janeausten37
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How old is Eliza?There is a community theatre that is going hold auditions for My Fair Lady in a few weeks and I was wondering if anybody knew how old Eliza Doolittle is actually supposed to be? I've seen the movie of course and I've seen it on stage and it's usually cast as someone about 30 (it seems), does anyone know if a 19 year old (and I could look 20-25 with stage makeup) Eliza is acceptable? Or should I just aim for the chorus with the knowledge that I simply don't fit the age-profile?
Thanks!
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Cake_in_Song
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For some reason, I seem to remember Eliza being about twenty, but I don't recall for sure. Whether or not the director casts someone as young as you is up to his own personal discretion. I think you are right in assuming that most directors pick actresses in their thirties, but if a younger person were impressive enough, things might be different. So, what you audition for depends on one thing: if you audition for Eliza, and don't make it, will you be given the oppertunity to be in the chorus? If so, go ahead and audition. Even if you don't get the role, it'll be good practice, and you might get chosen for a smaller speaking or singing part. If, in order to be in the chorus, you must audition for chorus, then it's your own choice to make. You have to ask yourself how much the role means to you, and how fitting you are for the role in other ways (appearence, voice, acting abilities). Good luck!
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jazzygirlsings
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In the scene where Higgins is going crazy looking for Eliza and Pickering is on the phone trying to find her, he says she is "about twenty-one"...
Hope that helped!
(I say go for it! What have you got to lose?)
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Mark Walton
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Julie Andrews was 20 when she first played Eliza on Broadway; she played the role for a little over 3 years both on Broadway and in London. Audrey Hepburn was 34 or 35 when she did the movie.
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janeausten37
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Thanks everyone! Now I feel better about my age...and I can consider the eligibility of my talent (one obstacle at a time  )
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Laura
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obviously, this is coming way too late but a local theatre company did it with a 17-year-old as eliza and she was phenomonal!! good luck with it all!
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klutzyk8ie
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Eliza's SUPPOSED to be somewhere around 19, 20... but Julie Andrew's was the first Eliza Doolittle to actually be the correct age (previous productions of Pygmalian had older actors)
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lizadoolittle
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George Bernard Shaw wrote the role for a woman who was 49. I don't think the age is very important though, however it would be a stretch to have her over the age of 35, imo. On the other hand I think a lot of peolple make the mistake of making her too young. She's already gotten herself out of the really nasty part of town (Lisson Grove) and has moved "on up" so to speak. I think it would be difficult to believe that a girl younger than 22 or 24 would have had the wherewithall to do that. That's just how I see it though.
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jazzygirlsings
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| lizadoolittle wrote: | | George Bernard Shaw wrote the role for a woman who was 49. I don't think the age is very important though, however it would be a stretch to have her over the age of 35, imo. On the other hand I think a lot of peolple make the mistake of making her too young. She's already gotten herself out of the really nasty part of town (Lisson Grove) and has moved "on up" so to speak. I think it would be difficult to believe that a girl younger than 22 or 24 would have had the wherewithall to do that. That's just how I see it though. |
In the musical, however, there is a line that says "She's about 21"...
And it's the musical she's asking about. With Andrews as 20 when she first took on the role, it's not totally out the question for someone younger to play her.
Also, in those days you have to remember that people were on their own, getting married, etc. a lot younger than they are today because life expectancy was understandably shorter...
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lizadoolittle
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and you also have to understand its HIGGINS who says she's about 21. i do you really think that higgins would have any idea how old she really is? this is henry higgins were talking about. he also says she's got brown hair and brown eyes. pretty sure julie andrews had blonde hair and blue eyes.
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Laura
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isn't it pickering who says she's about 21, and i don't think casting really hangs in the balance if you don't have brown hair and blue eyes. Makeup and wigs...great stuff.
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Salome
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| lizadoolittle wrote: | | and you also have to understand its HIGGINS who says she's about 21. i do you really think that higgins would have any idea how old she really is? this is henry higgins were talking about. he also says she's got brown hair and brown eyes. pretty sure julie andrews had blonde hair and blue eyes. |
julie andrews has brown hair. havent you seen the pics of the original production. Andrews has been bleaching her hair blonde since the mid 60s.
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lizadoolittle
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| defying_gravity wrote: | | and i don't think casting really hangs in the balance if you don't have brown hair and blue eyes. Makeup and wigs...great stuff. |
that's precisely my point.
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jazzygirlsings
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| Salome wrote: | | lizadoolittle wrote: | | and you also have to understand its HIGGINS who says she's about 21. i do you really think that higgins would have any idea how old she really is? this is henry higgins were talking about. he also says she's got brown hair and brown eyes. pretty sure julie andrews had blonde hair and blue eyes. |
julie andrews has brown hair. havent you seen the pics of the original production. Andrews has been bleaching her hair blonde since the mid 60s. |
Exactly...LOL!
And yes, the brown hair brown eyes thing doesn't necessarily hang in the balance, but age is pretty important. Higgins was no imbecile...She should look somewhere in the vicinity of 21...
Even if she's 27 and looks 27...no biggie...but if she's 35 and he says around 21, it's a lot harder to believe...
And while you say things can be remedied by using wigs, etc...I just wish more casting directors in the professional world felt that way, but that's not the case... LOL!
