U.S. #2770
29¢ My Fair Lady
Issue Date: July 14, 1993
City: New York, NY
Quantity: 128,735,000
Printed By: American Banknote Corporation
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 11 horizontally
Color: Multicolored
The foremost showcase of commercial stage entertainment, Broadway has long been synonymous with American theatre. For it is here in New York City’s famous Theatre District that the most important American plays and musicals have had their debuts, including such favorites as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, and A Chorus Line.
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, the popular musical My Fair Lady has been called by critics “the best musical of the century.” Professor Henry Higgins, a distinguished linguist, meets Eliza Doolittle, an illiterate flower girl. In a bet with Colonel Pickering, he decides to transform Eliza into a fine lady and pass her off as a duchess. He completes the job successfully and at a glamourous social evening at the Embassy, Eliza plays the role of the duchess beautifully. The experiment over, Eliza is free to leave Higgins’ home. Although she has agreed to marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a rich man about town, she returns to Higgins in the end.
Although a few minor additions were made, the play remained unaltered except for the end. For nine years, this delightful musical held the record as Broadway’s longest running show.