Post on 02-Mar-2023
Juhasz
Aubri Juhasz
Professor Stacey McMath
New York Theater
23 October 2014My Fair Lady
In 1913, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, a “shameless
potboiler,” was written to simply “oblige theater managers
or aspiring players,” (Weintraub 194). (Garbian 12). Today
the implications of Shaw’s Pygmalion amount to far more than
a few “obliged” managers and players. Over the past nine
decades, My Fair Lady has emerged and endured through
adaptations from page to stage to screen. A lasting standard
of excellence, in literature, drama, music and film, My Fair
Lady was once deemed by the New York Times as “the perfect
musical,” (Hogan 8) and to this day remains the ideal model
of the quintessential Broadway Musical.
My Fair Lady has many fathers beginning with the
chroniclers of classical Greek literature. Greek myth states
a sculptor, Pygmalion, enamored by his ivory creation of a
sculpted woman prays to Aphrodite to give it animation.
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Pygmalion himself possesses a fierce hatred for women, whom
he regards as prostitutes and finds only his “sculpted
woman,” to be pure. The statue named Galatea, now a woman,
marries Pygmalion and the two have one son by the name of
Paphus. Some versions of the myth such as the 1767 retelling
of Goethe refer to Galatea by the name of Elise, suggesting
the etymology of the name “Eliza” in Shaw’s version, (McHugh
1). In addition to classical mythology, Shaw’s play and
ultimately the story of My Fair Lady, draw inspiration from
W.S. Gilbert’s Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). It is critical to
acknowledge according to historian Keith Garbian, “Shaw’s
characters, dialogue, and plot are marked by his own
distinctive wit and genius,” (Garbian 12). The play
emotionally draws heavily from Shaw’s personal life and his
relationships with Mrs. Pat Campbell, a stage actress, born
Beatrice Stella Tanner. Campbell served as Shaw’s muse for
Eliza in Pygmalion as well as the leading ladies in The Devil’s
Disciple, Heartbreak House and Back to Methuselah. Shaw’s infatuation
went unconsummated though the two felt strongly for one
another and his conflicting emotions of love and hate for
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Campbell are mirrored in the relationship of Eliza and
Higgins.
Shaw’s comedy was self-described as “intensely and
deliberately didactic,” and its public and commercial
success only supporting his claim that “great art can never
be anything but didactic,” (Garbian 12). The story of
Pygmalion integrates “Faustian legend with Cinderella fairy-
tale, and puts an emphasis on themes of linguistic and class
distinction,” says Garbian, (Garbian 12). Shaw used his
skills as a dramatist to recreate Pygmalion myth in the
Edwardian sphere, spinning a tale of the godlike powers of
transformation. “Both Pygmalion and Higgins feel nothing
short of contempt for the opposite sex, and yet - or perhaps
as a result of this - they both lavish their special talents
on creating the ideal image of a woman,” (McHugh 1). In
classical myth, it is Aphrodite whose powers transform an
inanimate woman of ivory into flesh and blood. In My Fair
Lady, it is Dr. Henry Higgins who attempts to test his
powers of transformation when he makes a bet with his fellow
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linguist Colonel Pickering that he can pass off a cockney
flower girl as a socialite.
The genesis of My Fair Lady begins with a man by the name
of Gabriel Pascal. A destitute filmmaker, the Hungarian had
struck a deal of sorts with Shaw in the early 1920’s when
swimming at Cap d’Antibes on the French Riviera, (Garbian
16). In conversation, Pascal revealed that he was “fighting
rather a hopeless fight in the métier of producing films.”
