My Fair Lady

The Story Line . . .

Literate and funny, "My Fair Lady" is the story of what happens when Professor Higgins accepts the grand challenge to "metamorphose" Eliza Doolittle into a "lady." As the plot unfolds, the audience is treated to some of the most famous songs in musical theater history, such as "With a Little Bit of Luck," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

When Henry Higgins, a well-to-do, self-centered bachelor professor of languages, and his friend Colonel Pickering encounter a raggedy flower girl selling flowers to passersby (Eliza Doolittle), Henry is inspired to make a wager with Pickering. In a mere six months, he bets, through voice and diction adjustment, he can transform this street-person into a proper lady.

Frightened but intrigued with the prospect of a better life, Eliza accompanies Henry to his home on upscale Wimpole Street. Her father, down-and-out and drunkard Alfred P. Doolittle, tries to profit from his daughter's newly advantageous situation.

Many lessons later, Henry and Pickering escort Eliza to the Ascot Horse Races where, despite a few hilarious mishaps, she thoroughly charms wealthy young bachelor Freddy Eynsford-Hill. Now confident that he will win his wager, Higgins chooses an Embassy Ball as Eliza's ultimate test. Eliza meets that challenge, too, but back home Henry has no praise for her. Instead he gloats and preens about his own success, seeing Eliza as his 'creation'.

Hurt and angry at his insensitivity, Eliza returns to her life at Covent Garden. Unsure that she belongs in "proper" society, she now is certain she no longer can live in the rundown flats of Tottenham Court. Back on Wimpole Street, as Henry ponders the surprising discovery that he misses Eliza, she enters the room. Smugly, Henry breathes a sigh of relief, hoping that life is, as he perceives it, back to normal.