Colin Firth to Take On Henry Higgins in Broadway Revival of MY FAIR LADY?

Reports of an upcoming Broadway revival of MY FAIR LADY from James Nederlander Sr continue to surface and according to Page Six of the New York Post, the lead role has already been cast.

The Post quotes Nederlander Sr.: "New generations never saw it. Colin Firth is already set. The female isn't cast yet."

Asked if Firth, who showed off his singing abilities in the big screen adaptation of Broadway's Mamma Mia!, has the vocal chops to pull off the role of Henry Higgins, the 93-year-old theater owner and producer quipped, "Rex Harrison didn't either. And everyone wants to see Colin Firth."

As BWW reported previously, the Broadway revival of MY FAIR LADY will reportedly be directed by Bartlett Sher, a current Tony nominee for the hit revival of THE KING AND I, now playing at Lincoln Center. Sher's other recent credits include South Pacific, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and The Light in the Piazza.

As BWW announced yesterday, Sher will be directing a revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, coming to The Broadway Theatre this November and starring five-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle Award winner Danny Burstein.

Firth has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, two BAFTAs and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup. His most notable role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI inThe King's Speech, a performance that earned him the Oscar and multiple worldwide best actor awards.

Firth portrayed Mr. Darcy in the1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. He followed the role with such films as The English Patient, Bridget Jones's Diary (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA), Shakespeare in Love and Love Actually. In 2009 he received widespread critical acclaim for his leading role in A Single Man, for which Firth gained his first Academy Award nomination, and won a BAFTA Award. In 1983, Firth starred as Guy Bennett the award-winning London stage production of Another Country.

Previous casting rumors for a revival of MY FAIR LADY have included LES MISERABLES star Anne Hathaway in the role of Eliza Doolittle and Ralph Fiennes as a possible contender for Henry Higgins.

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well-born lady. The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. It has been called "the perfect musical".

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