All I want is a room some where ....

Last night I attended the theater with my mother, grandmother, and two aunts. We saw My Fair Lady. It was quite good actually. And that is an honest opinion from a thespian.
I have to say that the although the sets and props were of B quality (my high school drama department offered more in this area, but we had unbelievable talent in that field) the stage crew who worked the set were very smooth. Like a well oiled machine. And the set design itself was impressive.
The music was great. Just top of the line. Not a horn out of tune, or a drum out of place.
The chorus was impressive, although small. Some of the "blokes" really stole the scene a couple of times. One in particular was built like a wrestler, but moved with impressive grace and obvious training. Although the girls were not as impressive, one girl had the snooty race track scene nailed. I mean she was perfect.
The main characters were great. Mr. Doolittle was perfect for his part and very funny. Pickering was fun and the Head Mistress of Mr. Higgins house was a wonderful fit. Mrs. Higgins showed great potential, but felt as if she was reading lines rather than flowing with the scene.
Eliza Doolittle was great. She nailed the songs. She perfected the whining cockney accent. An absolute delight to watch.
Mr. Henry Higgins was bar far the most impressive. He was spell binding. The man was the character. He never missed a beat. He nailed every line. His songs were very difficult, but perfectly executed every time. I was extremely impressed.
On a more critical note, the sound tech must have been asleep, because even though several of the cast were wearing face mics (like Brittany Spears and other pop stars) they were often very difficult to hear.
First of all, I find it appalling that they used the bloody things to begin with. It completely distracted from the performance. If you must use wireless mics, please, for the love of God, hide them. It can be done and done well. Second of all, it encourages less projection from the performers. So often times they were holding back and breathy. Not at all what the theater is really about. Regardless of mic placement, an actor should be able to reach the back of the house with out technical assistance. YES it is very difficult and takes a great deal of effort, but that is the point. Would you settle for the major leagues using pitching machines or basketball players using spring boards for dunking? Hell no! And thirdly, if you are going to use mics, then freaking use them ... Correctly! They had a sound board as big as my son's bed and still it was difficult to hear Mr. Doolittle. Which was very frustrating as he was really nailing his part.
The other disappointment was the fact that the costumes (while glorious) and the performance of Eliza was exactly like the movie. I mean duplicates. Mr. Higgins made the part his own, but much of the play was toooooo much like the movie.
All in all it was delightful. I missed the theater so very much. It makes me long to go back and do it again. But for now I will have to settle on buying a ticket and posting my review!
(Thanks Mom ... It was great!)