REVIEW: MY FAIR LADY, the jewel of the Sydney stage.

Tuesday, September 22nd, 7pm, 2026
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House

MY FAIR LADY, the jewel of the Sydney stage.

In the vein of traditional stage musicals, the beloved MY FAIR LADY triumphantly struts onto the Joan Sutherland Theatre as a revival of the Julie Andrews-directed 2016 production.

Director Karen Johnson Mortimer embraces this grand dame of musical theatre. Every element of this production is realised par excellence, and Mortimer's hand deftly recreates the power of this Broadway legend and more.

Claire Lyon is perfectly cast as the feisty, smart yet uneducated, self-reliant Eliza. Lyon's vast range comes to the fore with accents, embodying the character and a voice that is worth the ticket alone. Lyon brings a freshness to Eliza that makes you feel you're seeing this cherished character for the first time.

Nathaniel Parker nails the self-righteous, arrogant, blinkered Higgins with aplomb. He commands the stage as the phonetics-obsessed professor who goes to extremes to prove his point. Parker carries the solo man on a mission with verve and conviction.

A highlight of the night is Reg Livermore with his lively and cheeky Alfred P. Doolittle. What a joy to experience his talents. I heard it was planned to be his last gig, but I hope that rumour is not true, as he obviously has the energy to grace us further with his talents.

Of course, Robyn Nevin is easy casting with her acting chops, as she brings depth and grounding to Mrs Higgins, a lady of the upper class but with an honest empathy when the situation calls for it.

Tony Llewellyn-Jones shines as Colonel Pickering, a Sydney stage veteran who brings a charming curiosity to the role. At times I felt he became an aside character, especially as he seemed anchored to stage right most of the night.

This excellent casting continues with Anne Wood, whose Mrs Pearce has that perfect balance of discernment, respect and strength with feminine finesse.

Freddy Eynsford-Hill, making his main stage debut, is another highlight as his booming, glorious voice fills the theatre with umph.

Kudos to the ensemble, who sing their hearts out and shine with Christopher Gattelli's sumptuous and infectious choreography.

And then there is the music. It is simply magnificent. MY FAIR LADY comes from a golden age of musical theatre when composers possessed an extraordinary command of melody, harmony and orchestration. Lerner and Loewe's score is evidence of that craftsmanship: sophisticated without ever sounding laboured, instantly memorable yet remarkably inventive.

Scenic Supervisor Rosaria Sinisi brings the original Set Design of Oliver Smith to life. The design of the many set pieces is classic in its beauty and craftsmanship. Smith's work brings depth, authenticity and grandeur to the night. My guess is Sinisi's work adds to the extraordinary fast set changes and continuity of style and visuals.

It's worth remembering what this production is actually built on. MY FAIR LADY is based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and Shaw's intention was not to create a love story. He did not want Higgins and Eliza to marry. His point was that Eliza's transformation should lead to independence, not make her the romantic property of the man who transformed her. In the play, she leaves Higgins, telling him to "Buy them yourself" when he orders her to errands. Over the years, various productions have treated the relationship with varying amounts of romance. From none to a little. This production, true to that spirit, leaves the ending deliberately ambiguous: the last several scenes examine the individual feelings of Eliza and Higgins while skirting around labelling it a romance. At times their exchanges feel less like courtship than negotiation — two parties settling accounts, as if this were a business arrangement rather than a love story — retaining something of Shaw's original idea while resisting the romantic resolution we might expect from a classic musical.

There's an irony worth sitting with: a story about a Covent Garden flower girl being remade for the drawing room is itself staged for a room few from Eliza's own background could afford to enter. At $370 for a top-price seat, it's hard not to wonder what this same production — same cast, same score, same design — would provoke staged in one of the suburbs Eliza herself might have come from, priced so the locals could actually walk in. Would Shaw's argument for her independence land as satire, or as something closer to home? Of course, no audience is monolithic — anyone in either room might catch the irony, miss it, or simply enjoy the spectacle, and rightly so. But the show stages one question about who gets looked down on; the ticket price quietly answers a related one about who gets to watch up close.

Whatever your budget, $50 - $359, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, eventful night of world class theatre that is currently gracing the Sydney stage."

Photos @ Jeff Busby

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/opera-australia/2026-season/my-fair-lady