The noted phonetician Professor Henry Higgins encounters Eliza at Covent Garden and laments the vulgarity of her dialect ("Why Can't the English?").

Eliza's dustman father, Alfred P. Doolittle, stops by the next morning searching for money for a drink ("With a Little Bit of Luck").

Just as Higgins is about to give up on her, Eliza suddenly recites one of her diction exercises in perfect upper-class style ("The Rain in Spain").

Though Eliza shocks everyone when she forgets herself while watching a race and reverts to foul language, she does capture the heart of Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

Her father is there as well, and he tells her that he has received a surprise bequest from an American millionaire, which has raised him to middle-class respectability, and now must marry his lover.

However, Shaw, having had a bad experience with The Chocolate Soldier, a Viennese operetta based on his play Arms and the Man, refused permission for Pygmalion to be adapted into a musical.

"[8] Lerner preferred My Fair Lady, relating both to one of Shaw's provisional titles for Pygmalion and to the final line of every verse of the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down".

[citation needed] Noël Coward was the first to be offered the role of Henry Higgins, but he turned it down, suggesting the producers cast Rex Harrison instead.

[10] Young actress Julie Andrews was "discovered" and cast as Eliza after the show's creative team went to see her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend.

The experienced orchestrators Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang were entrusted with the arrangements, and the show quickly went into rehearsal.

At the first preview Rex Harrison, who was unaccustomed to singing in front of a live orchestra, "announced that under no circumstances would he go on that night...with those thirty-two interlopers in the pit".

In addition to stars Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Stanley Holloway, the original cast included Robert Coote, Cathleen Nesbitt, John Michael King, and Reid Shelton.

[20] The West End production, in which Harrison, Andrews, Coote, and Holloway reprised their roles, opened on April 30, 1958, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where it ran for five and a half years[21] (2,281 performances).

Ian Richardson starred as Higgins, with Christine Andreas as Eliza, George Rose as Alfred P. Doolittle and Robert Coote recreating his role as Colonel Pickering.

It was directed by Robin Midgley,[23][24][25] with sets by Adrian Vaux, costumes by Tim Goodchild and choreography by Gillian Lynne.

[27] The second Broadway revival of the original production opened at the Uris Theatre on August 18, 1981, and closed on November 29, 1981, after 119 performances and 5 previews.

Directed by Trevor Nunn, with choreography by Matthew Bourne, the musical starred Martine McCutcheon as Eliza and Jonathan Pryce as Higgins, with Dennis Waterman as Alfred P. Doolittle.

[30] In December 2001, Joanna Riding took over the role of Eliza, and in May 2002, Alex Jennings took over as Higgins, both winning Olivier Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical respectively in 2003.

[38][39] Replacements included Rosemary Harris as Mrs. Higgins,[40] Laura Benanti as Eliza,[41] and Danny Burstein, then Alexander Gemignani, as Alfred P.

[43] A North American tour of the production, starring Shereen Ahmed and Laird Mackintosh as Eliza and Higgins, opened in December 2019.

[46] The production was presented by the English National Opera at the London Coliseum with performances from May 7, 2022, and an official opening on May 18, for a 16-week run until August 27.

[48] A UK and Ireland tour began in September 2022 starring Michael Xavier as Higgins, Charlotte Kennedy as Eliza, Adam Woodyatt as Alfred P. Doolittle, John Middleton as Colonel Pickering, Lesley Garrett as Mrs Pearce and Tom Liggins as Freddy.

It starred Kelsey Grammer as Higgins, Kelli O'Hara as Eliza, Charles Kimbrough as Pickering, and Brian Dennehy as Alfred Doolittle.

The production starred Reg Livermore as Higgins, Taryn Fiebig as Eliza, Robert Grubb as Alfred Doolittle and Judi Connelli as Mrs Pearce.

[56] A new production was staged by Robert Carsen at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris for a limited 27-performance run, opening December 9, 2010, and closing January 2, 2011.

[63] The cast featured Alex Jennings as Higgins (Charles Edwards for Brisbane and Melbourne seasons), Anna O'Byrne as Eliza, Reg Livermore as Alfred P. Doolittle, Robyn Nevin as Mrs. Higgins (later Pamela Rabe), Mark Vincent as Freddy, Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Colonel Pickering, Deidre Rubenstein as Mrs. Pearce, and David Whitney as Karpathy.

[62][63][64] According to Geoffrey Block, "Opening night critics immediately recognized that My Fair Lady fully measured up to the Rodgers and Hammerstein model of an integrated musical ... Robert Coleman ... wrote 'The Lerner-Loewe songs are not only delightful, they advance the action as well.

You'd better sit right down and send for those tickets ...' Critics praised the thoughtful use of Shaw's original play, the brilliance of the lyrics, and Loewe's well-integrated score.

Lerner in particular disliked the film version of the musical, thinking it did not live up to the standards of Moss Hart's original direction.

[94] Despite the controversy, My Fair Lady was considered a major critical and box-office success, and won eight Oscars, including Best Picture of the Year, Best Actor for Rex Harrison, and Best Director for George Cukor.