My Fair Lady

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This article is about the stage musical. For the 1964 film, see My Fair Lady (film).

For the manga titled My Fair Lady, see The Wallflower (manga)

The original poster for the Broadway production of the show designed by Al Hirschfeld

My Fair Lady is a 1956 musical theater production with lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It was originally adapted by producer Gabriel Pascal into a musical from the screenplay of the 1938 movie Pygmalion, which in turn was adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion which was itself based on the Roman myth of Pygmalion . The stage musical was later made into a film by Warner Bros. in 1964.

The musical first opened at New Haven's Shubert Theatre [1] before premiering on March 15, 1956 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City. It ran for 2717 performances, a Broadway record at the time.

The stars of the Broadway production were Rex Harrison as the professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, Julie Andrews as Cockney flowergirl Eliza Doolittle, Stanley Holloway as her ne'er-do-well philogynistic father, Alfred P. Doolittle, and Robert Coote as Higgins' fellow linguist, Colonel Pickering.

The play opened in London on 30th April 1958, with the same principal cast members, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and ran for 2281 performances. It was revived on Broadway several times: in 1976-77, in 1981 with Rex Harrison repeating his role as Henry Higgins, and in 1993-94 with Richard Chamberlain as Higgins.

Moss Hart directed the original production, Cecil Beaton designed the costumes, and Hanya Holm choreographed. The original Playbill and original cast album included art by Al Hirschfeld, which depicted Eliza Doolittle as a marionette being manipulated by Henry Higgins, whose own strings are being pulled by a heavenly puppeteer who looks like George Bernard Shaw.

The play takes place in 1910. In the original play and many subsequent adaptations the Ascot costumes are mostly black, because Edward VII had just died on 6 May.

A contemporary version of the Pygmalion motif can be found in Willy Russell's play Educating Rita (1980).

1 The songs
2 Plot of original stage version
3 Popular culture
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The songs

"Why Can't the English?"
"Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"
"With a Little Bit o' Luck"
"I'm an Ordinary Man"
"Just You Wait"
"The Servants' Chorus"
"The Rain in Spain"
"I Could Have Danced All Night"
"Ascot Gavotte"
"On the Street Where You Live"
"You Did It"
"Show Me"
"Get Me to the Church On Time"
"A Hymn to Him"
"Without You"
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"

[edit] Plot of original stage version

See My Fair Lady (film) for the story as told in the film.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), an arrogant, irascible professor of phonetics, boasts to a new acquaintance and fellow linguist, Colonel Pickering (Robert Coote), that he can train any woman to speak so properly that he could pass her off as a duchess - even Eliza Doolittle (Julie Andrews), a poor girl with a decidedly Cockney accent, whom he has just encountered selling flowers on the street. Overhearing this, Eliza finds her way to the professor's house and offers to pay for elocution lessons so that she can get a job in a flower shop. Pickering is intrigued by Higgins's boast and wagers that he cannot make good on his claim; Higgins takes on the challenge and begins an intensive make-over program for Eliza's speech, manners and dress.

Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle (Stanley Holloway), a cheerfully amoral and drink-loving dustman, soon shows up, supposedly to save his daughter's virtue, but in reality to extract some money from Higgins. Higgins is impressed by the man's natural gift for language and his brazen lack of moral values ("Can't afford 'em!"). He flippantly recommends Doolittle to an American millionaire who is seeking a lecturer on moral values. In the end, Doolittle gets a surprise bequest of four thousand pounds a year from the millionaire, raising him uncomfortably into middle-class respectability.

