Claire Danes Will Play Eliza Doolittle in Roundabout's Broadway Pygmalion

Claire Danes is set to make her Broadway debut as Eliza Doolittle opposite Jefferson Mays' Henry Higgins in the Roundabout Theatre Company's upcoming production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. The play will begin previews on September 21 and open on October 18 at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by David Grindley. Pygmalion is set to run through December 16. Additional cast members are expected to be announced shortly.

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 simply by 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. Shaw's play inspired the legendary musical My Fair Lady.

Danes has appeared onstage in two well-reviewed dance pieces choreographed by Tamar Rogoff at P.S. 122: Christina Olson: American Model and Edith & Jenny. She can currently be seen as the youthful version of a character played by Vanessa Redgrave in the movie Evening, co-starring Hugh Dancy, who was directed by Grindley this past season on Broadway in Journey's End. Her films include Shopgirl, The Family Stone, Stage Beauty, Terminator 3, Igby Goes Down, The Hours, Little Women, Romeo & Juliet, Les Miserables, The Rainmaker, the upcoming Stardust and many more. Danes received an Emmy nomination for My So-Called Life.

The design team includes Jonathan Fensom sets & costumes, Jason Taylor lights, Gregory Clarke sound and Majella Hurley dialect coach.