Alistair McGowan Will Replace Rupert Everett in West End Pygmalion

West End vet Alistair McGowan will step into the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the currently running London revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. He will begin performances at the Garrick Theatre on August 15, replacing film star Rupert Everett who is departing the play to start filming BBC and HBO drama Parade's End, adapted by Tom Stoppard from Ford Madox Ford's books. The Phillip Prowse-directed and designed production is scheduled to close on September 3.

McGowan’s West End credits include Art, Cabaret and Little Shop of Horrors, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination. He has also performed at Nottingham Playhouse, Chichester, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Carl Rosa, Menier Chocolate Factory and Nottingham Lakeside.

Pygmalion stars Strictly Come Dancing winner Kara Tointon in her West End debut as Eliza, with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins, Michael Feast as Alfred Doolittle and Peter Eyre as Colonel Pickering. Rounding out the cast are Marty Cruickshank, Helen Millar, Roberta Taylor and Peter Sandys Clarke.

Best known as the inspiration for the hit musical My Fair Lady, Pygmalion tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can transform the manners and speech of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and pass her off as a lady in society.