My Fair Lady
Louise Gold
appeared as a servant, at The Derby Playhouse, from around 20 September 1975
Cast
Buskers - Kate Lock & John Cogan
Mrs Eynsford Hill - Andree Evans
Eliza Doolittle - Cookie
Freddy-Ensford Hill - Ted Merwood
Colonel Pickering - George Woolley
Henry Higgins - John Humphrey
Hoxton Man - Leo Dove
Camberwell Man - Stephen Hartford
A Cockney - Adam Richardson
Another Cockney - Jane Gurnett
George, A Bartender - Stephen Hartford
Harry - Clive Carter
Jamie - Billy James
Alfred P. Doolittle -
Mrs Pearce - Joan Ryan
Mrs Hopkins - Pamela Scott
Children - Phillipa Van Hamel, Kevin Parkes & Mark Ruston
Servants - Zelah Clarke, Louise Gold & Stephen Hartford
Mrs Higgins - Judith Fellows
Charles, A Chauffer - Stephen Hartford
Mrs. Higgins’ Maid - Paula Tinker
Constable - Billy James
Zoltan Karpathy - Stephen Hartford
Queen of
All other parts played by members of the Company
Production Team
Book & Lyrics by - Alan Jay Lerner
Music by - Frederick Lowe
Adapted from the play “Pygmallion” by George Bernard Shaw
Original production - 15 March 1956,
This production Directed by - Mark Woolgar
Choreography and Musical Staging by - Michael Vernon
Musical Direction and Orchestrations by - Malcolm Sircom
Musicians
Flute/Piccolo/Clarinet - Ian Herbert
Oboe - Thelma Marion
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet - Peter Cook
Trumpet -
Trombone - David Bentley
Percussion - John Webster
Piano - Malcolm Sircom
Sets designed by - Joe Vanek
Costumes Designed by - Caroline McCulloch
Lighting Designed by - Stephen Hocking
Rehearsal Accommodation -
Stage Manager - Ian Hesketh
Deputy Stage Manager -
Assistant Stage Manager - Barbara Mates & John Downman
Please note, the
webmaster has used some guess work in listing the minor performers in the song
listing. For example it is assumed that whenever either the “maids” or
“servants” appear in the song listing in the programme, then that presumably
refers mainly to Zelah Clarke and Louise Gold. When “Cockneys” are listed as
singing it is assumed one means a chorus or cockneys, although there are
performers (Adam Richardson and Jane Gurnett who are listed specifically as
Cockneys). There appears to be some confusion over the Street Entertainers, the
running order states there are three but only lists two in the cast list.
However, it has been confirmed that most actors in minor listed parts, as one
would expect, also doubled as members of the chorus whenever required.
Musical Numbers
Act 1
Street Entertainers - The Three Buskers (Kate Lock, John Cogan &
?)
Why Can’t The English - Higgins (John Humphrey)
Wouldn’t It Be Loverly - Eliza and Cockneys (Cookie
With A Little Bit Of Luck - Doolittle, Harry and Jamie (
I’m An Ordinary Man - Higgins (John Humphrey)
With A Little Bit Of Luck (Reprise) - Doolittle and Ensemble (
Just You Wait - Eliza (Cookie
The Rain In
I Could Have Danced All Night - Eliza, Mrs Pearce and Maids (Cookie
On The Street Where You Live - Freddy (Ted Merwood)
The Embassy Waltz - Higgins, Eliza, Karpathy and Full Ensemble (John Humphrey,
Cookie
Act 2
You Did It
- Higgins, Pickering, Mrs Pearce and Servants (John Humphrey, George
Woolley, Joan Ryan, Zelah Clarke, Louise Gold and Stephen
Hartford)
Just You Wait (Reprise) - Eliza (Cookie
On The Street Where You Live (Reprise) - Freddy (Ted Merwood)
Show Me
- Eliza and Freddy (Cookie
Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (Reprise) - Eliza and Cockneys (Cookie
Get Me To The Church On Time - Doolittle, Harry, Jamie and Ensemble (
A Hymn To Him - Higgins (John Humphrey)
Without You
- Eliza and Higgins (Cookie
I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face - Higgins (John Humphrey)
This
production was actually the inaugural production for the current Derby
Playhouse building, which was opened by The Duke Of Devonshire on 20
September 1975.
.
Louise Gold and Billy James had previously appeared in
Hair.
Louise Gold and John Cogan went on to appear in Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat (Touring Production)
Louise Gold, John Cogan, Adam Richardson, and, Clive
Carter went on to appear in Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (York Production), which also had
choreography by Michael Vernon.
Louise Gold’s fellow maid Zelah Clarke has also gone
on to achieve some success in her career, most notably playing the title role
in a television adaptation of Jane Eyre.
Arnold
Peters has gone to play Jack
Woolley in The Archers
Louise Gold and Jane Gurnett (along with Felicity
Steel) subsequently formed an alternative cabaret group called Anna
Rexic and The Compulsives.
Clive
Carter has gone on to take part
in Shopping With The Stars 2009,
he may have gone on to appear in Dear Ralph, and, Comedy Tonight. His recording credits include The Great Musicals - From Broadway to
Hollywood.
Having very
likely been one of the backing singers in this production for the number I
Could Have Danced All Night, Many many years later Louise Gold may have the lead vocal in a parody of
the song, I Could Have Counted All Night, on Sesame Street, the performance has made it onto
the album The Count’s Countdown; which credited her as singing it,
however their is some doubt as to whether she actually was the singer. Apparently,
also on Sesame Street she sang, along with Carroll Spinney, a parody of Wouldn’t
It Be Luverly as Wouldn’t It Be Yucky.
I’m An
Ordinary Man, in which
Higgins vows that he will never let a woman in his life is probably one of the
most ironic or “don’t believe a word of it”. It was originally introduced by a
leading man who was married several times, while the lyricist managed in the
course of his life to marry eight times, the last being Liz Robertson.
About 19 years after appearing in this production of My Fair Lady,
Louise Gold found herself on stage at an arts festival in
One is moved
to wonder whether The Stage critic’s comment about Cookie Weymouth’s
singing voice might have been accentuated by the presence of a rather powerful
singer not only in the chorus itself but as a backing singer on two numbers
that did not involve the full chorus.
Critics Comments
. “Notable also is Cookie
