“My Fair Lady”

[rating=3]In 1913, a play, written by George Bernard Shaw, opened in Vienna. The play was called “Pygmalion” and was based on a Greek mythological God, called Pygmalion. He was a sculptor and fell in love with one of his creations ( a statue). As a play, his creation was not a statue, but in fact, a peasant who was transformed into a “lady”. In 1938 a film was made and several years later, Lerner and Lowe took it to a more modern version with their music and the new title “My Fair Lady”. The year 1956/ and in 1964 the film version of the musical version hit the screens. There are many who call this a love story. The ending, as penned by Shaw, left that open to interpretation. In “My Fair Lady” we are led into almost the same spider web as the emancipated Eliza does return to Higgins, and he does yell out a command, and then the play ends!

The Lincoln Center Theater’s production of “My Fair Lady” was nominated for ten Tony Awards and is now “on the road”. Chicago is always a stop for their productions as they know how our Chicago audiences adore quality productions. The story is fairly simple. Eliza Doolittle is the daughter of a chimney sweep, Alfred Doolittle. She sells flowers on the street to survive and dreams of one day having a position in an actual flower shop instead of walking on the streets of London. On one of these nights, she meets Professor Henry Higgins ( who is a speech specialist) who thinks, or in fact , in his mind knows that he can make her a “lady” fitting to work in a nice shop. An old friend, Colonel Pickering, who is staying with Higgins, challenges him to do so, and the story goes full speed ahead.