A salute to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe on this Valentine's Day live presentation saluting the play "My Fair Lady." Hosts are Samuel Liff, stage production manager for the original Broadway production and conductor Franz Allers, who also performed during the Broadway "My Fair Lady" debut. Musical selections are played from the British and American productions. They include "I Could Have Danced All Night," sung by Julie Andrews, "The Rain in Spain," sung by Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison from the London Production, "With a Little Bit of Luck," sung by Stanley Holloway from the London Production, "The Ascop Gavotte," and "I've Grown Accustomed to her Face," sung by Rex Harrison.
Anecdotes and recollections by Franz Allers and Samuel Liff reflect the many transitions experienced for this great classic as the company tours the world three years prior to the making of the motion picture in 1964.
NOTE:
The musical MY FAIR LADY had its pre-Broadway tryout at New Haven's Shubert Theatre. Then it played for four weeks at the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia, beginning on February 15, 1956.
The musical premiered on Broadway March 15, 1956, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City. It transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre and then The Broadway Theatre, where it closed on September 29, 1962, after 2,717 performances, a record at the time. Moss Hart directed and Hanya Holm was choreographer. In addition to stars Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Stanley Holloway, the original cast included Robert Coote, Cathleen Nesbitt, John Michael King, and Reid Shelton. Harrison was replaced by Edward Mulhare in November 1957 and Sally Ann Howes replaced Andrews in February 1958. By the start of 1959, it was the biggest grossing Broadway show of all-time with a gross of $10 million.
The Original Cast Recording, released on April 2, 1956, was the best-selling album in the United States in 1956.
Original London production
The West End production, in which Harrison, Andrews, Coote, and Holloway reprised their roles, opened on April 30, 1958, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where it ran for five and a half years (2,281 performances). Edwardian musical comedy star Zena Dare made her last appearance in the musical as Mrs. Higgins. Leonard Weir played Freddy. Harrison left the London cast in March 1959, followed by Andrews in August 1959 and Holloway in October 1959.
MY FAIR LADY won six 1957 TONY awards, including Best Musical, and the Film version released in 1964 with Audrey Hepburn replacing Julie Andrews in the role of Eliza Doolittle won five Oscar awards including Best Actor for Rex Harrison and Best Picture.
