Word: shavianly
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...intellectual content. Indeed, making Joan proud, self-righteous, and a military crusader adds intellectual spice to such questions as "Was she really guilty?" and "Would we burn her today?" It also leads up to the nationalism, monarchism, and Protestantism that Joan purportedly represents, and to some fine razzle-dazzle Shavian dialogue on these topics. In many ways the scenes in which these questions are most thoroughly discussed--the first dialogue between Cauchon and Warwick and the epilogue--are the most enjoyable parts of the play. In them is the quintessence of Shavianism...
Against the cleverly stylized sets of William Roberts, this Shavian comedy is played with great attention to the point: the wit generated by the exchange of ideas and viewpoints. The absurdity of the reformer and his drive is set against the absurdity of the existing order and the complacency of its representatives. Shaw would have us be, in the words of Caesar, "neither bigoted in our attachment to the old nor rash and unpractical in keeping an open mind...
When played well and clearly conceived by director and actors there is nothing in the modern repertory as enjoyable as Shavian comedy. Androcles and the Lion is Shaw near the top of his form; the performance at Wellesley is the Group 20 players at the top of their form...
...thus plucking Shavian phrases from Shavian text for its lyrics, Fair Lady wondrously preserves the salt-and-pepper flavor of Shaw's intellect while transmitting the gaiety of his wit and adding a sweetness he only grumpily betrayed. From Professor Higgins' opening song the Shavian tone...
...Harrison. Producer Herman Levin has outfitted it sumptuously with Cecil Beaton costumes and Oliver Smith sets, had Hanya Holm contrive romping dances under Covent Garden's soaring arches. Stanley Holloway, a hook-nosed veteran of British music halls, makes Eliza's father an uproarious Shavian tribute to the "undeserving poor." Harrison's costar, a 20-year-old English girl named Julie Andrews, plays the role of the flower girl with heart-lifting simplicity. Switching convincingly from whining cockney to fluting aristocrat, she is raucous as she squawks her indignation at the rude Professor Higgins, touching...