A Reflection on ‘Enry ‘Iggins

I’m a massive fan of musicals. Always have been, guaranteened to always be. I’ve always had a problem, though, with My Fair Lady.

The trope of the storyline is one that is well-known and well-loved by romance authors in particular. It’s the Cinderella story; poor girl in poorer circumstances gets a makeover and a new life, and the man falls in love with her, realizing he loved her all along.

I knew the idea behind the story in My Fair Lady.

I just never bought it.

Henry Higgins is a stiff. He’s an arrogant know it all who has cultured himself into superiority of thought. He is a genius, make no mistake. What he sees in Eliza Doolittle at first is the greatest project known to man.

Who could blame him, that language tho...

He’s a man. A challenge is irresistible. Yes, I know that’s a generalization, but the fictional world thrives upon generalization and stereotypes, so go with it.

The longer his experiment takes, the more impossible it seems. Then something happens—he breaks down and relates to Eliza on a human level.

Her language abilities are seemingly transformed! Not entirely, still work to be done, but enough that the thrill of victory rolls in, and they dance.

Eliza falls in love at once. This is clear to everyone. She doesn’t want to embarrass her professor-love, is determined to make him proud of her, likely convinces herself that if she does this, becomes this lady, he will love her in return. Her simple dreams of being a lady in a flower shop fade into becoming the woman Henry Higgins loves. For better or worse, this is what she wants.

He, on the other hand, wants the victory.

Blah blah blah, you know what happens, she runs off and suddenly he’s mad and misses her and WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT? She has found a backbone and he likes it. Then he sings a conflicted song and we say “Wait, he has feelings? When did that happen?”

And THEN she comes BACK to him.

WHYYYYYYYYY?

At least, that’s what I always thought.

I blame Rex Harrison. 

Don’t throw stones, he’s a marvelous actor and that speaking voice is just pristine.

Trouble is, I never believed he loved Eliza. When she left, it was more like he lost a toy.

I feel differently now.

Why, you ask?

Harry Hadden-Paton.

I mean, my goodness...

First of all, I love him. It’s a new love, but it’s my most grown-up love yet. If he ever becomes available, I call dibs. Let’s establish that. Okay? Okay.

Moving on, he played Henry Higgins on Broadway in 2018. If I had known this is 2018, I would have gone, but it’s fine. I found the soundtrack and have listened to it multiple times now. (You can get yours here and here.)

Ladies and gents, Henry Higgins has a heart.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s the same stiff from before, but something’s different.

Maybe it also helps that I’m a romance writer now, but hear me out.

Henry Higgins doesn’t have feelings. Has spent his life not having feelings. Doesn’t care, is above something so mortal, and life is fabulous because of it.

Enter Eliza. A challenge, to be sure, but she also gives him an interesting purpose. And the longer she is there, the more at home she feels. She lives alongside him like it is her home, and he is used to her being there. She knows how he likes his tea, knows how the house works, and knows where the devil his slippers are. She isn’t his housekeeper; he has one, and Mrs. Pearce deserves her own musical, but that’s another story.

Henry is a dummy. After the victory at the ball, he claims all the credit, sees himself as champion, outsmarted that annoying guy, and fooled the world. It’s the perfect finger in the eye to the high and mighty that he might have some secret resentment towards.

But he forgets one thing: Eliza did it.

Henry wasn’t the competitor, he was the coach. Does he deserve praise? Sure thing, he trained a champion. Champion coaches are to be honored and congratulated.

But he’s not the only champion. Eliza was in the race, not him. She was the one whose exertion made the victory happen, who used her training to her utmost and won the day.

Without any credit for her own achievements, the scales fall from Eliza’s eyes and she sees that the man she loves doesn’t even see her, let alone return her feelings. Why would she stay anywhere near him with that kind of a broken heart?

Henry is lost. What happened? They just did a great thing, they had been happy, they had done the impossible.

They.

She leaves and suddenly they are a THEY. I mean, he still thinks she’s ungrateful towards him, but baby steps.

He goes after her and sees her in a new light. She isn’t the weeping flower girl with horrible language anymore. She isn’t the submissive project with puppy dog eyes for him anymore.

She is woman, hear her roar. She is cool, composed, and does not give him an inch. She tosses off his patronizing ways, doesn’t let him mansplain the situation, and tells him she’s going to marry Freddie.

FREDDIE???

