A friend won four tickets to watch the musical My Fair Lady in Santander’s new theater on JK Avenue. I always found interesting how you can get a musical written in English and translate to Portuguese, as some songs simply lose their context or look wrong in one way or another. With My Fair Lady, I had the same feeling – if you know the movie, you understand that English is fundamental in the narrative – but, it’s always better to watch something and then have an opinion later.
I have never been to the new Santander theater and I must say it is quite charming and elegant. The acoustics is great and the theater is not crowded, nor it is too wide.
On the play. I absolutely hated. And I mean it. It’s not about the actors, who did a fantastic job, nor the scenery and the songs. I hated the story and the words it was translated from English to Portuguese. Maybe I was too young when I watched the movie to realize who sexist and abusive the story was. Or maybe, the portuguese translation did something to turn Henry Higgings into someone vulgar and horrible.
The story is about Eliza Doolitle, a street seller with thick accent, and Prof. Henry Higgins, a specialized scholar in phonetics, who is certain that with the right training he can make anyone be accepted in the high society only by the way they speak. Higgins negotiates a bet with his friend, Colonel Pickering, that in six months, he can transform Eliza in a lady.
The play, however, is extremelly slow and long, with very little action taking place. The fact that professor Higgins addresses Eliza with very little sympathy and always makes degrading comments towards (really really degrading), only makes the play looks longer. The entire relation between Eliza and Higgins is very problematic and sexist. Higgins is arrogant and domineering.
As a feminist, I feel I wouldn’t recommend the play to anyone.