Rex and I recently saw the critically acclaimed My Fair Lady at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion . What made this evening extra nice for us is that it was a company sponsored event which included tickets, parking and a lovely dinner. A friend I've known since kindergarten watched the kids for us. Her only instructions? "Don't worry about the time you get back. Just have fun." Not a problem. With seven hours of kid free time ahead of us, we could had a fiesta cleaning up trash on the freeway. We were just elated to be together.
While the talent and the production was astounding, I didn't buy the romantic attraction about a boarish man who makes a bet that he can make a lady out of poor street girl. He treats her like crap, toys with her emotions, wins the bet and threatens to throw her back into the street. He loses her. He misses her. He gets her back. the end.
Do I think that in real life a man must be perfect to win his wife's love? Of course not. But verbal abuse (and physical... there's references to hitting in this show...) is not okay.
One can say I'm reading into this well loved musical far too much. Like Ricky who wants to give Lucy a good spanking, this show was written in a time when women were considered subservient to men. But it's now 2008, and I just don't relate. I can't stomach the idea of putting myself in the position of being taught by a superior male. Rex does teach me, but I teach him. And not from a level of being less than him, but being at his side. There are times he's a tyrant about the cleaning, or I'm a fanatic about social graces, but to call each other dirty, gutter rats or uneducated fools... never.
My little rant over, there were some very touching moments in the play. Eliza, after learning to speak to Professor Higgin's liking, is swept up in love for him. (Why? I don't know, but she is, so let's get to the touching part.) She sings, "I could have danced all night..." And I get the feeling. There are times when I have just been so happy with Rex, I could have "something elsed" all night. There are also times I've been furious enough I could have thrown more than slippers at him. But given that he never treats me like a gutter rat, or just some experiment in a merry game, I can only quote another of my favorite songs from the show . I might only live a cull de sac life in suburbia right now, but I'm elated to be here. With Rex. With the good, the bad, the ups and downs. I have learned so much. Rex, this is for you:
You know,
People stop and stare,
They don't bother me
For there's nowhere else on earth
That I would rather be
Let the time go by,
I don't care if I
Can be here
On the street
Where you live.
Posted by Andrea Frazer
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* Advice from Dad Gone Mad Blogger Danny Evans
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