Molly Lynch is playing the iconic role of Eliza Doolittle in Curve’s Christmas production of ‘My Fair Lady’. Here she tells us what we can expect from this iconic musical, which is filled with comedy, romance and inspiring magic…
My Fair Lady is coming to Curve between November 23, 2024 and January 4, 2025.
Picture: Curve
This enchanting story follows Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower seller from Covent Garden, who by chance meets phonetics professor Henry Higgins. With the help of his pal Colonel Pickering, Higgins sets out to support Eliza’s ambition to learn how to speak like a lady of high society, so she can fulfil her ambition of opening her own flower shop. Along the way, Higgins learns a few lessons of his own, as Eliza’s free spirit, defiance and zest for life bring magic and joy into the lives of everyone who encounters her.
It’s a beloved role, made famous on film by the iconic Audrey Hepburn. However, Molly is the one tasked with bringing it to life at Curve this Christmas, and she is indeed blooming and taking on this exciting challenge with zest…
“ It feels equal parts exciting and terrifying to take on such a brilliantly written role.“
But I know I couldn’t be in better company with Nikolai Foster at the helm”, she says.
“I absolutely love this story. I’m so interested in the issues of gender and class and the story really digs deep into questions about the way we treat people based on where they come from, how they speak, or how they present. Eliza is so incredibly intelligent and despite being uneducated and from a lower class, she is given the most insightful lines in the script and really emerges as the smartest of the lot.
“I also think it is an unconventional love story and the relationship between Eliza and Higgins is confrontational and fiery and a real meeting of minds which makes for some interesting, hilarious moments,” she adds.
My Fair Lady has been running as a musical since 1956 and contains beloved songs such as ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly?’ and ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’.
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play ‘Pygmalion’, this classic ‘rags to riches’ tale has been charming audiences for over a century, and making them think about challenging topics; the value of social class and what it actually means to be a good person.
It teaches us that those of a higher social class may not be good people, and those of lower social class can have many virtues of their own. Although Higgins is the one who is ‘improving’ Eliza in the story, he’s also boorish, nasty, impolite, and has no idea about how his actions impact others. It’s ironic that he’s the one who is ‘improving’ Eliza when he is actually in need of a great deal of improvement himself…
“I think this musical is the perfect introduction to theatre – full of magical tunes, beautiful sets and costumes and thrilling choreography, but it is also an incredibly intelligent, challenging piece that will have everyone talking,” said Molly.
“I hope people have strong opinions of the story afterwards as well as being totally inspired by the magic of musical theatre in its fully realised, epic glory – something that no other theatre can do quite like Curve!”
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