The show has has seen many notable revivals and adaptations, including the acclaimed 1964 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, which won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The ravishing, ebullient story tells the tale of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor determined to transform her into his idea of a lady and experiences his own transformation in the process. Songs such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’, ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’, ‘On the Street Where You Live’ and ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face’ will enchant all over again. Audiences will once again hear that the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, and that in Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly happen. But with a difference—for the musical, newly hot from Broadway and brought over by the Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, is being re-imagined for the modern age.
Stage legend Vanessa Redgrave, returning to the West End for the first time since her appearance in The Inheritance in 2018, will play Mrs Higgins. Her remarkable career includes winning an Oscar as well as Emmy, Tony, Olivier, BAFTA, Cannes, Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Among many notable film performances, she played Guinevere in Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot in 1967. To see Redgrave—now aged 85—live on stage again will be an unmissable, perhaps unrepeatable, performance.
As Henry Higgins, Harry Hadden-Paton reprises his performance in the original production at the Lincoln Center in New York—and for which he received Tony and Grammy Award nominations. Hadden-Paton, perhaps best known for his roles as Martin Charteris in ‘The Crown’ and ‘Bertie Pelham’ in Downton Abbey, has worked extensively on stage in London and New York.
And in Amara Okereke, Eliza Doolittle is a revelation. Hailed by critics as ‘the new face of British theatre’, Okereke won the ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ at the Stage Debut Awards 2018 for her performance as Cosette in ‘Les Misérables’. She was recently seen in the Almeida’s acclaimed production of ‘Spring Awakening’—and—beautiful in My Fair Lady costumes—on a recent cover of Tatler magazine!
Directed by Sher, this production was the winner of the Tony Award for Best Costume Design, five Outer Critics’ Circle Awards including Best Musical Revival, the Drama League Award for Outstanding Musical Revival, and the Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical Revival and Costume Design. The London production will feature 36 musicians from the English National Opera’s award-winning Orchestra playing Frederick Loewe’s score, making it the largest orchestra in the West End.
First seen in New York, Catherine Zuber’s costume designs for the show swept the awards. Have there ever been more ravishing looks than Eliza’s runway fashion gowns? Then there was the one for the princess-at-the-ball entrance, then the startling scarlet wildly-sculptured opera-coat that for a moment consciously broke the show’s line and palette, but also there was the glory of her Ascot style.
This will be a memorable and unmissable show—and we are delighted to have arranged excellent centre stalls and dress circle tickets for our Members, giving excellent views of the performance at only £59.75 per person (full prices are from £87.50). Our tickets will soon sell out, so please click here to book instantly online, or call Member Services on 020 7399 2960. The performance starts at 7pm at the London Coliseum, St Martin’s Ln, London WC2N 4ES.
EXTEND THE PLEASURE: ENJOY A CHAMPAGNE PRE-THEATRE DINNER—OR STAY THE NIGHT IN LONDON!
You are welcome to extend the pleasure of the evening and enjoy a delicious pre-theatre Champagne Dinner at one of our hand-picked restaurants nearby: please click here for the options and request tables.
You are also welcome to stay the night at exclusive Club rates, from The Savoy saving you some £500 per night, to our hand-picked hidden gems: please click here for options!
