My Fair Lady

It was a loverly day when My Fair Lady opened on Broadway in 1956, and it quickly became a smash hit and beloved classic. Writing team Lerner and Loewe succeeded where others had failed and turned George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion into a musical - and what a musical! We'll look at the show's complex pre-history and thorny rehearsal days, and dive into the question of whether the show is a romance, or sexist, or both. Find one enormous chair and settle in for our latest episode! 

 

MY FAIR LADY Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner | Music by Frederick Loewe | Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Play and Gabriel Pascal’s Motion Picture “PYGMALION” | Original Production Directed and Staged by Moss Hart

Episode Segments:

3:12 - Speed Test5:28 - Why God Why8:53 - Back to Before31:39 - What's Inside49:29 - How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?1:13:03 - Our Favorite Things1:21:17 - Corner of the Sky1:25:25 – What Comes Next?

Works Consulted & Reference :

My Fair Lady (Original Libretto) by Alan Jay LernerPygmalion by George Bernard ShawThe Street Where I Live by Alan Jay LernerDazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart by Steven BachA Hymn to Him: The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner (Edited by Benny Green)Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie AndrewsAlan Jay Lerner: A Biography by Edward JablonskiInventing Champagne: The Worlds of Lerner and Loewe by Gene LeesJulie Andrews by Robert WindelerRex: An Autobiography by Rex Harrison

Music Credits:

"Overture" from Dear World (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music by Jerry Herman | Performed by Dear World Orchestra & Donald Pippin"The Speed Test" from Thoroughly Modern Millie  (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music by Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics by Dick Scanlan | Performed by Marc Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Anne L. Nathan & Ensemble"Why God Why" from Miss Saigon: The Definitive Live Recording  (Original Cast Recording  / Deluxe)  | Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyrics by Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby Jr.  | Performed by Alistair Brammer"Back to Before" from Ragtime: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens | Performed by Marin Mazzie"What's Inside" from Waitress (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music & Lyrics by Sara Bareilles | Performed by Jessie Mueller & Ensemble"Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from My Fair Lady (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music by Frederick Loewe & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner | Performed by Julie Andrews, Reid Shelton, Glenn Kezer, James Morris, Herb Surface, & My Fair Lady Ensemble"Maria" from The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording)  | Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Performed by Evadne Baker, Anna Lee, Portia Nelson, Marni Nixon"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording) | Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Performed by Julie Andrews"Corner of the Sky" from Pippin (New Broadway Cast Recording) | Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz | Performed by Matthew James Thomas“What Comes Next?” from Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music & Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Performed by Jonathan Groff