My Fair Lady

So my birthday is officially over.

Now you're probably thinking "geez Julia, your birthday was a month and a half ago. You're really not that important." But I have a good reason for making that statement. Namely, my last birthday present "took place" yesterday. The teachers from my school here know that I love theatre and stuff like that, so for my birthday they got me a ticket to go see the musical "My Fair Lady" in Leipzig with them (well, only with 4 of the teachers...not all 100...). I was absolutely blown away! I LOVE MY FAIR LADY.

Now I'll admit, I was afraid of being disappointed for two reasons: 1) I know this play backwards and forwards in English... and this interpretation would obviously be in German...and we all know by now how I feel about translated movies/plays/songs/musicals; 2) The lead roles would obviously not be played by Rex Harrison or Audrey Hepburn and seeing as how she is pretty much the love of my life I thought my standards might subconsciously be much too high for the poor girl who would have to convince me that she really is Eliza Doolittle ... in GERMAN no less.


All that worry for naught! First of all, the translation was an absolute work of art. Almost word for word, yet the songs still all rhymed and were total musical theatre genius! I mean, I obviously had the English version running through my head the whole time, too, which was a little annoying, but no complaints on the translation front...for the first time ever! lol. And the acting was terrific. The leads were excellent and wow could the girl playing Eliza sing! Fantastic operatic voice. The sets were beautiful, as well, the costumes were great. It was all set in a little more modern setting than the movie, but not in a flashy or terribly noticable way. You really only got that impression when you looked at some of the costumes.

The orchestra gets 5 stars from me. The music was just phenomenal and it sounded E-X-A-C-T-L-Y like in the movie. A+++++.

All in all it was a great experience. The only problem was that they don't use microphones (it's quite a small but gorgeous theatre in the slightly rundown heart of Leipzig, kind of like some of those old theatres in downtown Winnipeg). Anyways, like I said, they didn't use microphones and sometimes it was really difficult if not impossible to understand the words they were singing. During the speaking parts it was no problem, mainly cuz the orchestra didn't play then. But that's really my only complaint. I totally understand why "My Fair Lady" got such great reviews and why it's booked out solid til April, which was the reason that we couldn't go closer to my actual bday. :)


Ya, and then I was taken out to dinner yet too! In this restaurant that is right inside the theatre. It was so cool in there. I've never been in a restaurant like that. It was very old-school English and one of the rooms had an INCREDIBLY high ceiling and was decorated like an inner courtyard with washing lines full of laundry hanging up high. Really neat.


Anyways, ya. That was the official end of my birthday. And after waiting for it for a month and a half it was definitely a fantastic conclusion to the festivities. Honest to goodness, I have never had such a good birthday. Ever. I know I said this already in December, but I just need to reiterate it: who woulda thunk my funnest birthday would be celebrated far far far away from home, family, and friends? DEFINITELY not me.



Only 3 more sleeps til winter break and my mom, sis in law, and her mom arrive in Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!