About the work
My Fair Lady is a musical by Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics), premiered on Broadway in 1956. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" (1913), it is regarded as one of the most successful and beloved works in the history of the musical.
Plot
The arrogant phonetics professor Henry Higgins bets his friend, the linguist Colonel Pickering, that within a few months he can transform the simple London flower girl Eliza Doolittle, through speech training, into a lady of fine society. Eliza submits to the arduous schooling and finally passes brilliantly at an embassy ball. But while Higgins celebrates his triumph, Eliza feels slighted as a mere object of experiment. She rebels against the domineering professor and leaves him — and Higgins realises too late how much he has grown accustomed to her. The ending deliberately leaves their reconciliation open.
Cultural significance
My Fair Lady defined the golden age of the Broadway musical with worldwide hits such as "I Could Have Danced All Night", "On the Street Where You Live" and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly". The 1964 film with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison won eight Academy Awards. The work combines Shaw's sharp social satire on class and language with catchy melody and remains a timeless masterpiece of the genre.