That stalkery puppy standing outside her door, obsessed with a pretty face that used a naughty word that one time?

Even I know that’s a dumb idea.

But it’s Eliza’s idea, and she’s got an ironclad will now. She’s going to do what she wants to do, not what Henry Higgins says. She has found herself.

The real victory.

And Henry is so attracted to her like this that he can’t even see straight. The comfort she was at home combined with this glorious creature is everything he didn’t know he dreamed of. His heart might explode out of his chest, the realization of his adoration is so strong.

But Eliza won’t do it. She’s been burned too much, and she’s done.

Cue the saddest song. All the emotions in one. Anger that she’s moving on. Anger that he’s realizing this too late. Anger that FREDDIE is getting her. Heartbroken that he’s lost her. Torn because he hasn’t had feelings in ages and now they are roaring.

Henry Higgins is a dummy. This time he knows it.

Now, my love Harry H-P does a beautiful thing with this song of his. He puts FEELING into it. This isn’t some lost toy, this is realizing he loved and realizing he lost that love all in one. (Again, soundtrack here and here.)

My love is a glorious love...

“I’ve grown accustomed to her face,” he says.

Translation: I love her. I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. How do I go on?

And his voice breaks at the end of the song.

BREAKS, y’all.

I mewled like a little kitten at that sound. Shamelessly. Happens every time.

Thanks, Harry. Love ya, babe.

But that break gives Henry Higgins life.

Genius, HHP. Genius.

I BELIEVE the pain and feelings now. Henry Higgins just didn’t know how to express them, let alone that he had them. Which makes him exactly like every other Edwardian British upper class man who has the emotional range of a paper clip.

Except for Freddie, who needs a life.

Eliza is a smart woman. She saw all of this in Henry while standing up to him. Saw the heart appearing in his eyes, the lack of understanding that she was leaving, the fear that this new and strange awakening was ending.

And she comes back, probably with some trepidation.

Henry is listening to his first recording of her, cherishing the sound of the voice he would never hear again.

I watched a YouTube clip of HHP doing this bit.

MY GOSH, he looked almost ill. Emotional in a moment of raw vulnerability that only the audience sees. (Pause for blatant appreciation of HHP’s acting chops...)

Eliza comes in behind, can’t even see his face, but the slump of his shoulders tells her everything. In HHP’s version, he turns and sees her, says her name... She smiles. He says, “Where the devil are my slippers?” The last attempt at being the famed stiff, Henry Higgins.

Eliza sees past that. Through that. She walks over to him, puts a hand on his face.

I’m watching this going “Why are they not playing the finale??? What are they waiting for? Nothing else happens!”

Hold the phone, silly. HHP has another gift.

Eliza stares at him, hand on cheek, smiling. Then she drops her hand and starts walking in his office, looking around. Henry watches her, disbelief etched in his face.

She moves towards door to the rest of the house, Henry hesitantly walks behind his desk, ready to beg if goes to she leave again.

She starts taking off her gloves, smiles at him again, and moves deeper into the house, away from the exit.

He stares after her, smiling a full heaven-blessed smile as he realizes that this powerful, towering, incomparable woman he failed to truly see for so long has CHOSEN to be with him.

Loves him.

The finale music swells as that smile turns into a breathless laugh, and the lights fade on his happy ending.

I BELIEVE!

Guys, I HATED the ending of this show in the movie I grew up with. Thought it was so dumb, he wasn’t sincere, and she deserved better.

Guess what. They always deserve better, but it’s what they choose and why they choose it that matters.

This time I got that.

I saw the potential in Henry Higgins that Eliza must have seen. I saw the love he felt for her, new though it was. I saw his deeper conflict.

This isn’t just a Cinderella trope. This is a friends to lovers trope, too. This is enemies to lovers. This is second chance.

This is all the things.

Poor Henry Higgins, indeed. His journey is as big as Eliza Doolittle’s, it’s just on the inside.

I get that now.

Someone write that book.

But only if you can get Harry Hadden-Paton for it.

Not kidding. (If you need further convincing, try the soundtrack... here and here.)

PS. To back me up, look at HHP’s interview here. I swear on every flavor of Oreos, cheesecake, AND Diet Coke that I did not read this prior to writing this post. It just proves HHP is my soulmate. That’s all.

PPS. I receive no benefits or compensation for shouting out this version of My Fair Lady. But if anyone knows HHP, I’d love to go to lunch with him in exchange for this rave review.