Shaw responded, “If one day you are finally driven to the
conclusion that you are utterly broke, and there is no doubt
that you will be, come and call on me. Maybe then I will let
you make one of my plays into a film,” (Garbian 16). In
1935, Shaw honored his gentleman’s agreement allowing the
penniless film maker who he deemed “the first honest film
producer” he had ever met, the right to produce and adapt
Pygmalion among several other of his plays for the silver
screen. Despite romanticizing the relationship of Higgins
and Eliza, the film remained true to Pygmalion. The film
broke box office records, garnered Shaw celebrity status and
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earned an Oscar for Shaw’s screenplay and a Volpi Cup at the
1938 Venice Film Festival, (Garbian 22).
It seemed logical to Pascal to “exploit his success”
(Garbian 24), with Pygmalion. Shaw had refused to grant a
musical adaptation of his work for he feared the form and
texture would be distorted. Biographer Michael Holroyd
states, “Shaw made the same reply to all composers and
resisted every pressure to ‘degrade’ his play into a
musical. ‘I absolutely forbid any such outrage,’ he wrote in
his ninety second year. Pygmalion was good enough ‘with its
own verbal music,’” (Holroyd 8). Without Shaw’s blessing
Pascal schemed to produce an adaptation of Pygmalion for
musical theater. Intent on another success, Pascal sought
out the legendary duo of Lerner and Lowe, the men whom he
believed would take Pygmalion from the silver screen to the
Broadway stage.
On a quiet afternoon in the early spring of 1952,
Pascal ordered Lerner to join him for lunch in Tinseltown at
the restaurant Lucy’s, (Garbian 25). After a brief meeting
and three plates of pasta, Pascal proclaimed, “We will meet
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again and you will bring man who writes music,” (Garbian
25). This signaled the beginning of a creative relationship
between the duo of Lerner and Lowe and the Hungarian
filmmaker Pascal.
Alan Jay Lerner, an American librettist and lyricist,
was born in New York City and attended The Choate School and
Harvard. Lerner grew to have only one passion, “to be
involved, someday, somehow, in the musical theater,” (Lees
20). His father, a chauvinist, cultivated a love in his son
for all things English. My Fair Lady would prove his most
personal and enjoyable project, the one he had waited his
entire career for. Frederick Lowe an Austrian-American
composer was a former concert pianist and struggling
composer when he met Lerner and the two entered into a
partnership that would last decades. Prior to My Fair Lady,
Lerner and Lowe had written two unmemorable musicals Life of
the Party (1942) and What’s Up (1943), an almost hit, The Day
Before Spring (1945), and two hits, Brigadoon (1947) and Paint
Your Wagon (1951), (Garbian 27). My Fair Lady would prove to be
their biggest success yet.
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Pygmalion proved a challenge for the duo and the two
lost momentum and interest. Their fears were confirmed when
the great Hammerstein of the Rogers and Hammerstein duo
said, “It can’t be done, Dick (Rogers) and I worked on it
for over a year and gave up,” (Garbian 29). The project
remained abandoned until Pascal’s death in the summer of
1954, (Garbian 32). In the time since they had abandoned the
idea of a musical of Pygmalion, many of its original problems
had worked themselves out. Theater had changed and a story
of realism rather than idealism was more appealing among
Americans. It was a new age in American theater, an age just
right for My Fair Lady.
Writing of the script and score proceeded without
rights to Shaw’s story. Shaw had passed rights to Pascal for
a screenplay but rights to the characters and plot remained
a part of Shaw’s London estate. Thus for both men, full
rights to the story of Pygmalion that would soon become My
Fair Lady meant securing rights from both the Shaw and Pascal
estates. The Chase Manhattan Bank had been named the
executor of Pascal’s will. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer (M.G.M.) was
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interested in producing another film version of the work and
had already given generously to the bank in hopes of
securing a favored position, (Garbian 30). The rights of the
production were uncertain but the duo was certain of one
thing. If they had fully written and composed a musical
version of Pygmalion prior to the settlement of the estates,
their chances at acquiring the rights would be greater; they
simply wouldn’t have just an idea but rather a tangible
product. “We will write the show without the rights,” said
Lerner. “When the time comes for them to decide who is to
get them, we will be so far ahead of everyone else that they
will be forced to give them to us,” (Lerner 47). Racing
against the clock, the duo assembled a creative team and set
to work.
The team of two L’s changed to three when on October
11, 1954; Herman Levin announced that he would serve as
producer for Lerner and Lowe’s musical version of Pygmalion.
