing it well enough, but would have trouble as an actress when the story turned dark.

I didn't see her in the role, but I figured that if she had not cut it when in for Kelli's maternity leave, Bartlett Sher would not have given her the role again when Kelli left for good.

And the production lasted another seven months with Osnes.

[Gorlois]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:25pm

In a perfect world, we'd get a relative newcomer who gives a star-making performance ala Julie Andrews in the original production.

But the role may be too challenging and Broadway may be too cut-throat nowadays for that to happen. If it has to be a "name," give me Laura Benanti-- there's a long history of older women playing the role from Mrs. Patrick Campbell to Audrey Hepburn. Benanti certainly has the chops for it. I'd certainly prefer her over Kelli O'Hara and Phillipa Soo, whom I both adore.

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:27pm

I'm surprised nobody has suggested Sierra Boggess! 

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:27pm

Sorry, no idea why my phone flipped out and posted that so many times! 

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 08:27 PM

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:27pm

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 08:27 PM

[StephieElise]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:27pm

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 08:27 PM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:31pm

I think Harvey Fierstein could alternate in the role of Higgins and Eliza. Let's find a Laura Linney Cynthia Connection. Who could alternate wiht Harvery in the role??? Jackie Hoffman perhaps?

[goldenboy]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:31pm

and what is the love for Phillipa Soo? She was dull as dishwater in Amelie.

[froote]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:39pm

goldenboy said: "and what is the love for Phillipa Soo? She was dull as dishwater in Amelie."

Fantastic in Natasha and Hamilton. When she's given exciting material, she more than delivers. 

[goldenboy]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:44pm

I saw her in Hamilton and don't remember her. Amelie was enough. And no one could save that Awful
 Natasha and the Comet.

[froote]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 8:45pm

I think about her performance in Hamilton all the time and love Great Comet. We're all different!

[JennH]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 9:30pm

CallMeAl2 said: "Eliza is not a role that any talented soprano of the right age can play. She is not an ingenue like Laurie in Oklahoma. There is a huge range from comedy to tantrums to heartbreak, not to mention to be able to convince as both a rough working girl and pass as a princess. For me, it is much more important to have the actress that can deliver that. Age can be fudged, and the script isn't really specific about that anyway. It's the relationship between Higgins and Eliza that has to feel right and believable.

 

"

I wouldn't call Laurey a strict ingenue either, she got a a bit of a spark to her many tend to overlook. 

My dream choice? Not sure...I say Benanti because what is also said here is right. Age isn't exactly specified, only hints are given that Higgins is significantly older than Eliza, but I'd still rather have two believable actors. who knock this out of the park.

EDIT- MANNA F*CKING NICHOLS. I'm a bit biased for a specific reason, but she's done the role before and I heard she was a SMASH. 

Also...NO LAURA (Osnes) AND NO SIERRA. Yes, Stephie, she was suggested a few spots above you. And NO...I love both those ladies dearly, but I keep seeing these two suggested for roles that require so much personality and character quirks. These two are great in their niche roles but comediennes, they are NOT. I've seen them try to be funny and it doesn't land, Neither of them have good comic timing. So I'll stick with Benanti and Manna. 

Updated On: 6/19/17 at 09:30 PM