My Fair Lady – The Mill at Sonning

Simbi Akande in My Fair Lady at The Mill at Sonning. Pictures: Pamela Raith Photography

My Fair Lady continues at the Mill at Sonning until 17 January 2026.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Nearly 70 years after it first opened, I have seen Lerner & Loewe’s immortal classic My Fair Lady as a chamber piece for first time, in an intimate 217-seat venue with a versatile cast of 14 and a four-piece orchestra.

This must have been a challenge for the production’s talented director Joseph Pitcher, who two seasons ago treated us, again at the Mill, to a small-scale production of another Broadway classic, Gypsy, a Best Musical winner at the UK Theatre Awards.

Storywise, My Fair Lady and Gypsy could be regarded as the two of best musicals ever written, West Side Story being the third, but – whereas Gypsy’s plot drags at little at the beginning – My Fair Lady, departing from George Bernard Shaw’s famous play Pygmalion by adding a romantic twist, is, despite its strong social and class awareness, a bit more like Cinderella, a story that almost universally pleases.

Plus the show has a score by Frederick Loewe and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, who also rank among the highest in the Broadway pantheon, balancing lush romantic ballads, comedy bits and patter-singing with songs that can transcend their original contexts (‘On the Street Where You Live’ has been recorded a multitude of times, as has ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’) while still moving the plot along, like only the truly great Golden Age musicals could.

Sophie-Louise Dann plays a double role

We don’t really miss a big orchestra here, as the small but excellent onstage band, including three actor-musicians, only brings out the beautifully melodic quality of the songs. Credit must be given to musical director Nick Tudor, with Richard Burden on the drums, Joey Orme on double bass and the amazing Debs White on violin.

The cast is terrific, headed by Simbi Akande who perfectly conveys the butterfly coming out of its chrysalis, and Nadim Naaman, a flawless Henry Higgins, a multi-dimensional character who we see, like Eliza, transform throughout the piece. It’s also nice to hear the patter songs actually sung through instead of talked through, as they were by Rex Harrison in the original cast and movie.

The supporting cast is equally excellent: Jo Servi is convincing as Colonel Pickering, as are Francesca Ellis  as Mrs Pearce/Mrs Eynsford-Hill and Alfie Blackwell in his professional debut as Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

But the evening belongs to the indomitable Sophie-Louise Dann in the double role of Mrs Higgins/Mrs Hopkins, stopping the show as a Julie Andrews lookalike when singing ‘Burlington Bertie From Bow’, literally taking over the song ‘Get Me to the Church On Time’ from the ever-excellent Mark Moraghan as Alfred P Doolittle.

The choreography – by Pitcher and Alex Christian – is also what makes this My Fair Lady stand out, given that dance hasn’t always been the highlight of previous productions. Here, it finally finds its place, notably in the inventively choreographed ‘Ascot Gavotte’.

Diego Pitarch’s set design is amazing, especially given the size of the theatre, and the costumes by Natalie Titchener and lighting by Jamie Platt also contribute to the excellence of this production. No doubt the best I’ve seen at the Mill at Sonning, with Pitcher’s Gypsy and High Society as closer runners-up.

Not to be missed.

Patrick Honoré