Prior to this arrangement, negotiations had been considered
to allow for production of the musical version of Pygmalion
to be done by the Theatre Guild, but due to difficulties
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over the royalty agreement they fell through. Lerner
claimed “that everybody else ‘held firm on their royalty and
only the author was asked to accept less than minimum. My
ego was not troubled, but my sense of fairness was
definitely jarred.’ He added triumphantly: ‘Suffice to say I
have improved my lot with Herman Levin,’” (McHugh 20).
Herman Levin was a producer of unique origin. Prior to
the age of 39, Levin possessing a law degree worked as a
bureaucrat under the administration of Mayor Fiorello H. La
Guardia achieving the rank of director of the Bureau of
Licenses in the Welfare Department. Levin, prior to My Fair
Lady had produced the successful shows of Call Me Mister (1946)
and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949). Levin’s legal background
would prove to be vital during “tortuous negotiations” with
the estate of Shaw for the rights to Pygmalion. Levin had a
deep appreciation for the arts and admired the
quintessential musical. He believed in contemporary theater
and prior to his decision had been in agreement to produce
Lerner’s attempted musical Lil’Abner, based on Al Capp’s
comic strip. A devoted friend to Lerner, it was with good
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faith that Levin agreed to make the jump from Lil’Abner, to My
Fair Lady.
With their production team assembled, Lerner, Lowe and
Levin set out to secure designers and cast. Oliver Smith
seemed the obvious choice for scenic designer. An old
friend of Levin, Smith had served as co-producer with him on
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) and Bless You All (1950), as well as
having worked with Lerner and Lowe on Brigadoon, (McHugh 21).
Levin believed Smith a good match for My Fair Lady as a result
of his “rare ability to achieve mood, perspective, and
beauty in his painting for the stage,” (Garbian 31). A
former designer for the ballet, Smith sought projects that
would exercise his “economy of space and provoke his powers
of fantasy and poetry,” (Garbian 31). My Fair Lady with its
beautiful scenes of paved side streets, grand Embassy Balls
and panning shots of the Covenant Gardens required just
that.
“Please write me about Pygmalion,” (McHugh 21) Smith
commanded to Levin. The work, still formally unnamed, had
absorbed all of his attentions. Smith’s success with scenic
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design for musicals included Rosalinda (1942), Billion Dollar Baby
(1945), Brigadoon (1947), High Button Shoes (1947), Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes (1949), Guys and Dolls (1950), and Paint Your Wagon (1951),
(Garbian 33). “Are the rights cleared? I want to start soon
working on ideas. I have some wonderful research here which
will be absolutely terrific…send me a scenic outline so I
can begin to think about Pygmalion soon,” (McHugh 21).
Despite the lack of rights, Levin sent a scenic outline to
Smith and work began.
Lerner described Cecil Beaton as a man whom it was
difficult to discern “whether he designed the Edwardian era
or the Edwardian era designed him,” (Garbian 32). Beaton
proved the ideal choice for costume design due to his
expansive knowledge of history and detail, photography, and
high couture. Beaton possessed an extensive reserve of
celebrity and familial sources of inspiration. A
photographer, he had been afforded the right to meet many
celebrities of high society and concurrently high fashion in
both England and the United States. Beaton also drew great
inspiration for his design from his own childhood. In his
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designs for Eliza’s many ensembles can be seen the stylistic
choices of his mother and aunt who frequented the Parisian
and English fashion circuits. For Beaton, My Fair Lady
provided the canvas to create the dressings of his preferred
design, (Garbian 33).
As the creative team was assembled, Lerner and Lowe
simultaneously sought out the original cast for their
premiere production. Lerner sold his family stocks in gold
mining for a profit of $150,000 providing him and Lowe with
a travel budget, allowing them to travel throughout England
in search of a star studded cast, (Garbian 37). Rex Harrison
already well renowned for his straight play-acting in such
works as Henry III and Bell Book and Candle was actively sought by
Lerner and Lowe after he was suggested by Nöel Coward, their
original choice for the role, (Sheridan 369). With his
reputation and notoriety, he was their billing star.
