By Andrew Gans
21 Sep 2007
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| Sally Ann Howes |
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
SALLY ANN HOWES
In 1958 a young British actress by the name of Sally Ann Howes made her Broadway debut in My Fair Lady, succeeding another English favorite, Julie Andrews, in the role of Eliza Doolittle. Nearly a half-century later, Howes — who has also graced Broadway in Kwamina, Brigadoon (Tony nomination), What Makes Sammy Run and James Joyce's The Dead — is back onstage in that classic Lerner and Loewe musical. This time around, Howes is playing Mrs. Higgins in the national tour of My Fair Lady, which kicked off earlier this month in Tampa, FL, and is currently playing the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, PA (through Sept. 23) before arriving at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, OH (Sept. 25-Oct. 7). Howes, who may be best remembered for her truly scrumptious portrayal of Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 family favorite film musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," will stay with the tour through January 2008, playing her final performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. I had the great pleasure of chatting with the charming Howes the day before she began performances in the My Fair Lady tour. My interview with the actress, who spoke about her legendary career on both sides of the Atlantic, follows.
Question: You begin performances tomorrow in My Fair Lady. . .
Sally Ann Howes: Yes, we do! We've got an invited audience tonight — to sort of ease us in. When you've been doing something for four weeks, it's lovely to have an audience in, so you know where the laughs are and things like that.
Question: How did the rehearsals go this week — technical rehearsals and whatnot…
Howes: Extraordinarily well. They're long as everybody knows, tech [rehearsals] go on and on. It's so amazing the difference between when I did My Fair Lady all that time ago; technically, the things that you can do in the theatre now are so exciting. With the moving in and out of scenery, you don't have to have what we used to call "in one" when the scenery was changed behind the scrim. That is an immense difference, so when certain numbers go on, Matthew Bourne has integrated them with a lot of movement in continuing the song from one set to another. That, to me, is the largest change [in theatre], the electronic side of it.
Question: How did this role come about for you?
Howes: I really don't know. [Laughs.] I just think it's so funny because when I did My Fair Lady, I was very young . . . The [role] of Mrs. Higgins has always been [played by] somebody who has had a [lengthy] career . . . I was laughing to myself when I was young, saying, "Now I wonder if I'm going to be around to be able to play this role [when I'm older]," and here I am! [Laughs.]
Howes: Yes. I do get a chance [to sing]. I've persuaded them that I don't have to [just] sit watching the race, so I do join in the "Ascot Gavotte," and I really enjoy that. [Laughs.] I put my voice in with all the other wonderful cast.
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| Sally Ann Howes as Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady. |
| photo by Joan Marcus |
Howes: I think she's an extraordinarily interesting woman. The reason that she becomes so attached to Eliza and the friendship [that occurs] when Eliza goes to Mrs. Higgins' house is because they have a sort of kindred spirit in the fact that it's actually that time when suffragettes were beginning to have their voice. I think it was an interesting point of view, certainly if you read Shaw's notes: Eliza is on the brink of it really, but she doesn't have the education to know what she's actually doing. But she is changing. She wants to have her own say in the world. Therefore, she very cleverly finds the professor and vise versa, and she becomes sort of under the heading of a type of suffragette, which Mrs. Higgins recognizes, and I think that's their kindred spirit. I think also Mrs. Higgins is a woman who doesn't take any nonsense, and it's the only woman that obviously has dominated her son a great deal. And, finally, Eliza is also a woman who can come along and get her own way with the professor. So it's quite a fun role.
Question: Do you have a favorite moment in the show for your character?
Howes: Well, not actually the character. But in a scene that I have with Christopher Cazenove [Professor Higgins] — after Eliza has trounced him — he becomes a tiny little boy, and he goes, "Mother, mother…," and I come in and say, "What is it Henry? What did you expect? Of course, she left you!" [Laughs.] I think that moment is great fun because we connect in a real mother and son moment. It's very funny and, of course, I love the zinging lines. I have some real zingers at people, so I'm enjoying it. And, of course, the clothes are wonderful. I'm thrilled with the clothes.
