Pygmalion FROM THE PUBLISHER
Pygmalion both delighted and scandalized its first audiences in 1914. A brilliantly witty reworking of the classical tale of the sculptor who falls in love with his perfect female statue, it is also a barbed attack on the British class system and a statement of Shaw's feminist views. In Shaw's hands, the phoneticist Henry Higgins is the Pygmalion figure who believes he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl, into a duchess at ease in polite society. The one thing he overlooks is that his 'creation' has a mind of her own.
This is the definitive text produced under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence, with an illuminating introduction by Nicholas Grene, discussing the language and politics of the play. Also included in this volume is Shaw's preface, as well as his 'sequel' written for the first publication in 1916, to rebut public demand for a more conventionally romantic ending.
FROM THE CRITICS
AudioFile
Probably Shaw's most endearing play and the basis (and libretto) for MY FAIR LADY, this witty comedy concerns an expert linguist who, on a bet, seeks to pass off a flower girl as a duchess. Naxos's production wisely incorporates a narrator who sets the scene with Shaw's own stage directions, as he expanded them for publication. Under John Tydeman's confident direction, the excellent cast fully realizes the intelligent humor and persuasive characterizations of the text. My favorite is Geoffrey Palmer as Colonel Pickering, foil and sidekick of Henry Higgins. Perhaps Anton Lesser's voice is a bit flimsy for the overbearing professor, but not so his acting. His Eliza, Lucy Whybrow, could be less irritating and more sympathetic. But otherwise, the ensemble provides a splendidly satisfying rendition. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
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