Laura Benanti was perfection in this production. I had seen her predecessor Lauren Ambrose as well and felt she was miscast.I never understood why Laura was not offered the role in the first place. Equally as good were Norbert Leo Butz who played Alfred Dolittle to Ambrose's Eliza and subsequently Danny Burstein who played Dolittle to Benanti's. Benanti is a treasure and her performance in She Loves Me and its production is still in my mind one of the best and definitive Broadway shows that I can see again and again. Thank you so much Aurora Spiderwoman for making this clip available and reviving a joyous memory. You are yourself a treasure!
@@ZamTx1 Thank you for that info. That makes perfect sense! However it is a pity that they couldn't of waited for her to originate and open this production as I'm sure she would have been nominated for a Tony and maybe even won over Katrina Lenk who won for The Band's Visit
Laura has always been a natural comdiean and this part showed that off so well, I know that everyone was grateful that they did that Highlight Cast Recording of her singing these songs, she no doubt would have won a Tony if she had originated Eliza but she had something better than a 2nd Tony, Ella.
I'm lucky to have seen this production (the show is a favorite) and it was a gorgeous occasion. At the performance I saw, Laura's soul was in the role. It was near perfection. My general complaint is her tendency to momentarily drop character and align her instrument to amazingly hit those stratospheric notes. The angle of this video doesn't show it, but I saw it in person, and examples can be seen in the pro shot of She Loves Me. Edit: Her entrance in THE DRESS at the end of Act I caused gasps. She was the image of Audrey Hepburn. Quite a moment! The rest of the cast were great as well. Harry Hadden-Paton, Alan Corduner, Jordan Donica (the best and *smartest* Freddy I've ever seen), Rosemary Harris, and Linda Mugleston. And that orchestra!
My Fair Lady is one of my favorite musicals! I saw the original cast of this revival. I’ve seen many productions of it over the years but Jordan definitely brought such an amazing life to an otherwise throwaway character in Freddy. I knew he was one to watch for in the future.
Each chorus builds with Eliza’s banter with the household staff & her discoveries to the final high note. It’s also a classic method of placing a song in the listener’s memory, hence a “hit” song was born.
