Announcing our recording of My Fair Lady: “The greatest musical show of them all”

Following in the award-winning footsteps of Carousel and Oklahoma! is My Fair Lady, the third in our series of complete recordings on the Chandos label of the great musicals.

The series is a long-held ambition of John Wilson, not least because these are complete recordings. Every single note of the score is included, from the Overture to the Exit Music, making them all, including this new My Fair Lady, world premiere recordings.

As John says, “My Fair Lady is arguably the greatest musical show of them all, so it was always going to happen”.

The recording sees John Wilson and the orchestra collaborating with an outstanding roster of soloists, with the recording featuring Scarlett Strallen (Eliza Doolittle), Jamie Parker (Henry Higgins), Alun Armstrong (Alfred P. Doolittle), Malcolm Sinclair (Colonel Pickering), Laurence Kilsby (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Julia McKenzie (Mrs Pearce), and Penelope Wilton (Mrs Higgins).

Many of these names will be familiar from previous recordings, with John having built up something of a ‘repertory company’ for this kind of work. As he says: “Over the years I’ve built up a crew of terrific singing actors whom I trust to turn up and deliver the goods every time – and this is so important when making a record as everything happens instantly, there’s no 6 week rehearsal period”

And this recording really does break new ground, including not just every note of the score, but also passages that were cut from the work just before the show first opened. This music was orchestrated and rehearsed, and indeed performed during the show’s previews, but then was never heard again. With this recording we give listeners the opportunity to hear it for the first time since 1956. “It was very exciting to hear all of this music during the sessions” John says, “we felt like we were uncovering an important bit of musical history”

My Fair Lady is released on Chandos Records on 26 September but can be pre-ordered now.

You can also enjoy singles from the recording which are being released in advance of the full album:
Why Can’t the English?
On The Street Where You Live
The Rain in Spain

With thanks to the Loewe Foundation.