Among other cast changes are Jane Kelly as Eliza Doolittle (currently played by Joanna Riding) and Russ Abbott as her father, Alfred P. Doolittle — a role that has been played at the National and Drury Lane by Denis Waterman. My Fair Lady, which is directed by Trevor Nunn, was a major hit at the National, where it won Martine McCutcheon an Olivier Award, and, subsequently, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It is the story of how a nineteenth-century Covent Garden flower girl is transformed from ragged cockney to someone who can pass as an aristocrat, thanks to intensive training by a speech specialist.

The show contains superb songs by Lerner and Loewe and, at its heart, an unconventional but appealing love story. No wonder it was such a hit when it was first staged at Drury Lane in the 1950's, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. Trevor Nunn's direction and Matthew Bourne's choreography have made this revival every bit as watchable as the first, classic London production.