The
musical, which follows the cockney English flower
girl Eliza Doolittle as she’s trained by phonetics
professor Henry Higgins to act like a duchess, began
its U.S. tour in September and will make 26 stops
before the tour ends in June 2008.
“I
think there’ve been very few adaptations since the
original that have met the standards of this
revival,” insists Lisa O’Hare, who plays Eliza.
“Everything about the show is so luxurious — the
sets, costumes, songs. This standard of the show
hasn’t been done for many, many years.” O’Hare’s
high standards took a hit as she endured the low
standards of our silly questions, but she assured us
Eliza would be proud.
It’s really you singing, right? You’re not pulling
one of those voice-double charades like Audrey
Hepburn did in the movie, are you?
No
(laughs). It’s all live, and all me.
What’s your favorite song?
“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.” It’s so simple and
reflective. You see all the things she doesn’t have
and longs for — a room, a chair, a fire. It’s very
emotive and one of the most important songs for her.
If
the rain in Spain didn’t stay on the plain, as the
song suggests, where would it stay?
Do
I need a weatherman to answer this? I don’t know.
Um, in Spain.
It’ll probably rain while you’re here. Regardless,
what’re you dying to do in Miami?
See
the beaches. Go shopping. Do some exploring. I’ve
never been, but hear it’s very beautiful.
You’re a half-Irish woman from Belfast playing a
cockney English girl who becomes a proper English
“lady.” What’s the Irish equivalent to the slummy,
cockney English types?
I
don’t know if there is an equivalent to the cockney
language. I guess a Belfast accent would be the
equivalent.
As
a Belfast girl, aren’t you annoyed that they took
the work of one of Ireland’s favorite sons, George
Bernard Shaw (who wrote Pygmalion, on which
My Fair Lady is based), and made something so
distinctly British?
