My Fair Lady [Original Soundtrack]

by Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison

Overview

Inevitably, the original soundtrack to My Fair Lady is remembered, like the film, for the absence of Julie Andrews, who starred in the Broadway and London stage productions, but was deemed, at least at the time when the casting decision had to be made, not enough of a star to carry the movie. (Embarrassingly, by the time the movie opened, Mary Poppins had made her more than enough of a star to do so.) Instead, Audrey Hepburn stepped into the role of the pre-World War I London flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who aspires to a better accent and the social advantages that will come with it. Ironically, Hepburn's voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon when it came to singing. (Nixon was an accomplished Hollywood voice ghost, having previously sung for Deborah Kerr in The King and I and Natalie Wood in West Side Story, among other assignments.) Rex Harrison re-created his stage role as the elocutionist, Professor Henry Higgins (he had also appeared in the film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, the source for My Fair Lady), as did Stanley Holloway, as Eliza's flamboyant Cockney father. It was good that Harrison and Holloway got to immortalize their performances on film, but since both were making their third recordings of the score, they didn't have much to add. Nixon (no doubt with bits of Hepburn here and there) was fine, but the composite performance lacked the flair that Andrews would have given it. The result was an acceptable recording that did not surpass the Broadway or London cast albums. [The 1994 CD reissue adds a number of choral and orchestral interludes, as well as reprises of a few songs.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/18/1994
Label:	Sony Classical
UPC:	0074646671122

Tracks

1. My Fair Lady, film score~Overture
2. My Fair Lady, film score~Why Can't The English?
3. My Fair Lady, film score~Wouldn't It Be Loverly
4. My Fair Lady, film score~The Flower Market
5. My Fair Lady, film score~I'm An Ordinary Man
6. My Fair Lady, film score~With A Little Bit Of Luck
7. My Fair Lady, film score~Just You Wait
8. My Fair Lady, film score~Servants Chorus
9. My Fair Lady, film score~The Rain In Spain
10. My Fair Lady, film score~I Could Have Danced All Night
11. My Fair Lady, film score~Ascot Gavotte
12. My Fair Lady, film score~Ascot Gavotte (Reprise)
13. My Fair Lady, film score~On The Street Where You Live
14. My Fair Lady, film score~Intermission
15. My Fair Lady, film score~The Transylvanian March
16. My Fair Lady, film score~The Embassy Waltz
17. My Fair Lady, film score~You Did It
18. My Fair Lady, film score~Just You Wait (Reprise)
19. My Fair Lady, film score~On The Street Where You Live (Reprise)
20. My Fair Lady, film score~Show Me
21. My Fair Lady, film score~The Flowermarket
22. My Fair Lady, film score~Get Me To The Church On Time
23. My Fair Lady, film score~A Hymn To Him
24. My Fair Lady, film score~Without You
25. My Fair Lady, film score~I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
26. My Fair Lady, film score~End Titles
27. My Fair Lady, film score~Exit Music

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Audrey Hepburn   Primary Artist
Rex Harrison   Primary Artist,Vocals
Marni Nixon   Primary Artist,Vocals
Robert Coote   Primary Artist
The Orchestra   Primary Artist
Bill Shirley   Primary Artist,Vocals
Isobel Elsom   Primary Artist
Wilfried Hyde-White   Primary Artist
Orchestra African Fiesta   Primary Artist
Julie Andrews   Primary Artist
Accentus Austria   Primary Artist
Stanley Holloway   Primary Artist,Vocals
Andre Previn   Conductor
Alan Jay Lerner   Lyre

Technical Credits

Gladys Cooper   Cast
Alan Jay Lerner   Lyricist,Performer,Book,Composer
Fred Plaut   Engineer
Darcy Proper   Remixing,Mastering
Didier C. Deutsch   Producer,Liner Notes,Reissue Producer
John Michael King   Performer
Julie Andrews   Performer
Philippa Bevans   Performer
Reid Shelton   Performer
Rex Harrison   Cast,Performer
Theodore Bikel   Cast
Goddard Lieberson   Producer
Robert Coote   Performer
Robert Franklyn   Orchestration
Mel Traxel   Photography
Giulio Turturro   Art Direction
Frederick Loewe   Composer
Stanley Holloway   Cast,Performer
James Morris   Performer
Andre Previn   Music Supervisor
Audrey Hepburn   Cast,Performer
Bob Willoughby   Photography
Alexander Courage   Orchestration
Jack Warner   Producer
Robert Tucker   Vocal Arrangement
Bob Peak   Cover Art
Jeremy Brett   Cast
Herb Surface   Performer
Jennifer Wyler   Authoring
Wilfried Hyde-White   Cast
Brooks Atkinson   Liner Notes
Orchestra African Fiesta   Performer
Al Woodbury   Orchestration
John Holland   Cast
The Orchestra   Performer
Andreas K.W. Meyer   Engineer
Glenn Kezer   Performer
Andreas Meyer   Engineer
Cecil Beaton   Cover Photo