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Chez Tremblay / Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Last post by Jeff Wrangler on April 28, 2021, 11:01:43 pm »I considered adding Rex Harrison, who I remembered speak-singing his songs in My Fair Lady. But I took a quick look at "Why Can't the English Teach Their Children How to Speak?" and he's actually carrying a bit of a tune.
I also saw enough to conclude the show wouldn't go over very well today -- very classist, for one thing. I realize Prof. Harold Hill is supposed to be a bit of a snob, but that's not emphasized enough.
Sorry, you threw me for a minute there until I realized you meant Prof. Henry Higgins.
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Plus, I've always resented the movie for dumping Julie Andrews, the star of the play, for Audrey Hepburn, whose singing had to be dubbed.
I'm with you there, though I do watch the movie for Rex Harrison. But that was outrageous, casting Audrey Hepburn and dubbing her. And not only did they dub her, they dubbed her with a soprano (I think it was Marni Nixon, but I'm not sure about that). The singing voice is so nothing like Audrey Hepburn's speaking voice.
I read somewhere that Hepburn was cast because she was a box office draw, and the powers that be thought of Julie Andrews as a stage actress. But you know what happened that year, don't you? They gave Julie Andrews the Oscar for Mary Poppins.
I'm sure there must be an original Broadway cast album out there somewhere. I have the London recording, and it's wonderful.
If you want to see/hear a successful dubbing from a few years before My Fair Lady, Marni Nixon dubbed Deborah Kerr in The King and I. I call that successful because Kerr's speaking voice and Nixon's singing voice are a pretty good match.
