With an incredible cast comprising Kira Narayanan, Varun Narayan, Danish Irani and with Karla Singh as the director, Marianne Dcruz Aiman as the vocals director, Chirag Aggarwal as the choreographer, and produced by hit-maker Raëll Padamsee’s ACE Productions, ‘My Fair Lady’ arrives to win hearts all over again.
According to Kira Narayanan, who plays the coveted role of Eliza Doolittle, “Our play is like a mini vacation to London in 1912 because you will be transported all the way back to old London.” There aren’t many who are unaware of this beloved musical, in which pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. The lovely Eliza Doolittle agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond—one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor.
Shares producer Raëll Padamsee, “My Fair Lady, an all-time classic with great music, lively songs, grand sets and costumes, iconic visuals and a great, talented ensemble with around 1000 hours of creative input from the best in the industry... all of this makes this play very special.”
Along with a stellar talented cast of over 100 professional actors, dancers, and singers, the musical will also feature children from mainstream schools and NGOs such as The Salaam Baalak Trust, Aseema and ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together), because ACE has a simple maxim of “equal opportunity for all”. The idea behind this is to not judge people on the basis of their economic background and other challenges but instead, to choose them based on their talent and provide them with an opportunity to showcase the same.
The cast and crew of this iconic remake are naturally grateful and excited to be a part of this wonderful journey and for this opportunity. Marianne Dcruz Aiman, the vocals director, says, “I feel very delighted and grateful to be a part of this iconic play. I love the music and being a vocal coach, the theme is very close to my heart and I’m confident that our cast and crew will put up a wonderful performance.” For most of the crew, this has been a dream come true, especially for Kira since Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews were icons to her as they gave such spectacular performances in My Fair Lady.
The play will also treat audiences to a spectacle of colour, dance, music, doses of emotion, drama, humour, bags of love, few happy and sad tears, surprises and much more...just like a fairytale! Varun Narayan, who plays the iconic character, Henry Higgins further adds, “The love and hard work that all the people involved have put into it, the integration of kids from NGOs and schools and the amount of talent people have, does not cease to amaze me and I think that’s what makes this play so special and a complete visual treat!”
In spite of this overwhelming ensemble, the director, Karla Singh, who is spoken of very highly by her cast and crew, has done her best to pay honour and be respectful to the film and the book by George Bernard Shaw whose writing is poetic and yet conversational at the same time. However, the audience does demand something new and hence, keeping that under consideration, Karla has added some of her own twists and freshness to this iconic story without any drastic changes. “You should never try and compete with an iconic piece of art. The best you can do is to put your own spin to it and make it your own, even though it will be a gamble but isn’t that the challenge of direction?” she asks.
Raëll concludes, “We, at ACE, wanted to produce this since the longest time and after a tremendous amount of hard work and hours and hours of practice, we will finally be performing at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre: NCPA. It definitely doesn’t get bigger than that!” she exclaims.
If you are someone who has already watched the film or the play before, don’t worry—as much as this play gives homage to the film, it also has its own twists and style, yet it assures you that all your expectations will be satisfied. If you haven’t watched ‘My Fair Lady’ before, you are in for a mind-blowing and entertaining time with the most talented artistes in Mumbai, coming together to create a magical masterpiece.
Catch it: July 12, 13, 14, NCPA
