The upcoming Bedlam production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion has found its Off-Broadway cast. Vaishnavi Sharma, who was seen in Bedlam's The Seagull and Sense and Sensibility, will play Eliza Doolittle.
Artistic Director Eric Tucker will play Professor Henry Higgins, as well as direct, and Rajesh Bose will be Mr. Doolittle.
Pygmalion will begin previews March 16 at the Sheen Center, where it will officially open March 27. Completing the cast will be Annabel Capper, Nigel Gore, and Edmund Lewis.
Bedlam has garnered a reputation for its minimalist, highly inventive approach to theatre. Past productions include the recent acclaimed adaptation of Peter Pan and an extended, hit run of Sense and Sensibility.
This time, the company will present a fresh take on Shaw's classic, the story of linguistics expert Henry Higgins and the cockney flower girl he is determined to transform into a proper, dignified woman. The six-week engagement is scheduled through April 22.
Read: WHY BEDLAM’S PETER PAN IS UNLIKE ANY YOU’VE SEEN
“At this moment in time I'm extremely interested in exploring how power is negotiated through sexual politics in a gritty interpretation of Shaw's classic play,” said Tucker in an earlier statement.
Pygmalion premiered on Broadway in 1914 at the Park Theatre and was subsequently revived on Broadway five times. In 1956, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe wrote My Fair Lady, a musical based on Shaw’s drama. The Lincoln Center Theater revival of the musical will begin March 15 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