Harrison was initially unconvinced to take the role. A
great admirer of Pygmalion and of Shaw’s work, he feared it
would not be done properly. He also feared a role in a
musical. Harrison had never before sung on stage. My Fair
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Lady would be a debut of sorts for the seasoned performer.
After a lengthy visit in England where Harrison was
performing in Bell Book and Candle, Lerner and Lowe finally
convinced Harrison to join their production. The role would
require no real singing, his parts would be written in speak
sing or the German term “sprechgesang.” If he could match
pitch and act the role he would succeed, Harrison agreed,
(Garbian 37-40).
Their Lady Liza was found in the young Julie Andrews.
Andrews, a professional singer since childhood, had become
Broadway’s newest star in The Boy Friend. “Both show and
ingénue lead were British imports and appealed to Lerner’s
Anglophilism,” (Garbian 35). A mere 19 years of age, she
possessed dazzling gifts, “a charming, crystal clear soprano
voice, immaculate diction, dancing grace, physical
attractiveness and stylish acting,” (Garbian 36). A true
Anglophile, the role of Eliza was a dream for Andrews and
she eagerly signed on. Additionally, Stanley Holloway
accepted the role of Alfred P. Doolittle, his excitement so
immense that he had a custom made set of English working
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man’s clothes, complete with “sturdy boots,” to get him into
character, (Garbian 39). Robert Coote was selected as
Colonel Pickering, Cathleen Nesbitt as Mrs. Higgins and
Phillipa Bevans as Mrs. Pearce.
In June of 1955, Levin wrote to Laurence “Laurie”
Evans, Rex Harrison’s manager to inform him of the selection
of a director for the production. After seven months of
searching, Levin, Lerner and Lowe had selected Moss Hart as
director. Hart had already been successful as a book
writer, producer, theater owner and stager. Levin described
him as “my personal first choice all along,” and “the best
possible director we could get,” (McHugh 35).
The rest of the creative team included Robert Russell
and Phil Lang, musical arrangements, Trude Rittman, dance
arrangements, Franz Aller, musical director, Gino Smart,
choral arrangements, Hanya Holt, choreography, Abe Feder,
lighting design, Ernest Adler, hair design, Ira Senz, wig
design, Philip Adler, general manager, Harris Danziger,
conductor and Freda Miller, dance pianist.
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In November of 1955, Chase Bank the now sole
proprietors of the rights of Shaw’s Pygmalion appointed the
most “celebrated literary agent of the time,” Harold
Freeman, to decide the fate of the Pascal estate rights,
(Garbian 37). Lerner and Lowe immediately secured Freedman
himself as their agent and with that secured the rights to
Pygmalion. The next step was financing. Lerner and Lowe
contacted “Robert Sarnoff, the president of NBC, and their
mutual friend, Goddard Lieberson, the president of Columbia
Records, a division of CBS,” (Garbian 41). Lieberson was in
connection with William Paley, the president of CBS,
presenting another potential connection of funding. No deals
were forthcoming though, the duo waited. An additional
peculiarity existed. While Freeman had granted Lerner and
Lowe the rights to Pygmalion, the conditions of the Shaw
estate restricted the rights of the play to be given to only
one person for a period for no longer than five years. This
condition made the enterprise of this musical unappealing
for traditional backers. CBS still remained a viable
investor as a five-year period still represented an
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effective period of income for the television company. Even
if the show failed to produce income, the television company
would still be granted the rights to broadcast either the
musical or the play of Pygmalion on their network. Levin drew
a deal with CBS in early May of 1955 proposing that CBS
provide his production with $30,000 plus 20% of the overcall
totaling $60,000 in exchange for exclusive rights to
televise the show. Negotiations were made until July 18,
when a final agreement was made. CBS agreed to finance the
entirety of the production, budgeted at $400,000. In
addition to this, Columbia Records presented an offer to
produce the cast album. Neither party would regret their
investment, (Garbian 44).
