Review: MY FAIR LADY, The Mill At Sonning

For their Christmas show this year, The Mill at Sonning is putting on My Fair Lady, the 1956 Broadway musical written by Alan Jay Lerner (Lyrics and Book) and Frederick Loewe (Music). For those unfamiliar with the venue, it is an intimate, 217-seat theatre in the semi-round that operates as a dinner theatre, where audiences have a lovely two-course meal before the performance begins. Even without the show, the venue itself is absolutely worth the price to experience the Grade II-listed building. 

My Fair Lady is a musical adaptation of both George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play, Pygmalion, and the 1938 film of the same name. Audience members are introduced to Eliza Dolittle (Simbi Akande), a young girl who sells flowers for a living in Covent Garden. In order to make a better life for herself, she enlists the help of Professor Henry Higgins (Nadmin Naaman), who studies phonetics, to teach her how to speak “properly.” This leads to a bet between Higgins and his housemate, Colonel Pickering (Jo Servi), with the professor claiming that he could pass a woman like Eliza off as a noblewoman at a ball within months. The musical is a classic and has been revived many times over the past seventy years, including a 2022 West End run at the London Coliseum. 

As The Mill at Sonning is such an intimate venue, shows must be put on in a smaller fashion, but this ends up working out perfectly for this production, as an intimate performance truly allows My Fair Lady to shine. One can only imagine the challenge that director (and co-choreographer) Joseph Pitcher has taken on, but he proves his talent within the first few minutes.

Within the small space, set designer Diego Pitarch has created several major set pieces to represent the different Edwardian settings of Covent Garden, 27a Wimpole Street (the home of Higgins and Pickering) and the Poor Man’s Club, as well as more extravagant places like the Ascot Racecourse and the Transylvanian Embassy. But, even with the smaller set, there are plenty of things that are fleshed out. There is a focus on the world outside of 27a Wimpole Street, with crowds filling the streets to support both the workers’ unions and the suffragette movement of the early 1900s.

But a show is nothing without its cast, and casting director Jane Deitch has done a wonderful job in finding the right actors for each role. Akande is simply brilliant as Eliza Dolittle, aided by Liz Flint’s dialect coaching in switching between Eliza’s original Cockney accent and the new one formed with the assistance of Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering. Her singing voice is stunning, ranging from the more beautiful and well-known solos of “I Could Have Danced All Night” to more character-driven songs like “Just You Wait.”

Akande is equally matched by Naaman as Henry Higgins, who allows the audience to see not only the typical misogyny of the man (as portrayed in his great rendition of “Why Can’t the English?”) but some more nuanced takes as well. His “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” is one that shows a man who has changed just as much as Eliza herself. One of the more controversial aspects of My Fair Lady is its ending, but Pitcher has managed to honour Shaw’s original wishes while still giving Eliza what she sang of in “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.” 

Mark Moraghan steals the show several times as Eliza Dolittle’s father, Alfred P. Doolittle, in both “With a Little Bit of Luck” and “Get Me to the Church on Time,” which feature incredible choreography from both Pitcher and Co-Choreographer Alex Christian, which has been brought to life by Moraghan and the ensemble, including Zaynah Ahmed, Imogen Bailey (Dance Captain), Emma Fraser and Nadia Kramer. Another choreographic highlight comes from the “Ascot Gavotte,” in which the performers, dressed in their finest costumes (designed by Natalie Titchener), trot around the stage like well-dressed horses. Another lovely moment comes from Alfie Blackwell’s performance as the wide-eyed and eager Freddy Eynsford-Hill, joyfully singing “On the Street Where You Live” to the door of 27a Wimpole Street.

Music Director Nick Tudor leads a fantastic group of musicians both onstage and off, performing the orchestrations and arrangements of Musical Supervisor Charlie Ingles with ease. James William-Pattison (Banjo Guitar), Conor McFarlane (Accordion/Violin) and Emma Fraser (Violin/Piano) stun the audience by not only singing and dancing but playing instruments as well, and Richard Burden (Drums/Percussion), Joe Orme (Double Bass) and Debs White (Violin) enhance their music behind the curtain. 

My Fair Lady is a stunning and intimate version of the classical musical that will have audience members happily humming on their way out of the theatre. Pitcher has worked with The Mill at Sonning to create a wonderful production that is perfect for the holiday season. 

My Fair Lady runs until 17 January 2026 at The Mill at Sonning.