CD REVIEW -
LERNER & LOEWE'S
MY FAIR LADY
SOLOISTS
SINFONIA OF LONDON
JOHN WILSON
CHANDOS CHSA 5358
[TT 58:36 & 71:27]
John Wilson/SOL
follow up their successful 'Oklahoma!' and 'Carousel' albums (both
reviewed here) with what the
record company describes as the
"quintessential American
London musical of 'My Fair
Lady' ". Its first
production in 1956 was an
enormous success, winning six
Tony awards including best
musical, setting a record for the
longest run of any musical on
Broadway up to that time with
2717 performances in over six
years, and was followed by a hit
London production in 1958 at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with
2281 performances in about five
and a half years.
With book and
lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
(1918-86) and music by Frederick
Loewe (1901-88), it is adapted
from George Bernard Shaw's 1913
play 'Pygmalion' and
Gabriel Pascoe's 1938 motion
picture 'Pygmalion'. And
in the history of musicals, it
has become legendary.
On this release,
Wilson with his magnificent
musicians and cast re-create
every note for that first
production in their original
orchestrations, which came from
Robert Russell Bennett, Philip J
Lang and Jack Mason.
It is understood
that the maestro takes as much
care in choosing his vocal
soloists as he does his
orchestra. Here, the two
principal roles of Eliza Dolittle
and Professor Henry Higgins are
taken by Scarlett Strallen, an
English soprano voiced stage
actress best known for her work
in musical theatre productions in
the West End and on Broadway, for
which she has received four
Olivier Award nominations; and
Jamie Parker, an award-winning
English actor and tenor singer,
who was cowboy Will Parker in 'Oklahoma!'.
Laurence Kilsby, a
young English light tenor opera
singer, is Freddy Eynsford-Hill;
Malcolm Sinclair, a British stage
and television actor and former
President of the Equity Trade
Union, is Colonel Hugh Pickering.
Also "off the telly"
are the wonderful award-winning
actor Alun Armstrong (like Wilson
North-East born), late of 'New
Tricks' and much else, playing
Alfred P Dolittle; Dame Penelope
Wilton from 'Downton Abbey' in
the non-singing role of Mrs
Higgins; and Julia McKenzie, a
past Agatha Christie's Miss
Marple (2009-2013), playing Mrs
Pearce, Higgins's housekeeper.
There are 15 other
soloists, some of whom are among
the 24-strong My Fair Lady
Ensemble, under chorus master
Alex Parker, including a quartet
of bass, baritone and two tenor
Cockney voices.
An illustrated
115-page booklet includes
well-nigh everything to know
about MFL … apart from the
conductor's score! Newcomers to
the show (there must be at least
one) can read both a synopsis and
full libretto. In a conversation
with David Benedict, Wilson is
asked about the theatrical tone
to the orchestral playing and
says that he encourages his
musicians to play as soloists. He
goes on to say: "Our
percussion department uses
instruments of the period and the
brass players all come from the
dance-band tradition – small
bore trumpets and such
like."
Act 1 on CD1 has
28 tracks with the first and
last, Overture and Embassy
Waltz, being solely
orchestral. Act 11 on CD2 has 26
tracks – a standout for me
is the second longest on either
disc, Get Me to the Church on
Time – and includes 24
minutes of Appendices: original
versions of recorded pieces not
used at the premiere, and utility
cues (extra music prepared to
cover such things as scene
changes and other brief periods
that might require it, and were
often, as here, not used in the
final production).
Undoubtably,
another winning Wilson album to
relish. I know that additions to
the series are already scheduled
for recording in the next two
years; hopefully one of them will
be 'West Side Story'.
©
Peter Burt, September
2025
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