Robert Sean Leonard and Charlotte Parry to Lead The Old Globe's PYGMALION

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of its 100th anniversary production of the George Bernard Shaw classic Pygmalion. Starring Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard (The Invention of Love, Born Yesterday) as Professor Henry Higgins and Charlotte Parry (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Real Thing) as Eliza Doolittle, the production coincides with the 100th anniversary of Pygmalion's 1913 premiere in Vienna, Austria. Directed by Nicholas Martin (Butley, Present Laughter), Pygmalion will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, Jan. 12 - Feb. 17, 2013. Preview performances run Jan. 12 - Jan. 16. Opening night is Thursday, Jan. 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Shaw's story of a speech professor who makes a bet that he can pass off a common Cockney flower girl as the pinnacle of English society is an enduring one. In addition to its long life on the stage, the play was adapted by Shaw for the screen in 1938 with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. It was adapted most famously as the beloved musical My Fair Lady starring Rex Harrison with Julie Andrews on Broadway and with Audrey Hepburn on film.

Leonard last appeared on The Old Globe stage as Edgar in Jack O'Brien's renowned 1993 presentation of King Lear starring HAl Holbrook. He received a Tony Award for his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love and was also nominated for Long Day's Journey Into Night and Candida. His other Broadway credits include Born Yesterday, The Violet Hour, The Music Man, The Iceman Cometh, Arcadia and Brighton Beach Memoirs, among others. At 19, he made his film debut in the acclaimed Dead Poets Society, and he appeared for eight seasons on the Fox medical drama "House."

Parry's Broadway credits include Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, Coram Boy and The Real Thing. She was a member of the inaugural year of Sam Mendes' Bridge Project, performing The Cherry Orchard and The Winter's Tale at Brooklyn Academy Of Music, on the West End and internationally.

Four Old Globe Associate Artists return to the Globe stage for this lavish new production of Pygmalion. Kandis Chappell (Mrs. Higgins) has appeared in over 30 productions at The Old Globe, more than any other actress in Globe history, including The Dining Room, Richard III, The Norman Conquests, King Lear and Collected Stories. She has also appeared on Broadway in Rumors and Getting Away with Murder. Don Sparks (Mr. Doolittle) has been featured in more than 30 Globe productions including The Show-Off, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and the title role in Springtime for Henry, and he has been featured on Broadway in Take Me Out. Deborah Taylor's (Mrs. Pearce) Globe credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Bell, Book and Candle and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others, and she has also appeared at Hartford Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Shaw Festival. Paxton Whitehead (Colonel Pickering) has been seen at the Globe in The Mask of Moriarty, The School for Scandal, Much Ado About Nothing and as the title role in Richard III. He is also well known for his many appearances in films and television series such as Kate & Leopold, The Adventures of Huck Finn, "Mad About You" and "Friends."

Rounding out the cast are Maggie Carney (Mrs. Eynsford Hill) and Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program students Erin Elizabeth Adams (Bystander), Jeremy Fisher (Bystander), Adam Gerber (Bystander, Taxi Man), Allison Layman (Bystander, Parlor Maid), Danielle O'Farrell (Clara) and Robbie Simpson (Freddy Eynsford Hill).

Old Globe Associate Artist Robert Morgan returns to the Globe as costume designer of Pygmalion. His Globe credits include God of Carnage, Life of Riley, Measure for Measure, Hamlet and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, now in its 15th season.

The creative team also includes Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design), Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting Design), Drew Levy (Sound Design), Mark Bennett (Original Music), Jan Gist (Voice and Dialect Coach), Caparelliotis Casting (Casting) and Annette Yé (Stage Manager).

Nicholas Martin (Director) previously directed the Globe productions of Later Life, Full Gallop, Overtime, Macbeth and The Mask of Moriarty. He has directed the Broadway productions of Present Laughter, Butley, Match, Hedda Gabler, The Rehearsal and You Never Can Tell. His Off Broadway directing credits include the World Premiere of Christopher Durang's Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them, The Time of the Cuckoo and Chaucer in Rome (The Public Theater), Noah Haidle's Saturn Returns and Paul Rudnick's The New Century (Lincoln Center Theater), Fully Committed (Vineyard Theatre and Cherry Lane Theatre), Full Gallop (Manhattan Theatre Club and Westside Arts Theatre), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Drama Desk Award nomination), Betty's Summer Vacation (Obie Award, Drama Desk nominations), Jonathan Marc Sherman's Sophistry (Playwrights Horizons) and John Guare's Bosoms and Neglect (Signature Theatre Company). Martin's numerous regional credits include She Stoops to Conquer (McCarter Theatre Center), The House of Blue Leaves (Mark Taper Forum) and Dead End (Ahmanson Theatre). He is also director of the West Coast and London productions of Full Gallop. He most recently opened the new Christopher Durang play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Lincoln Center Theater. He served as Artistic Director of Williamstown Theatre Festival and Huntington Theatre Company and directed numerous productions at both. He is the recipient of the Norton Award for Sustained Achievement.

TICKETS to Pygmalion can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on Jan. 12 and continue through Feb. 17. Ticket prices start at $29. Performance times: Previews: Saturday, Jan. 12 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 13 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. There is a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Wednesday, Feb. 6 and no matinee performance on Saturday, Feb. 9. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.