Tom Moon on "My Fair Lady"

"Most original-cast albums of the 1950s were recorded in a single day. Producers tried to schedule the sessions as close to the opening of the musical as possible, thinking that the nuances of the work would be fresh in the performers' minds. That strategy sometimes backfired. The frenzy of getting a show off the ground meant performers hadn't yet settled into the songs. And were often exhausted besides. Amazingly, there's no fatigue in the zippy readings of this Lerner and Loewe masterpiece, which was recorded in one marathon fourteen-hour session on March 25, 1956. … The show yielded an astounding number of songs that became standards. … [Rex] Harrison, as Henry Higgins, enjoys every wink of his ironies: When he describes himself, in 'I'm an Ordinary Man,' his exaggerated demeanor suggests his character is anything but ordinary. That Harrison caught this specific dynamic so early in what became a historic extended run is remarkable. In a vivid illustration of how precarious these inflections can be, by the time of the 1959 London cast recording, he lost that gleam—he's no longer in on the joke—making the iridescent 1956 version the clear choice" (1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, p. 447).