'Pygmalion' with Danes, Mayes Begins Previews Tomorrow, 9/21

Roundabout Theatre Company's Pygmalion will begin previews this Friday, September 21 at 8PM.  Pygmalion stars Claire Danes in her Broadway debut as "Eliza Doolittle", Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays as "Henry Higgins", Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines as "Colonel Pickering" and Jay O. Sanders as "Alfred Doolittle." This new Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is directed by David Grindley at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd St).

The cast also includes Helen Carey (Mrs. Higgins), Brenda Wehle (Mrs. Pearce), Kerry Bishé (Clara Eynsford Hill), Kieran Campion (Freddy Eynsford Hill), Sandra Shipley (Mrs. Eynsford Hill), Tony Carlin (Bystander), Jonathan Fielding (Bystander), Robin Moseley (Bystander), Doug Stender (Bystander), Karen Walsh (Parlour Maid), Jennifer Armour (Bystander), Brad Heikes (Bystander), Curtis Shumaker (Bystander).

Pygmalion will open officially on Thursday, October 18. This is a limited engagement through Sunday, December 16.

"George Bernard Shaw's famous play, Pygmalion, inspired the legendary and award winning musical My Fair Lady. 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," describe press notes

Tickets are currently on-sale and available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines Box Office (227 West 42nd Street).  Ticket prices range from $51.25 - $96.25.

Through ACCESS ROUNDABOUT, a number of $10 tickets are available for the first preview on Friday, September 21. For more information please log on to http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/access

Pygmalion will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2PM.   For more information visit www.roundabouttheatre.org

Photo of Boyd Gaines, Jefferson Mays, Claire Danes and Jay O. Sanders by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.