AnachroniSaM V.1: My Fair Lady... :) (and I am so into classics now!)

The musical My Fair Lady has always been familiar to me before, but it wasn’t until quite recently when I finally got to know more amous musicals of all time. (And yes, my deep fondness for musicals and Julie Andrews has gotten me into thibout one of the most fas.)

Julie Andrews is the fairest of them all :)

So, for those who don’t know it yet, My Fair Lady is all about Eliza Doolittle and her total transformation from a cockney flower girl to an ultimately sophisticated, prim and proper lady. Along with her little story comes Henry Higgins, the phonetics professor responsible for Eliza’s transformation; Freddy Eynsford-Hill, the man who falls head-over-heels-in-love with Eliza, among others. The whole story of My Fair Lady, like some of its contemporaries, is just a simple yet very entertaining, with its various musical numbers.

"Wouldn't it be loverly?"

Although I have gained some knowledge about MFL, I haven’t really seen the full 1964 movie version starring Audrey Hepburn, let alone the original stage performance by Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle. If I were to choose, I would prefer seeing the original one (but alas, I guess I could only rely on to YouTube videos, et cetera to see the fragments on the 1956 Broadway version. SIGH). Still, I am very interested and looking forward to finally seeing MFL, even just the movie version. I know I would like/love this one, being a musical and all. Surely, by then, I would also get to know the rest of the songs aside from the other two I’ve known. Haha..

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Audrey Hepburn, alongside with Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins. Rex Harrison was also the original Henry Higgins of the Broadway version.

So, why do I prefer more of Julie Andrews than Audrey Hepburn as Eliza? Aside from the fact that I admire Dame Julie Andrews so much, I think, like almost anybody does, she is the one who suited the role better --- appearance- and voice-wise. Audrey Hepburn was undeniably beautiful, I must say, especially when she was in her “fair lady” persona. However, I cannot really find her as totally loverly when she was still Eliza the cockney flower girl, being madungis, unglamorous, and unsophisticated in appearance and in behavior. But for one thing, Julie Andrews is prettier and loverlier as Eliza, in my perception. I mean, how could be anyone as so striking, so adorable, so cute and so certainly LOVERLY even with ragged clothes, untidy hair, and dirt smudged on her nose?

Audrey Hepburn in MFL's movie rendition. Hey, is it me, or she resembles Keira Knightley here? hmmm..

And of course, Julie Andrews (I used to have this as my primary photo in my Friendster profile once. I even had mistaken it for a shot in her role in Mary Poppins. LOLZ!)

Besides, Julie Andrews can sing, and is a very great singer for that matter; while Audrey Hepburn isn’t actually a natural singer (When the latter took the lead role, she still had to take up singing/voice lessons for recording her musical parts in the movie… Then, only her singing was to be dubbed with another voice, which belonged to Marni Nixon. Tsk)… Need I say more?

Note: This Julie Andrews-and-not-Audrey-Hepburn-should-have-been-Eliza stuff has long been an issue way back in the 60’s, during the coming and popularity of My Fair Lady, the movie… Producer Jack Warner passed over Julie Andrews, the original Eliza Doolittle, and chose Audrey Hepburn for the said role, for some popularity matters. Being so much delayed in birth (here I go again), it is only now that I can discuss and dwell about this matter. Gumaganon?! LOLZ!

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Left image: Audrey Hepburn with Julie Andrews, during the 1965 Academy Awards. The latter won her Oscar for Best Actress in Mary Poppins (1964).

Right image: Keira Knightley as Cecilia Tallis in Atonement (2007)

Keira Knightley as Eliza Doolittle in the remake of the film/musical My Fair Lady?

It was only a couple of days ago when I came across this tidbit of information. So it was already announced, and they are in production, and the film would be released next year… The remake of My Fair Lady, huh?

I can’t deny the fact that I am, indeed, excited and interested, too, with this remake stuff --- I must still see the original movie, though. As of now, I can see that there aren’t really much remakes of the classic films, are they? So if this remake turns out to be a good one, and I am hoping it would, the good ol’ years of Hollywood would somehow make its rebirth, too. And I would love that. Haha.

But there’s just one detail that raised the big question mark to me: Can Keira Knightley sing? It seems that she would be doing fine with the cockney/British accent; anyway she is a British… With the singing part, I don’t really know if she can sing well. She must sing, after all it is a musical; and I don’t suppose it’s still suitable to have the ghost singers, the thought of it is sickening, frankly speaking. And I wonder how would the modern version of I Could Have Danced All Night sound like? ;)

Update: I just found out that Keira Knightley can sing, after all. And she even took singing lessons even before she actually had the part for the movie. Okay. I am relieved now. :p

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I could have danced all night,

and still have begged for more

I could have spread my wings

and done a thousand things

I've never done before

I didn't know what made it so exciting

why all at once, my heart took flight

I only know when he

began to dance with me

I could have danced, danced, danced

all night!