My Fair Lady

Analyze the idea of agency in the play. What factors shape how much agency a character has (or does not have), and why? How do different characters interpret agency, and how do they wield it in their own lives?

Examine how language works in the play. What roles does it play in terms of themes, characterization, and/or the narrative? What does the musical suggest about the nature of language?

How would you characterize Eliza’s transformation over the course of the play? How much of that transformation do you attribute to Henry Higgins? To Colonel Pickering? To Eliza Doolittle herself? Explain, using evidence from the text.

Choose one of the central characters and follow their musical journey throughout the play. How do their songs change throughout in style, lyricism, melody, or other qualities? What does this tell you about the character?

How does the musical critique class hierarchies and the aristocracy? Use specific examples from the text to support your response.

What is the significance of gender in the musical? How does the musical portray gender roles and either support or subvert them?

Read George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and compare and contrast the play and its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady. Why do you think Lerner and Loewe made the changes they did? Which version of the text do you prefer and why?

Read the Greek myth of “Pygmalion and Galatea.” How is My Fair Lady an adaptation of the myth? How are Pygmalion and Galatea similar to or different from Higgins and Eliza? What is the significance of those differences/similarities?