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lizadoolittle
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he's definitely not an imbicile, but he is also most definitely NOT the most observant person unless it involves phonetics. he doesn't even bother to dress properly for the ascot. details (uninvolving phonetics) are not what he's about.
again, the part eliza doolittle was written for someone who was almost 50. when they made the movie pygmalion (the 1938 version) wendy hiller was 26. the age, the eye color, the hair color can all be changed in the script to fit whomever is cast because its basically unimportant. you shouldn't cast someone who looks 21 just because the script says she's 21 anymore than you wouldn't cast someone with green eyes because the script says she has brown eyes.
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jazzygirlsings
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| lizadoolittle wrote: | he's definitely not an imbicile, but he is also most definitely NOT the most observant person unless it involves phonetics. he doesn't even bother to dress properly for the ascot. details (uninvolving phonetics) are not what he's about.
again, the part eliza doolittle was written for someone who was almost 50. when they made the movie pygmalion (the 1938 version) wendy hiller was 26. the age, the eye color, the hair color can all be changed in the script to fit whomever is cast because its basically unimportant. you shouldn't cast someone who looks 21 just because the script says she's 21 anymore than you wouldn't cast someone with green eyes because the script says she has brown eyes. |
And again (since you seem to like to be condescending...I'm not stupid...I've gathered that much) we ARE talking about the MUSICAL...NOT Pygmalion...which you seem to keep forgetting, but part of me thinks that the reason you're defending the age thing so much is because you probably played Eliza older than she's usually played...That's fine for community theatres, but in most professional productions, she isn't usually played much older than someone who looks no older than 30...
As sad as it is, especially in pro musical theatre, the casting director can find the talent in exactly the physical type they are looking for...That doesn't mean it's right, it's simply a fact. This even goes for the eyes/hair thing...
Bravo for you for doing something against the norm.
And I disagree that he wouldn't at least be in the ballpark about Eliza's age...By the time she leaves, she's lived with him for months...
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lizadoolittle
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actually i'm 29. but we aren't changing the "21" line. frankly, because we don't need to. And I have light brown hair and blue eyes. and I'm not fat either...about an 8  [in reference to the weight topic(s) in the other forum).
i think its funny that you'd assume that i'm playing her against type.
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jazzygirlsings
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^Again...good for you...
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Maid Marian
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I had a friend who played Eliza in an amateur tour aged 15, but she is exceptionally tall and looked much older.
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Salome
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15 is frighteningly young.
and dont forget age wise professionally they go older not younger... look at cheryl kennedy,audrey hepburn, and amanda plummer.
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Mark Walton
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Last night I saw a local company's MFL production. Their Eliza had been in theater for 30-plus years, according to the program. at more than one point she was so powerful I thought: "Hea' yer 'ar' hou', Julie Handrews!" Their Higgins gave Rex Harrison a good run for his money in the obnoxious-bully department, kept in check by a good strong Mrs. Pearce. Pickering was just as much an old fuddy-duddy, dashed at everything, as Robert Coote no doubt was, and their Freddy just as besotted with Eliza as any previous actor. A good, but quietly spoken Mrs. Higgins developed quite an attachment to Pickering, dancing with him at the Embassy Ball, and Zoltan Karpathy as oily as any previous. Alfred P. Doolittle was thoroughly morose, and at one point actually crying, at the thought of getting married (was Stanley Holloway ever that far gone?) His drinking buddy Jamie was a woman.
Downside: Most of the ensemble, and the roles cast from it (servants, Cockneys, Ascot lords and ladies, Embassy Ball guests, etc.) were kids as young as 11, many of them looked totally unrealistic as Ascot lords and ladies, for instance.
The music was a piano accompaniment, with a synthesizer cut in at some points, and drums through "Get Me to the Church On Time" from the second verse on. The music always followed Higgins into his numbers, much like the Rex Harrison-Franz Allers dynamic of the OBC, which probably set the standard.
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music is my life!!!
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in a youthgroup how old would you say is a good age for eliza? would 15 be ok then?
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Mark Walton
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| music is my life!!! wrote: | | in a youthgroup how old would you say is a good age for eliza? would 15 be ok then? |
Probably, especially if she could pass for 20.
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music is my life!!!
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phew! that's good! i'll be 15 in the auditions and i look a bit older than i am!
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elphclaudia
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I'm 15 and I look about 18. My school is rumored to be thinking about doing My Fair Lady this year, the next or in two years (so I'll either be 15, 16 or 17).
I'm a 5'5" brunette who can do an accent just like Audrey Hepburn's and Julie Andrews'
Do you think I could play Eliza?
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Eponine93
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As for the blond hair, blue eyes line... it's not so hard for the director to change that line if the actress playing Eliza happens to be a brunette or has brown eyes.
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ponine_singer
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It doesn't really matter that much. I say go for the audition. If there is an opportunity say that you would like the part of Eliza. You might get it, you might get another part, and if you don't get in then you still have had great audition experience (I think it's best to audition for EVERYTHING even if you know you will not get in--too many prior commitments, age, etc--because you get great experience and also you get some good feedback on your performance. )
Sorry if that isn't too helpful!
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tmg
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Our local community theater is in the middle of doing My Fair Lady and our Eliza is 16, but I never would have guessed she was that young. She looks around 18 - 20 (she's also already graduated high school and is in college at 16  )
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