My Fair Lady

Musical in two acts based on G. B. Shaws »Pygmalion«

Do clothes make the woman? Wrong, it all comes down to rhetoric! According to the phoneticist Professor Higgins, social status is not solely responsible for personal advancement, but rather and perhaps most importantly one’s use of language. And so encouraged by Prof. Higgins and his friend Colonel Pickering, the poor flower girl Eliza Doolittle agrees to participate in an experiment to turn her into a fine lady within six months. Through careful language coaching, they propose to help Eliza overcome her strong, working-class dialect with sophisticated speech. Indeed, the experiment is a success. Eliza learns to speak without a dialect and is introduced to fine society. Although her unconventional behaviour raises eyebrows – and attracts the glowing admiration of the young, well-situated Freddy Eynsford-Hill – she demonstrates that she can fit in well with the upper-crust at the Embassy Ball.

Higgins and Pickering congratulate each other on their accomplishment, for even the experienced linguist Zoltan Karpathy praises the allegedly foreign beauty for her impeccable German which could only be the result of a noble upbringing. However, Eliza is disappointed. She feels used by her teacher who appears to regard her as his personal work of art. Only when she decides to leave does Higgins realise his fondness for her and tries to win back her favour.

“My Fair Lady” is one of the most successful musicals of all times. The original Broadway production ran for over 2,700 performances. And we are doing our part to continue its success story. After its premiere in the Redoute in the 2015/16 season, we have decided to restage the musical in the main auditorium of the DNT. It promises to be “very British” indeed!

Musical direction: Dominik Beykirch
Stage direction: Anthony Pilavachi
Set and costume design: Markus Meyer
Choreography: Friedrich Bührer
Dramaturgy: Kathrin Kondaurow