My Fair Lady

M U S I C A L N O T E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O

April - May, 2017

lan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s

My Fair Lady

has thrilled audiences

around the world since its 1956

premiere. Its memorable songs – “I Could Have

Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You

Live,” “The Rain in Spain,” and many more –

have made their way into the lives of millions,

capturing hearts of all ages. The evolution of this

masterpiece, while immensely challenging to its

creative team, was wildly successful and rewarding

for them all – a musical that truly illuminated

and enhanced one of the most captivating plays

and films in the English language.

Lerner and Loewe were already successful

on Broadway (

Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon

)

by 1952, when the idea of a musical version of

George Bernard Shaw’s

Pygmalion

was suggested

to them. The instigator, film producer-director

Gabriel Pascal, had previously fashioned

brilliant film adaptations of four Shaw plays

–

Pygmalion,

Major Barbara

Caesar and

Cleopatra,

and

Androcles and the Lion.

first the task proposed by Pascal seemed too

daunting (Rodgers and Hammerstein had

previously made the attempt and given up);

after all, how could anyone create a great

contemporary musical without a love story?

Lerner and Loewe abandoned the project, but

after Pascal’s fruitless pursuit of Noël Coward

and Cole Porter – two other musical-theater

greats – they began again, starting work shortly

after Pascal’s death in mid-1954.

With the ever-present problem of an

unromantic plot, the duo finally achieved a

breakthrough in realizing that, as Lerner later

explained, they “could do

Pygmalion

simply

by doing

Pygmalion

.” The foundation for their

work would be the superb screenplay written

by Shaw himself for Pascal’s 1938 film. This

meant a copious amount of dialogue, but

Lerner insisted on retaining as much Shaw

as possible. Shaw’s characters were certainly

strong and dynamic enough to stand on their

own; Lerner and Loewe’s great challenge was to

create transitions that would compel them to

express themselves through song.

My Fair Lady

: Almost – But Not Quite – a Love Story

By Jay Gummert

CECIL BEATON COLLECION, SOTHEBY, BELGRAVIA

Julie Andrews portrayed Eliza Doolittle opposite

Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in the original Broadway

production of

My Fair Lady

, 1956.

George Bernard Shaw at the time of

Pygmalion

Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner

CHAPPELL MUSIC