Directed by David Grindley, the limited engagement will run through Dec. 16. Joining the previously announced Claire Danes as Eliza Doolittle and Jefferson Mays as Henry Higgins will be Tony winner Boyd Gaines as Colonel Pickering and Jay O. Sanders as Alfred Doolittle with Helen Carey (Mrs. Higgins), Brenda Wehle (Mrs. Pearce), Kerry Bishé (Clara Eynsford Hill), Kieran Campion (Freddy Eynsford Hill), Sandra Shipley (Mrs. Eynsford Hill), Jonathan Fielding (Bystander), Robin Moseley (Bystander) and Karen Walsh (Parlour Maid).
The design team includes Jonathan Fensom (sets and costumes), Jason Taylor (lights), Gregory Clarke (sound) and Majella Hurley (dialect coach).
Well-known as the inspiration for the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical My Fair Lady, the Shaw drama is based on the classical myth of the same name. The play, according to press notes, is described as such: "When Professor Henry Higgins (Mays) comes across a poor and uneducated Cockney girl named Eliza Doolittle (Danes), Higgins makes a bet that he can take Eliza from the gutters of London and pass her off as a society lady, by simply teaching her the right dialect in which to speak. Higgins soon discovers that this task involves much more than knowledge; it involves patience and most importantly, affairs of the heart."
Roundabout continues its association with the works of Shaw following last season's Heartbreak House. Previous productions also include Major Barbara (2000-2001), Arms and the Man (1999-2000), You Never Can Tell (1997 1998) and Misalliance (1996-1997). Pygmalion first hit the Broadway stage in 1914 at the Park Theatre and has been revived on Broadway four times since. The most recent (in 1987) starred Peter O'Toole as Higgins and Amanda Plummer as Doolittle.
Tickets to Pygmalion at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, will go on sale Aug. 15 to American Express Cardmembers. Tickets will go on sale to the general public Aug. 25 by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300. For more information, visit roundabouttheatre.org.
The American Airlines Theatre is located in Manhattan at 227 West 42nd Street.
