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Southwest Playhouse P.O. Box 204 Clinton, OK 73601 (580) 323-4448
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My Fair
Lady Henry Higgins, an arrogant, irascible professor of phonetics boasts to fellow linguist Colonel Pickering that he can train any woman to speak so properly that he could pass her off as a duchess, including Eliza Doolittle, a poor girl with a strong Cockney accent whom he encounters selling flowers in Convent Gardens. Pickering is intrigued by Higgins's boast and wagers that he cannot make good on his claim. Higgins takes on the challenge and begins an intensive make-over of Eliza's speech, manners and dress in preparation for her appearance at the Embassy Ball. Complicating matters is Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle, a cheerfully amoral and drink-loving dustman, who shows up to extract money from Higgins for compromising Eliza's virtue. Meanwhile, Eliza endures speech therapy, endlessly repeating phrases such as "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen” (to demonstrate that "h"s must be aspirated) and "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" (to emphasize the "a"). Just as things seem hopeless, she suddenly "gets it" after Higgins eloquently speaks of the glory of the English language, and thereafter her speech is transformed into an impeccable upper class English accent. The final test hinges on Eliza's passing as a lady at the Embassy Ball, which she does successfully, despite the presence of a Hungarian phonetics expert who seeks to unmask her identity. After the ball, Higgins's ungrateful boasting of his triumph and his pleasure that the experiment is now over leave Eliza feeling used and abandoned. She walks out on him, leaving the seemingly clueless Higgins mystified by her ingratitude. But Higgins soon realizes his feelings for her--that he has "grown accustomed to her face." When Eliza tentatively returns to him, the musical ends on an ambiguous moment of possible reconciliation between teacher and pupil.
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