I've never thought that the ending of My Fair Lady represents a victory for either of them--it may feel that way in the moment but that last line "Where the devil are my slippers?" indicates that while we've seen her change, he hasn't changed at all. I've always thought it was noteworthy that it didn't end with a more typical passionate embrace or smooch. I think in the original play, Shaw has them not get together at all. Anyway, I voted for My Fair Lady.
Yes, the Shaw ending (and the epilogue) beats the musical, hands down. Basically anywhere they diverged from Pygmalion was a mistake.
Also I have to say … when only one of the two main characters can actually sing … that keeps the ceiling of how it should perform against other musicals fairly low, surely.
(For more Rex Harrison vocals schadenfreude, I did like the Dr Doilittle stuff in Mark Harris’s book, Pictures At A Revolution.)
To me it's so clearly a tacit admission that he HAS changed, that everything is different, that it absolutely shocks me to think it could be seen any other way. I mean, I think my jaw literally dropped the first time I heard someone (not you, Matt, someone else) take it at face value. :-) There's so much in the placement of the line, the delivery, the response, even in the stage directions when you read the play, that makes it clear that it means so much more than just a thoughtless repetition of something he said before he woke up to his true feelings and her true value. I've always taken it that way, since I first saw the movie at age 11 -- never dreamed it could be taken differently.
I've never thought that the ending of My Fair Lady represents a victory for either of them--it may feel that way in the moment but that last line "Where the devil are my slippers?" indicates that while we've seen her change, he hasn't changed at all. I've always thought it was noteworthy that it didn't end with a more typical passionate embrace or smooch. I think in the original play, Shaw has them not get together at all. Anyway, I voted for My Fair Lady.
Yes, the Shaw ending (and the epilogue) beats the musical, hands down. Basically anywhere they diverged from Pygmalion was a mistake.
Also I have to say … when only one of the two main characters can actually sing … that keeps the ceiling of how it should perform against other musicals fairly low, surely.
(For more Rex Harrison vocals schadenfreude, I did like the Dr Doilittle stuff in Mark Harris’s book, Pictures At A Revolution.)
To me it's so clearly a tacit admission that he HAS changed, that everything is different, that it absolutely shocks me to think it could be seen any other way. I mean, I think my jaw literally dropped the first time I heard someone (not you, Matt, someone else) take it at face value. :-) There's so much in the placement of the line, the delivery, the response, even in the stage directions when you read the play, that makes it clear that it means so much more than just a thoughtless repetition of something he said before he woke up to his true feelings and her true value. I've always taken it that way, since I first saw the movie at age 11 -- never dreamed it could be taken differently.
And I voted for it too.