Danes debuts on Broadway in 'Pygmalion'

NEW YORK, July 11 (UPI) -- Actress Claire Danes will debut on New York's Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in a revival of "Pygmalion."

David Grindley will direct the new staging of George Bernard Shaw's play, scheduled to start previews Sept. 14 and open Oct. 18 at the American Airlines Theater for a limited run, Playbill reported Wednesday.

Danes joins Jefferson Mays, who will play Henry Higgins. May's recent "Journey's End" co-star, Boyd Gaines, was mentioned to be part of the "Pygmalion" cast, but nothing has been announced officially.

Currently seen in "Evening," Danes is known for her work in movies such as "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," "Little Women" and "The Rainmaker," and the television series "My So-Called Life." She has appeared in off-Broadway's "The Vagina Monologues."

In "Pygmalion," the basis for the Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe musical "My Fair Lady," British upper-crust Higgins comes across Doolittle, an uneducated Cockney girl. He makes a bet that he can pass Doolittle off as a society lady by teaching her the right dialect.