The story is about how a Lisson Grove girl becomes a Mayfair lady, and the consequences of that transformation. The name comes from a fair that was formerly held there each May. Mayfair is one of the richest districts of London, located in the West End. The title My Fair Lady is from the cockney pronunciation of Mayfair lady, as in the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down". Our knowledge of human nature suggests that Eliza is too strong a character for the likes of Freddy. Thus the real Pygmalion is Shaw, who brings two characters to life, Higgins and Eliza, and they take on a life of their own. Many readers have been appalled at that idea, including Lerner, which is why the ending of My Fair Lady is changed. However, in the epilogue to Shaw’s play, Eliza marries Freddy. Thus in one sense Higgins is Pygmalion and Eliza is Galatea. Shaw’s idea was what would happen when Galatea takes on a life of her own, and is free to reject Pygmalion. He prays to Venus (Aphrodite) who takes pity on him and brings the statue to life. The story is about a misogynist on the island of Cyprus named Pygmalion who builds an ivory statue of a woman, which he names Galatea, and works on it until it becomes so beautiful that he falls in love with it. The story of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady is based on the non-musical play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, which, in turn was based on the tale of " Pygmalion" from ancient Greek mythology as retold in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. My Fair Lady: notes and glossary My Fair Lady Notes & Glossary
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