MY FAIR LADY
My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a lady. The original Broadway, London and film versions all starred Rex Harrison. The musical’s 1956 Broadway production was a momentous hit, setting a record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. It has been called “the perfect musical”. (More from Wikipedia)
But most of the albums in Ernie Guyton’s birthday present to me I did not have. He included Styx’s second album, Styx II, that I quite enjoy; and The Best of Bread (by Bread) reminded me again that soft rock can be quite delicious. The original My Fair Lady (featuring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews) was another treat; I was also delighted to notice in small letters “Not for Sale” on the white label, meaning that it was a promotional LP. Thus, although this LP was a big seller and is quite common, this gives the album some collector’s value. The reason is that, besides being rarer than the commercial or record-club releases, promotional and DJ albums were the first ones manufactured; and the quality tends to be a little better.
(November 2012)
