My Fair Lady

The first encounter between Professor Henry Higgins, the brilliant, crotchety, middle-aged bachelor who is England’s leading phoneticist, and Eliza Doolittle, the little cockney gutter sparrow, takes place near the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, late on a cold March night. Eliza is selling violets. Higgins is out on his endless quest for new dialects of London’s speech (“Why Can’t the English?”). A handsome young aristocrat, Freddy Eynsford-Hill, takes no notice of her when she tries to sell him violets (“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”). Colonel Pickering, also a linguistic expert, comes to stay with Higgins at his flat. Eliza’s squalid father, Alfred Doolittle, outlines his optimistic if somewhat unorthodox philosophy of life in the rousing “With a Little Bit of Luck.”

Eliza comes to Higgins’ flat to be instructed in the English language, in order to transform herself into a “lidy.” Pickering challenges Higgins to “metamorphose the guttersnipe into a paragon of verbal correctitude.” Higgins looks upon her not as a person but as raw material for his experiment; he drills Eliza for weeks. As no hint of progress is made, Eliza loses her courage, Higgins loses his temper, and even Pickering’s patience wears thin. In her anger and futility, Eliza creates a set of mean fantasies involving her professor (“Just You Wait”). At last she improves, and they all proclaim the victor in “The Rain in Spain.”

In the flush of his first success, Higgins puts Eliza to a preliminary test. He will introduce her to his mother’s snobbish guests at the Ascot Race Meeting the following week. Eliza expresses her own towering exaltation in “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Eliza, strikingly pretty in her new gown and hairdo, appears at the races (“Ascot Gavotte”). Instructed to restrict her conversation to the weather and everyone’s health, she says her little set pieces flawlessly. The illusion is shattered when her enthusiasm for the horse she is backing impels her to indulge in a bout of violently unladylike cheering.

Freddy Eynsford-Hill falls hopelessly in love with the new Eliza, and later pours out “On the Street Where You Live” at her window. Six weeks later, Higgins - in a crucial test - presents Eliza at a full-dress Embassy ball. She is the object of admiration, and everyone speculates on her identity. It becomes obvious that Eliza must charm Karpathy, a European phonetics expert. At the height of the ball, Karpathy invites her to dance and comments on the pureness of her English.

Pickering and Higgins, back at the flat, indulge in self-congratulation (“You Did It”). Neither of them takes into account Eliza’s personal accomplishment in the matter. Eliza has absorbed the sophistication and the courage to see the unfairness of this, and she blows up, demanding recognition. The Professor is not so much affronted as astonished; it is as though a statue had come to life and spoken.

Infuriated and frustrated, Eliza storms out of the house. She encounters Freddy and turns her fury on him (“Show Me”). Eliza aimlessly walks the streets of the town the remainder of the night. She encounters her father, drunk and dressed for a fashionable wedding. He has become wealthy, and Eliza’s mother is marrying him at last (“Get Me to the Church on Time”).

Higgins discovers that he is hurt because Eliza left him. He meets her at his mother’s flat where she has gone for advice. They argue violently (“Without You”) and she storms out. It is only a moment after her departure that Higgins finally wakes up to the fact that Eliza has become an entirely independent and admirable human being. He realizes that he will have a difficult time getting on without her (“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”).

Back at his flat, he sinks into his chair prepared to face a bleak, lonely future. But just then – a moment before the final curtain falls – a figure emerges from the shadowy corner of the room, and Higgins recognizes Eliza. He leans back with a long, contented sigh and speaks softly: “Eliza? Where the devil are my slippers?”

Copyright ©1962 by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe

Principals
(2 female; 6 male)

Eliza Doolittle — a Cockney flower girl from Lisson Grove working outside Covent Garden
Colonel Pickering — retired British officer with colonial experience; the author of “Spoken Sanskrit”
Henry Higgins — British upper class professional bachelor, world famous phonetics expert
Freddy Eynsford-Hill — upper class young man who becomes completely smitten with Eliza
Alfred P. Doolittle — Eliza’s father; an elderly but vigorous dustman
Harry — drinking companion of Alfred Doolittle
Jamie — drinking companion of Alfred Doolittle
Mrs. Pearce — Henry Higgins’ housekeeper

Supporting
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill — a friend of Mrs. Higgins’ and Freddy’s mother
Mrs. Higgins — Henry’s long-suffering mother
Bartender (George) — works the Tottenham Court Road Pub
Mrs. Hopkins — a Cockney woman of Tottenham Court
Professor Zoltan Karpathy — a bearded Hungarian; former phonetics student of Henry Higgins
A Bystander — outside Covent Garden in the opening scene
4 Cockney Men — the male Cockney quartet in Covent Garden Market
Butler — Henry Higgins’ household employee
Footman — Henry Higgins’ household; non-speaking
Lord Boxington — friend of Mrs. Higgins; Ascot race patron
Lady Boxington — at Ascot races; non-speaking
Flower Girl — working in Wimpole Street
Footman — Embassy employee
Footman — Embassy employee; non-speaking
Selsey Man — bystander outside Covent Garden, opening scene
Hoxton Man — bystander outside Covent Garden, opening scene
2 Maids — Henry Higgins’ household; non-speaking
3 Buskers — street performers outside Covent Garden; non-speaking
6 Servants — Henry Higgins’ household; non-speaking chorus singers S-S-A-A-T-B
2 Stewards — Ascot employees; non-speaking

Singing and Dancing Ensembles
The Ascot Race patrons

Embassy Ball guests, including

The Queen of Transylvania and her escort
The Ambassador and his wife
Dr. Themistocles Stephanos

Covent Garden scene Crowd
Tottenham Court Crowd, etc.

Various Voices
Doubling roles with single spoken lines

Angry Woman — Act I, Scene 2
Angry Man — Act I, Scene 2
Charles — Mrs. Higgins’ Chauffeur, Act I, Scene 6
Policemen — Wimpole Street, Act I, Scene 8
Queen of Transylvania - Act I, Scene 10
Maid — Mrs. Higgins’ employee, Act II, Scene 5

The original Broadway production had a cast of 48 performers, including chorus. Some doubling was employed in the minor parts.