Laura Benanti

Laura Benanti is set to star as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Broadway

Benanti is set to play a limited engagement in Lincoln Center Theater's acclaimed revival from October 23, 2018 through to February 17, 2019.

Tom Millward
Tom Millward

We've grown accustomed to her face on Broadway and now Tony Award winner Laura Benanti is set to return to the Great White Way to assume the leading role of Eliza Doolittle in Lincoln Center Theater's acclaimed revival of Lerner & Loewe's classic musical My Fair Lady at the Vivian Beaumont Theater from October 23, 2018. Ms. Benanti will play a limited engagement through to February 17, 2019. Original cast member and Tony Award nominee Lauren Ambrose will play her final performance in the role on October 21.

Ms. Benanti commented: "Eliza Doolittle has been my dream role for as long as I can remember, so I couldn't be more excited to join this brilliant company. Working with Bart and getting to be part of this show is a dream come true."

Laura Benanti is a Broadway favorite, who won a Tony Award for her performance as Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy. She has also earned Tony nominations for her roles in Swing! (2000), Into the Woods (2002), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2011), and, most recently, She Loves Me (2016). She was last seen on Broadway opposite Amy Schumer in the 2017 Broadway premiere of Steve Martin's comedy Meteor Shower and her previous Broadway credits include In the Next Room, or The Vibrator PlayThe Wedding SingerNine, and The Sound of Music.

The principal cast of My Fair Lady currently includes Tony and two-time Emmy Award nominee Lauren Ambrose (as Eliza Doolittle), Tony Award nominee Harry Hadden-Paton (making his NY stage debut as Henry Higgins), two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz (as Alfred P. Doolittle), Tony Award winner Diana Rigg (as Mrs. Higgins), Allan Corduner (as Colonel Pickering), Jordan Donica (as Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Linda Mugleston (as Mrs. Pearce), and Clarke Thorell (as Zoltan Karpathy). Kerstin Anderson assumes the role of Eliza Doolittle on Sunday matinee performances.

As previously reported, Oscar nominee & Tony Award winner Rosemary Harris will make a return to the Great White Way from September 11, assuming the role of Mrs. Higgins from current cast member and "Game of Thrones" star Diana Rigg, who earned her fourth Tony Award nomination for her performance.

Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady began previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on March 15, 2018, ahead of an official opening on April 19.

The musical features book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.

Synopsis: "Adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play and Gabriel Pascal's motion picture Pygmalion, the musical tells the story of a cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle, who attempts to pass as a lady after taking speech lessons from phoneticist professor Henry Higgins."

The creative team features music direction by Ted Sperling, choreography by Christopher Gattelli, scenic design by Michael Yeargan, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Donald Holder, and sound design by Marc Salzberg.

This production marks the first Broadway revival in 25 years. The musical originally premiered in 1956, directed by Moss Hart and starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, taking home a total of six Tony Awards in 1957, including "Best Musical." Three short-lived Broadway revivals were staged in 1976, 1981 and 1993.

The score of My Fair Lady features such musical theatre classics as "I Could Have Danced All Night," "Get Me to the Church on Time," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "The Rain in Spain," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," and "On the Street Where You Live."

My Fair Lady is produced by Lincoln Center Theater in association with Nederlander Presentations Inc.

My Fair Lady Tickets are available now for performances through to March 3, 2019.

Originally published on

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