A little unexpected, but very enjoyable. Alex took on the role of Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady", taking over from Jonathan Pryce at Drury Lane. A wonderful performance which brought him his third Olivier Award. A small group of us attended the performance together, which resulted in a few special pictures at the stage door and one of our company almost being run over in the excitement.
From an interview Alex gave to Heather Neill of the Telegraph at the time: "He blames the tendency for people to assume a public-school, upper-middle-class family background on "floppy hair and a loud voice". The hair is still luxuriant, but it is being "severely controlled. Cameron [Mackintosh, the producer] said it made me look 25 and I had to get it off my face, so now it's slicked down. Shame. Until then it was my complete performance."
Charles Spencer reviewed the production in The Telegraph:
"Now Alex Jennings and Joanna Riding have replaced Jonathan Pryce and McCutcheon as Higgins and Eliza, and both are absolutely splendid.
Jennings may lack some of Pryce's twinkly gravitas, but this brilliant and charismatic actor, who has never quite achieved the star status he so richly deserves, succeeds superbly in locating the lost little boy behind Higgins's bullying bluster."
More details and pictures at the AJ Archives.
Alex went back to the part of Higgins in Paris in 2010, at the Théâtre du Châtelet. A different production, with a different feel to it. A great excuse to visit Paris and see this lovely show.
More details and pictures at the AJ Archives.
Wish I could have seen the Australian production too. Alas...
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