MFL - Overture, Opening Scene and Song - 1956

Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK - 22 Mar 2003

[The Curtain Rises]
[Crowds are Milling about
Covent Garden Opera House.]
[Three Street Dancers
Entertain the Crowd.]

[Eliza:] Aoooooooow!
[Higgins:] Look at her,
a pris'ner of the gutters;
condemned by ev'ry syllable
she utters. By right
she should be taken out and hung
[spoken:] for the coldblooded murder
of the English tongue!
[Eliza:] Aooow!
[Higgins:] Aooow! Heavens, what a noise.

This is what the British population
calls an element'ry education
[Pickering:] Come, sir,
I think you picked a poor example.
[Higgins:] Did I?

Hear them down in Soho Square,
dropping aitches ev'rywhere,
speaking English any way they like.
You, sir, did you go to school?
[Cockney:] Whatya tike me fer,
a fool?
[Higgins:] No one taught him "take"
instead of "tike."

Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse,
hear a Cornishman converse,
I'd rather hear a choir singing flat!
Chickens cackling in a barn,
just like this one,
[Eliza:] Garn!
[Higgins:] Garn!
I ask you, sir, what sort of a word is that?

It's "Aooow" and "Garn"
that keep her in her place,
not her wretched clothes
and dirty face.

Why can't the English
teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction
by now should be antique.
If you spoke as she does, sir,
instead of the way you do,
Why, you might be selling flowers too.
[Pickering:] I beg your pardon!
[Higgins:] An Englishman's
way of speaking
absolutely classifies him.
The moment he talks he makes
some other Englishman despise him.
One common language
I'm afraid we'll never get.
Oh, why can't the English
learn to set a good example
to people whose English
is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and The Irish
leave you close to tears.
There even are places where
English completely disappears.
[Spoken:] In America,
they haven't used it for years!

Why can't the English teach
their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian;
the Greeks are taught their Greek.
In France ev'ry Frenchman knows
his language from "A to "Zed,"

[spoken:] The French never care
what they do, actually, as long
as they pronounce it properly.

Arabians learn Arabian
with the speed of summer lightening;
the Hebrews learn it backwards,
which is absolutely fright'ning.
But use proper English,
you're regarded as a freak.
Why can't the English;
why can't the English
learn to speak?

Soft karaoke
Words
str 25
str 50
str 110
fr hrn 60
brass 75
flute
drum
bassoon
oboe
clarinet
piano b clef
pizz str
*
sequence and karaoke by Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK
on Saturday 22nd March 2003
in association with Doug Grierson
*

My Fair Lady 1956
Music by Frederick Loewe
Lyrics by Alan J. Lerner
copyright MCMLV1 by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe
01 - Overture and Opening Scene
Presto
Tempo giusto, brillante
Piu animato
Moderato
Allegretto
Pesante
Allegro giusto
Act 1 - Opening Scene
L'istesso tempo
Tempo di Soft Shoe
Allegro Molto
poco meno
02 - Song - (Higgins with others)
Allegro
Poco meno mosso
Vivo
L'istesso tempo
*
First Performance at
The Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York
March 15, 1956
First Performance in London at
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
April 30th, 1958
Synopsis of Scenes
The place is London, the time 1912
Act 1 (11 scenes), Act II (7 scenes)