pull out the stopper! let's have a whopper! the MY FAIR LADY poll

i'll have to think about it. i love most of these (although some of them obviously function better within the plot than on their own). "wouldn't it be loverly" maybe gets docked for cockney cutesiness. but "i could have danced all night," "on the street where you live," "get me to the church on time," "i've grown accustomed" -- what a great set of songs.

There is nevera day where there isn't a snippet of 'On The Street Where You Live' that doesn't pass through my mind. It was after my gf found me watching this one evening when she got home that she began referring to me as the gayest straight man she knew. I had to shag her silly that night.

I often get "On the Street Where You Live" stuck in my head, and I get an inexplicable urge to translate it into Spanish.

Also I love the "By George, she's got it!" interjection in "Rain in Spain."

yeah i probably get "on the street" in my head once or twice a week too, usually when i'm walking home. what a melody.

jaymc, isn't it by Jove?

I'm very grateful she's a woman
And so easy to forget;
Rather like a habit
One can always break -
And yet,
I've grown accustomed to the trace
Of something in the air,
Accustomed to her face.

With A Little Bit Of Luck

Yeah, "With a Little Bit Of Luck," then "Get Me To The Church On Time." Stanley Holloway invents oi!. Or Slade. Or the Pogues. Or something. (The rest of the album is still really good, though.)

No Coltrane reconfiguring, no cred.

God I hate Rogers and Hammerstein.

Rodgers is no better, either!

There is never a day where there isn't a snippet of 'On The Street Where You Live' that doesn't pass through my mind.

I think that sentence was on my symbolic logic final.

julie andrews. what that movie could've been. (i don't mind audrey hepburn and marni nixon sounded fine, but there's no comparison.)

stanley holloway on ed sullivan

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"I could have danced all night", tough choice though. Def one of my favourite musicals.

No Coltrane refiguring indeed, but Andre Previn did a pretty good job of jazzing it up.

Has to be "Accustomed" really - Rex sprechtesanging his way through humble/faux-regret is pretty much unimprovable.

Maybe I should have voted for "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", actually. Oh well.

I can see how Julie is better really, but "My Fair Lady" was the first film I saw w/Audrey Hepburn in it so, you know.... Her "cockney" accent was truly appaling, I'll admit that.

I was so bummed out when I found out her singing was dubbed! How bad was she really, she couldn't have been a worse singer than Ruby Keeler, surely?

I bet I'm the only vote for "Show Me", but the song kicks serious butt!

xpost yeah, I believe there's a version of "Moon River" that actually has her singing voice, and there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe in those days they had "higher standards"...

.. It was only last year I found out Mark Lester's singing voice was dubbed byt a girl singer in "Oliver", I just thought he had the twee-est singing voice of all time!

Rex Harrison's head looks like its been photoshopped onto his body in that pic upthread. The angle looks completely weird.

If only Rex had lived to star in Good Luck Chuck...

No Coltrane refiguring
Is there anything in 3/4?

i was just thinking that! (xpost)

i voted for "why can't the english" but really i just love the whole thing completely and totally, as a whole and in its component parts. best musical ever.

um, re photoshopping, that is.

Is there anything in 3/4?

"show me" is.

Went with Accustomed narrowly over Little bit of Luck. But, yeah, amazing score. More musical polls to follow? Guys and Dolls? Anything Goes? She Loves Me?

Is there anything in 3/4?

"show me" is.

Then maybe Trane should have given that one the soprano treatment.

I'd forgotten how great this musical is.

A HYMN TO HIM

Was gonna go for Street Where You Lived, but then I remembered the little counter-melody in Danced which is magical. But I went for Street anyway - that's a pretty perfect melody right there.

I'd have to watch it again to really be sure which songs/scenes I love and which ones I'm just remembering fondly at the moment, but right now I'll vote for "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face."

the little counter-melody in Danced which is magical

yeah that's great. no other lerner/loewe shows measure up to this, right? i only know brigadoon and some songs from paint your wagon and camelot.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

watching this for the first time in about a decade the other night, two thoughts sprang to mind:

-- if possibly not audrey's best performance, it certainly has to count as the MOST acting she ever did -- twisting her face up and rolling her eyes in what seems like every shot, jumping up and down, emitting some maniacal shriek every five seconds like some lost member of the slits. it's odd that her signature movie should also be her most drastic departure from her usual screen presence.

-- given that they dubbed her singing anyway, wouldn't rita tushingham have been perfect in this role?

Not a singing role, but Diana Rigg is playing Higgins' mother in the new NYC staging starring Lauren Ambrose.

http://www.lct.org/shows/my-fair-lady/