With opening night of previews approaching, the
unsettled issue of naming the production demanded attention.
Lerner and Lowe had tested many titles but none had felt
right. Promenade, London Bride, Liza, Lady Liza, Fanfaroon and Come to the
Ball had all served as working titles. Eventually the
creative and production team ironically settled upon the
title they all initially liked least, My Fair Lady, (Lerner &
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Lowe 1956). Lady Liza, despite being the favorite was deemed
an inappropriate representation of the show. The show was
equally about Higgins and the marquee reading “Rex Harrison
in Lady Liza,” would have confused audiences. As a result the
new title was taken from “the last line of ‘London Bridges
Falling Down’ and appears nowhere else in the musical,”
(Hogan 8).
My Fair Lady was given a pre-Broadway try-out at New
Haven’s Shubert Theatre. It premiered on January 4. This
1,600-seat theater located in New Haven, Connecticut
provided a trial run for the show. The theater possessed no
unique challenges for the producers and instead provided
them with a beautiful canvas that had once played host to
The King and I, South Pacific, and Carousel in their trial runs,
(McHugh 170). A full-scale production was mounted and cast
and crew familiarized themselves with the space. Despite
having almost to postpone opening night when Rex Harrison
blockaded himself in his dressing room for fear of musical
performance, the opening performance went off without a
hitch, (Garbian 62). A reporter from Variety attending the
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performance proclaimed, “The show has so much to recommend
it that only a radical (and highly improbable) slipup in the
simonizing process can keep it out of the solid click
class,” (McHugh 171).
Variety’s review served as a positive omen and carried
them forward with tremendous momentum. Four weeks of
performances at the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia began
on February 15, 1956 and performed for sold-out houses each
night.
On March 15, 1956, My Fair Lady made its Broadway debut at
the Mark Hellinger Theater. The theater aesthetically
refined, sported dozens of murals in the style of Boucher
and Watteau, on the subject of the 18th-century French
aristocracy, (William 162-163). It was an ideal location for
the production. One of the largest theaters in the Theater
District, the Mark Hellinger has 1,506 seats and possesses
one of the largest and most well equipped stages in all of
New York. It was a producer, director and actor’s dream.
Home to The Pirates of Penzance, Plain and Fancy, and Ankles Aweigh, My
Fair Lady would become its most notable production.
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“The reviews were confirmation of an extraordinary hit.
John Chapman proclaimed that ‘Everything about My Fair Lady is
distinctive and distinguished.’ Robert Coleman called it a
glittering musical, ‘as perfect an entertainment as the most
fastidious playgoer could demand.’ Walter Kerr urged: ‘Don’t
bother to finish reading this review now. You’d better sit
right down and send for those tickets to My Fair Lady,’” says
Garbian in his book The Making of My Fair Lady, (Garbian 88).
Irmgard Hutzler, now 81 saw My Fair Lady in its opening
weeks at the Mark Hellinger and recounts the experience as
“one I return to often in my mind.” Hustler, a New York
Native was a member of a union for female clerical workers
at the time and worked for New York Life Insurance Company.
Her group rented the theater for the night as part of their
annual benefit and each lady purchased a ticket to attend.
“If I could go back to one night in my life I would return
to that performance. My Fair Lady was an absolute dream.
Julie Andrews was a gem and Rex Harrison made all the ladies
swoon. The music, the costumes, the lights, it was
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something I had never experienced before and something I
have never experienced since,” said Hutzler.
My Fair Lady “played to packed houses, with Standing Room
Only at every performance,” (Garbian 91). The theater
accommodated forty standees and for the next three years
ardent theatergoers and devoted fans waited throughout the
night outside the box-office to snag these coveted slots.
The Columbia recorded cast album received incredible
response, selling more than 1,000,000 copies in its first
year of release. Columbia cashed in well on its investment.