Question: Has Trevor Nunn, who directed the London run, directed it here as well?
Howes: No, he didn't. He came in and had a quick look. He's doing a play. His associate director [Shaun Kerrison] is absolutely marvelous. He has the blueprint and, of course, Christopher [Cazenove] and Lisa [O'Hare] have played it before. We've had Matthew Bourne over, and he spent a whole week with us. The dancing is absolutely phenomenal.
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| Sally Ann Howes as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady. |
| photo by Friedman-Abeles |
Howes: Yes, that was the first job that I did in New York.
Question: Do you remember how that came about originally?
Howes: I was working in England, and Lerner and Loewe came over to work on a show I was doing, which was their Paint Your Wagon, which I did with my father. We were both starring in it. My father came out of retirement to do it. Therefore, I met them, and then when Julie [Andrews] was leaving [the Broadway cast of My Fair Lady], they offered me to take over from her. That's how I met them, and that's how it happened. . . . At the same time, I got an invitation to go to the Old Vic by Tyrone Guthrie, so I didn't know which path to take. Anyway, I chose My Fair Lady, and so that was my first show over here.
Question: Was it a difficult decision to leave England?
Howes: No, not at all. I had met Richard Adler and we, at that time, fell in love, and it was really basically because I met him [that I came to America]. So the two went together. [Laughs.]
Question: What are your memories of working on Broadway at that time?
Howes: It was absolutely wonderful, when you're in probably the greatest show that's ever been written. It's certainly up among the top ten. I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the American audiences, I loved the show, and I enjoyed being in America. I like the incredible enthusiasm and, at that time, that really was the capital of musicals. England hadn't started on its second phase of also producing great musicals.
Question: How would you say that this My Fair Lady cast compares to the one that you worked with the first time around?
Howes: Well, I think it's absolutely a wonderful cast. I really do, I'm not just saying that. . . . There are 35 of us, so it's quite a big cast, and each person is very individual and marvelous. Matthew Bourne has given it such an incredible twist and emphasis on the difference between the classes — I think it's really going to surprise people. It's much more definite in catching the real English life in that period. I think he's done an incredible job. With that, he has given an amazing new life to already a wonderful, wonderful show.
Question: Have you toured much before?
Howes: No, I haven't. I toured in England pre-West End. We always went on tour for that, and I suppose I did tour for several of the shows that I did on Broadway before we came in. But that was in the days when you used to go out and try out a show and get the kinks out before all the spies came in. I did one very big tour quite a long time ago, right across America, in Sound of Music. I did 92 cities. Maybe that cured me, I don't know. [Laughs.]
Question: That's a lot of cities. What are your memories of being in that production?
Howes: I enjoyed it immensely because I was with two friends who were playing the other leads, and so we had a lovely time. It was a wonderful way to see America, and I saw America. We went to practically every state, and it was just the best way to see it.
Question: Were you playing Maria?
Howes: I was playing Maria. Yes, I was young then. [Laughs.]
Question: And now, you're leaving the My Fair Lady tour after Kennedy Center?
Howes: Yes, I'm only signed for the end of that [engagement].
Question: Is that to do another part?
Howes: No, no. That's exactly the amount of time that we agreed on.
Question: You were last on Broadway in James Joyce's The Dead. Tell me about your experience in that show.
Howes: I loved it. I think it was something that I enjoyed more than I can say. It was really a great experience — not only just putting it together and watching it being created, I thought it was an utterly unusual idea and production. The music was wonderful. My only deep regret was that we did not make a recording of it. I thought that was awful. Unfortunately, sometimes when you're working on something, people's egos get in the way. The creative team didn't agree, and so consequently they didn't want to work together again for a recording, which I thought was very selfish.
Question: It's a shame the Broadway cast didn't get recorded.
Howes: Apparently, it got recorded in Pittsburgh. An Irish company did it. I was interviewed in Pittsburgh, and they're going to give me a recording of it, so I'm really very excited about that — at least I shall have a memory of it.
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| Sally Ann Howes in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." |
| photo by United Artists |
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