Meanwhile, Eliza goes through many forms of speech therapy, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth. She is forced to endlessly repeat phrases such as "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen” (to demonstrate that "h"s must be aspirated) and "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" (to emphasize the "a"). Eliza makes painfully little progress, but just as things seem hopeless, she suddenly "gets it" after Higgins eloquently speaks of the glory of the English language, and thereafter her speech is transformed into an impeccable upper class English accent. For her first public tryout, Higgins takes her to Ascot Racecourse, where she makes a good impression with her polite manners but shocks everyone by her vulgar Cockney attitudes and slang (thus establishing one of the show's themes that good elocution is only "skin deep.") However, she still captures the heart of an eager young man named Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

The final test hinges on Eliza's passing as a lady at the 'embassy ball', which she does successfully despite the presence of a Hungarian phonetics expert, who is completely taken in, as is everyone else. After the ball, Higgins's ungrateful boasting of his triumph and describing his pleasure that the experiment is now over leaves Eliza feeling used and abandoned. She walks out on him, leaving the seemingly clueless Higgins mystified by her ingratitude. In the end, Higgins realizes his deep feelings for Eliza, and she tentatively returns to him — a happy ending that does not figure in Shaw's original play. See original play's ending.

[edit] Popular culture

The subplot of the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" is a parody of My Fair Lady, as Stewie tries to teach an acquaintance's daughter Eliza to overcome her common Cockney accent and speak proper English. Songs from the musical are also parodied. In fact, the character of Stewie himself has been referred to as an "evil Rex Harrison" by Seth MacFarlane, his voice actor and the Series' creator.
The Simpsons episode "My Fair Laddy" parodies the story, as Lisa tries to teach Groundskeeper Willie to be a proper gentleman. The musical's songs are parodied here as well. The show had previously made small tributes the musical: in the episode "The Great Louse Detective" (in which Sideshow Bob sings about his inability to kill Bart because he has "grown accustomed to his face") and in the episode "The Sweetest Apu" (in which Apu produces a version of My Fair Lady starring all eight of his children to compensate for infidelity). When the Simpsons visit Britain in "The Regina Monologues," two English gentleman come upon a sugar OD'd Bart and Lisa. The first, Lord Daftwager, asks the second how much he would wager to turn these street urchins into a proper gentleman and lady, a la Pygmalion. One episode even parodied the story's original title - "Pygmoelian".
The ¡Mucha Lucha! episode "My Hairy Knuckles" (produced for the show's second season but aired in its third season) dealt with Buena Girl and The Flea educating Heavy Traffic, a bully from a rival school, into becoming a luchadore, similar to My Fair Lady's storyline.
My Fair Nanny, an episode of The Nanny is a parody of My Fair Lady.
The movie "She's All That", starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze, Jr., is a modern day interpretation of the "My Fair Lady" plotline. Prinze's character claims that he could take any one girl in the school and make her prom queen and ends up choosing Cook's character.
The movie "Miss Congeniality" includes references to "My Fair Lady" and even the main character herself (a police agent being transformed into a beauty pageant contestant) recognizes the similarity.
My Fair Mandy, an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, is a parody of My Fair Lady.
My So-Called Wife, an episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, is a parody of My Fair Lady. In the episode, Mr. Herriman tried to get Coco to say "The sleet in Crete falls neatly in the street", a reference to "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain".
In The Girl In The Fireplace, an episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor staggers into one of the rooms on board a spaceship just as his companions are about to be dissected for parts, drunken and singing "I Could Have Danced All Night".
The short-lived Warner Brothers series Pinky and the Brain had a parody episode, Pinky, Elmira, and the Brain, where Brain attempts to teach the dimwitted Elmira all about outer space, in hopes that her new knowledge would allow her (and thus Brain) into a junior space program in yet another plot to take over the world.
An episode of Will & Grace is entitled "My Fair Maid-y", a parody of My Fair Lady.
An episode of Arthur was called "My Fair Tommy" and did resemble My Fair Lady in ways other than the title, in which Emily challenged D.W. to make Tommy Tibble into a non-troublemaker.
Star Trek: Voyager did a plot similar to "My Fair Lady" in 5th Season Episode "Someone To Watch Over Me". In the episode, the Doctor bets Tom Paris that he will be teach Seven of Nine how to deal with romantic / social interaction.