My Fair Lady went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle
Award by unanimous vote and received the most Tony’s ever,
at the time, for a musical in 1957. These included Best
Actor, Best Director, Best Musical, Best Author, Best
Producer, Best Composer, Best Conductor/Musical Director,
Best Scenic Designer and Best Costume Designer, (Garbian
91).
My Fair Lady remained sold out through all performances
of its first two years. A successful American touring
production of the show also occurred during this time. The
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show performed for a total of six years and nine months on
American soil. It closed on September 29, 1962 after 2,717
performances and set the record at the time for the longest
running musical surpassing Oklahoma’s 2,212 shows, (Garbian
93). The show was adapted into a film version staring Audrey
Hepburn in 1964 that swept the Oscars of all but Best
Actress, which was won by Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins,
(Hogan 8). The show has seen three Broadway revivals in
1976, 1981 and 1993, a successful production at London’s
West End Theater and two revivals at this venue in the years
1958, 1979 and 2001. In addition to this, My Fair Lady has been
performed on tour in the United States (1957 and 2007), the
United Kingdom (2005), as a Broadway Concert (2007) and at
the Châtelet Paris (2013). (My Fair Lady IBDB) A timeless
and enduring work, The Nederlander Organization in
partnership with Roger Berlind known for City of Angels and Kiss
Me Kate and record producer Clive Davis plan to mount a
revival of this classic within the next few years, (Bird, My
Fair Lady: Revival Starring Ralph Fiennes).
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“I had, at long last written something that I truly
liked and, by glorious coincidence, so did the audience,”
confessed Lerner following My Fair Lady’s thunderous success,
(Garbian 75). Hailed “the perfect musical,” by the New York
Times (Hogan 8), My Fair Lady has enchanted audiences and
critics alike since its conception and has endured as a
classic work over the past nine decades and promises to
remain so for many more.
Works Cited
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Lowe. Playback: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe. Columbia Records, 1956. Web.
Garebian, Keith. The Making of My Fair Lady. Toronto: ECW Press, 1993. Print.
Hogan, Bill. "A Boomer's History of My Fair Lady." AARP Bulletin Oct. 2014: 8. Print.
Holroyd, Michael. Bernard Shaw: The One Volume Definitive Edition. NewYork: Random House, 1998. Print.
Lees, Gene. The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Lowe. London: Bison Books University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Print
McHugh, Dominic. Loverly, The Life and Times of My Fair Lady. New York:Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Morley, Sheridan. A Talent to Amuse: A Biography of Noël Coward, p. 369, Doubleday & Company, 1969
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Morrison, William (1999). Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture (trade paperback). Dover Books on Architecture. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. pp. 162–163
"My Fair Lady: Revival Starring Ralph Fiennes ." New York Theatre Guild. Ed. Alan Bird. New York Theatre Guild, July 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
"My Fair Lady." IBDB Internet Broadway Database . The Broadway League, 2001. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.
Tomasson, Robert E. "Herman Levin, 83, Producer, Dies; His Hits Included 'My Fair Lady'." New York Times 28 Dec. 1990. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
Bibliography
Andrews, Julie. Home. New York: Hyperion, 2008. Print.
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Bordman, Gerald, and Thomas S. Hischak. "My Fair Lady." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. : Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference. 2004. Date Accessed 22 Oct. 2014
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Hanson, Laura. "Oliver Smith's SCENIC CHOREOGRAPHY FOR My Fair Lady." TD&T: Theatre Design & Technology 45.1 (2009): 36-45. International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text. Fri. 10 Oct. 2014.
Mcnerney, John M. The Ambiguities of Pygmalion. Vol. 29. State College: Penn State University Press, 2009. Penn State University. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
""MY FAIR LADY" DANCES TO RECORD -- BECOMES LONGEST-RUN BROADWAY MUSICAL." New York Times (1923-Current file): 1. Jul
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Newman, Barbara. "Another Opening, Another Show: 'My Fair Lady'." Dancing Times 91.1089 (2001): 823-827. International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Rice, Charles D. "All the World Loves "My Fair Lady"." New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962): 3. Mar 08 1959. ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct. 2014 .
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