Pygmalion: Claire Danes to star as Eliza Doolittle

Claire Danes is to make her Broadway debut as 'Eliza Doolittle', opposite previously announced Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays as 'Henry Higgins', in the Roundabout Theatre Company's new Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw�s Pygmalion.

The comedy, to be directed by David Grindley, will open at the American Airlines Theatre on 18 Oct 2007 and close on 16 Dec 2007, will now begin previews on 21 Sep 2007, and not the 14 Sep 2007 as originally announced.

Claire Danes (Eliza Doolittle) won a Golden Globe Award and received an Emmy nomination for her role as Angela Chase in the 1994 television drama series 'My So-Called Life'. She starred as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film 'William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'. Danes many film credits also include playing Cosette in Bille August's dramatization of Victor Hugo's classic novel 'Les Mis�rables'. She will next be seen on film in the movie 'The Flock' to be released in Oct this year.

George Bernard Shaw�s famous play, Pygmalion, inspired the legendary and award winning musical My Fair Lady, written and composed by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Based on the classical myth, Pygmalion plays on the complex business of human relationships in a social world.

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.

The design team includes Jonathan Fensom (sets & costumes), Jason Taylor (lights) and Gregory Clarke (sound).

Pygmalion premiered on Broadway in 1914 at the Park Theatre and subsequently was revived on Broadway in 1927, 1938, 1945 and 1987.

Roundabout Theatre Company has a long association with George Bernard Shaw�s work, having staged over twenty productions since 1971. The most recent Shaw plays seen on Roundabout stages include Heartbreak House (2006-2007), Major Barbara (2000-2001), Arms and the Man (1999-2000), You Never Can Tell (1997-1998) and Misalliance (1996-1997).

David Grindley made his directorial debut on Broadway with R.C. Sheriff's Journey's End, which won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.